Marking your blade

S

ScottFM

Joined
Feb 13, 2001
Messages
52
I am new to knife making but have been marking my blade with a small letter M (for my last name) on the spine sort of like filework. I recently saw a picture of a knife by what is probably a well know custom knife maker that uses the same mark (Mel Sorg madpoet custom knives). First is anyone familiar with his work and does he use this on all his knives? Second should I discontinue using this mark if I do not sell knives and only use them for myself and maybe give some to friends. I dont want people to think I am trying to pass my knife off as someone elses. So should I try to find a new way to mark my knives? I am probably not going to use it anymore but wanted to see what you thought. Thanks.


 
I dont think Mel was trying to mark his blades when he made that mark on the spine. I believe that was his way of making thumb notches. I have a couple of his knives, and I never thought of that as a maker's mark, but I could be wrong.

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Danbo, soul brother of Rambo
 
My understanding is that it was indeed his mark. I guess if it was me I'd make a change, but it's not my place to say, really. Scott, the Mad Poet is no longer with us.

Dave
 
Thanks for the info, I will just keep my blades nameless for now until i come up with something creative (and hopefully original). I have been playing around with etching acid but have had poor results. Thanks for your comments..
 
CL's right, you should mark everything you make, knife or not. Before I got my stamp, I just put my initials on with a letter set. These are inexpensive and available in various sizes. You can also experiment with letters, making up your own arcane symbols. I once made a stick-figure man wielding a spear with the v, o, and number 1 from 1/8 and 3/16 letter sets.

Dave
 
Scott, it's really easy to make your own stamp. I just took a small ball peen hammer from the flea market, annealed it, flattened the ball end a bit, chiseled in my mark (in reverse of course), ground the sides of the ball down around the mark, and rehardened. I've been using it for ten years or so, and it gets a lot of use since I also make a lot of firestrikers, and mark each one.
-R
www.ragweedforge.com
"A knifeless man is a lifeless man" -old Nordic Proverb
 
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