Makers Mark

D

DARblades

Joined
Mar 6, 2019
Messages
17
Wondering what process folks are using to brand their blades? I wanted to start placing a logo on my kinves and bought an etch-o-matic. I'm finding it hard to get consistent results. I practiced several times on some scrap and got decent results, but when I tried to mark a blade I had spent a ton of hours on, it etched around the edges of the stencle and totally messed up the finish. I'd appreciate any input from anyone that has a consistent process. Thanks!!
 
I had some professional electro-etching stencils made a while back and they worked well on smoothly finished blades, but some of my knives have a textured finish and the mark from the stencil did not translate well to the textured surface. So I ended up designing myself a different mark and had a local lady cut me a sheet of vinyl stencils. These are basically stickers cut out on one of those Cricut lazer cutting machines. The vinyl sticker stencils work great and much more consistent results.
 
I wondered if anybody does hand engraving with dremel and diamond bits? I can't justify the cost of an etching machine yet. Alternatively I would just mark the handles with dremel.
 
FredyCro said:
I wondered if anybody does hand engraving with dremel and diamond bits? I can't justify the cost of an etching machine yet. Alternatively I would just mark the handles with dremel.
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You don't necessarily need an etching machine. I use a computer power suppy with a couple alligator clamps attached to the end.
 
Was thinking about getting a stamp done for me. But as I'm no fan of ricassos, and prefer full flat grinds, I'm kind of out of places to stamp on. Or does anyone stamp on their bevels?
 
I’ve had success using 2 9-volt batteries attached to each other and Q-tips. It’s not the quickest but it gets the job done.
 
FredyCro said:
I wondered if anybody does hand engraving with dremel and diamond bits? I can't justify the cost of an etching machine yet. Alternatively I would just mark the handles with dremel.
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It's been done before.
It looks like someone hacked it in with a dremel.
 
Scaniaman said:
Was thinking about getting a stamp done for me. But as I'm no fan of ricassos, and prefer full flat grinds, I'm kind of out of places to stamp on. Or does anyone stamp on their bevels?
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One of the most Iconic Makers Marks is the "Nude" R.W. Loveless (Bob Loveless) etched on his blade bevels....Google Bob Loveless Knives.
 
Yes, a classic! His knives are one of the reasons I got into knives years ago. Long time fan.

But I meant actually stamping on the bevel, not etching. Using a stamp made from steel. Could there be success smacking that into the bevel? Or is it a bad idea?
 
Scaniaman said:
Yes, a classic! His knives are one of the reasons I got into knives years ago. Long time fan.

But I meant actually stamping on the bevel, not etching. Using a stamp made from steel. Could there be success smacking that into the bevel? Or is it a bad idea?
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It's been done that way before. Needs to be done while the blade steel is still in the annealed soft state if you are doing stock removal.
If you forge you can probably do it while doing grain refinement in a High Heat Cycle where the steel is soft before quenching. It's your Knife you can place it where you like...I really like the Little "Sunfish" that Don Hanson III stamps on his blades:cool::cool::cool::thumbsup:
 
make sure your stencil is flat, not wrinkled and sitting flat on the metal, and will not flip up or move around. be sure not to move the stencil around with the pad when you are etching. always push straight down, and lift straight up. after your stencil is taped down, put a drop or two of windex on your stencil, and rub it around with your finger so it seeps between the stencil and the blade. the windex between the stencil and the blade will prevent much of the bloom, or fuzzy edges. make sure your stencil is taped all the way around it, so your etching pad does not accidentally touch the blade outside of the stencil.
 
When I started making, I ordered a couple steel stamps of my logo (large and small). I very quickly found that it's impossible to make a good impression by hand. I tried a 5 pound hammer, and a heavy dead blow. The stamp bounced every time, which left a double mark, and took multiple hits to get a deep enough impression. Next I tried a 10 ton arbor press at work. Still not enough force. In order to get a good mark, I *think* a 20 ton hydraulic H-frame press *might* do it, but I never got around to trying it.

Luckily, I have access to a laser, so that's what I've been using. If I didn't have that, I'd do an electro-etch without a second thought.
 
Busto said:
It's been done that way before. Needs to be done while the blade steel is still in the annealed soft state if you are doing stock removal.
If you forge you can probably do it while doing grain refinement in a High Heat Cycle where the steel is soft before quenching. It's your Knife you can place it where you like...I really like the Little "Sunfish" that Don Hanson III stamps on his blades:cool::cool::cool::thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Love the little sunfish!
 
john april said:
make sure your stencil is flat, not wrinkled and sitting flat on the metal, and will not flip up or move around. be sure not to move the stencil around with the pad when you are etching. always push straight down, and lift straight up. after your stencil is taped down, put a drop or two of windex on your stencil, and rub it around with your finger so it seeps between the stencil and the blade. the windex between the stencil and the blade will prevent much of the bloom, or fuzzy edges. make sure your stencil is taped all the way around it, so your etching pad does not accidentally touch the blade outside of the stencil.
Click to expand...

I've tried the Windex thing a few times in the past and could never get it to help, actually seemed to hinder the process for me. Maybe I was doing it wrong though by putting it under the stencil (can't really remember), but I just etch deeply and then clean up with sandpaper. It would certainly be nice to be able to get a nice clean, deep etch without having the ghosting or halo afterwards, especially when doing a satin finish with either a cork or scotchbrite belt, which can mess with the look of the etch if either one is used after etching. Do you know if it make a difference whether or not the Windex contains ammonia, and if so which is preferred? Thanks


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Some older vids of some of the older knives I made)
 
coldsteelburns said:
I've tried the Windex thing a few times in the past and could never get it to help, actually seemed to hinder the process for me. Maybe I was doing it wrong though by putting it under the stencil (can't really remember), but I just etch deeply and then clean up with sandpaper. It would certainly be nice to be able to get a nice clean, deep etch without having the ghosting or halo afterwards, especially when doing a satin finish with either a cork or scotchbrite belt, which can mess with the look of the etch if either one is used after etching. Do you know if it make a difference whether or not the Windex contains ammonia, and if so which is preferred? Thanks


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Some older vids of some of the older knives I made)
Click to expand...


Paul I agree with this, I always have to sand so much that I end up getting the dark out of my etch. I bought some brass black and I’m going to test that :)
 
DustinY said:
Paul I agree with this, I always have to sand so much that I end up getting the dark out of my etch. I bought some brass black and I’m going to test that :)
Click to expand...

That's always a nice little headache when that happens lol. I've tried gun blue and even heat blue/grey (using a torch, then sand off the oxides), but both look a little funny. It was nice to see how well the brass black worked on K Royer's knives and to know there's a simple solution for re-darkening. I normally use a hard polishing stone (edm etc.) at a higher grit than my final grit paper when doing the usual hand rubbed blade to clean around the etch, mostly so I don't round off the edges of the etch, but also to keep from taking all the black out of it... They've been working much better for me so far than using paper to clean them up. :thumbsup:

I was recently messing around with a cork belt finish (with 220 compound) on blade, and those clean out the oxides pretty fast. Unfortunately you can't really go back and blacken the mark on those cause you still have to take a pass or two on the cork belt again to get the excess oxides off, which would just clean it out again, so something like that would benefit especially from a once and done etch. So far, most of the marks I've seen that require little to no clean up aren't as deep as I like mine to be, so yea, if the Windex turned out to work well that'd be pretty cool.


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Some older vids of some of the older knives I made)
 
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