Question on Makers Mark Size

KnuckleDownKnives

KnuckleDownKnives

Time to make the doughnuts..
Joined
Feb 12, 2015
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So I finally came up with my mark and want to order some stencils. Looking for opinions on what sizing and who/what to order.

My avatar or profile pic is the mark.
 
I am only an egg, but...:

I did the graphics layout on a sheet for the stencil-maker, which contained several versions of the art plus text for various steel types I regularly use.

My mark is long and skinny, mostly, so I scaled it such that it could be etched on the spine of a 3/16" thick knife, though I usually mark on the primary grind.
There's a version with and without 'USA' for space purposes. Smaller knives look cluttered with a whole billboard.

If your mark is square, like your avatar, you have fewer placement options, but that's hardly a show-stopper. I prefer a medium to small mark.

So far (been marking for a year now), I've been putting the mark on the left side and the steel type on the right, with a couple notable exceptions.

Hopefully some real pros will weight in.
 
While that looks pretty nice.

How will anyone one know it is you?
 
AVigil said:
While that looks pretty nice.

How will anyone one know it is you?
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Really good point. It's hard to google a picture. Despite this, I chose a glyph as my mark.
 
AVigil said:
While that looks pretty nice.

How will anyone one know it is you?
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Good point. I actually thought about putting my name coming off the side utilizing the m's. Marc McCall.

daizee said:
Really good point. It's hard to google a picture. Despite this, I chose a glyph as my mark.
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Actually Google has quite a good image search engine however if all someone would have to go by was an image of a knife with a small mark on it might prove quite difficult.

Although marketing the logo could help drastically as I do work in the ecommerce market and know a lot about Internet marketing.
 
Smaller than you think. The first stencils I ordered seemed small enough at the time, but I use the same mark at about half the original size now! Just as long as you'll be able to etch and have the letters or lines keep definition easily enough.

I agree, I think it would be better to have your name spelled out. A logo is cool, but after all the knife should be cool- the mark is there to tell people something.
(Not one to talk, all my damascus work now has just a logo.)
 
I have 3 sizes. 1/2", 3/4", and 1" long. Mine is just my name and location. I like simple marks that someone can decipher on their own.
 
Something to keep in mind.

On a daily basis on various knife forums people put up a picture of a knife they came across with a logo, no name. They want to know who made it and often times all you get is crickets.

What that does mean is no one who came across that knife had any idea who made it and told the person selling it who it was.

If someone comes across a knife in the future with your name on it they will know exactly the name of the person who made it.
 
So I've been pondering on this for a while now, but now that I have some good steel, my grinder is fully operational and I'm ready to go I've ordered my mark, and took some of the advice offered here. So here it is. Just waiting on the proofs from marking methods and should have it by the end of next week.

 
Looks good to me. I don't know what sizes you have settled on but my old makers mark was clear at all 3 sizes with the smallest being 1/2" or so.
 
HAHA.. A fellow South Carolina man. I didn't figure I would be the only one to use the palmetto moon in the mark from SC. Thanks Matt.
 
pleasanthill said:
HAHA.. A fellow South Carolina man. I didn't figure I would be the only one to use the palmetto moon in the mark from SC. Thanks Matt.
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I liked it but figured folks outside of the state wouldn't get it so I simplified it to Rochester and Seneca Sc. If another Rochester starts making knives in Seneca I will have to get more specific!
 
pleasanthill said:
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Matt R said:
I liked it but figured folks outside of the state wouldn't get it...
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I don't care for the palm tree and moon

I Google-ed and found it's the state flag, but since you already have the state written in text, I'd skip it.

1
I wouldn't want to confuse it with the Islam moon

2
Leaving it out will leave more room for the text, especially on scaling down smaller

3
There is too much detail that will be lost on shrinking.
 
FYI for anyone that comes across this post. Marking Methods charges $22.00 to ship a 5" X 7". 1 piece of rubbery plastic stencil. They've probably just lost my business for this alone.
 
Hate to say this, but the more I think about the more ticked off I get... Hope these things last a long time.

Do the other stencil companies have a min order like them ($75) and what are their typical first time order prices like?
 
pleasanthill said:
FYI for anyone that comes across this post. Marking Methods charges $22.00 to ship a 5" X 7". 1 piece of rubbery plastic stencil. They've probably just lost my business for this alone.
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They did mine for basically the same reason, they also want a 'Plate Charge' even when you provide them camera ready art--which is ridiculous with todays technology, no 'plates' are actually necessary any more to create a stencil.

Tustech is the ticket!!!
 
Yes, I sent them perfectly scaled art that wasn't modified at all except they took my .pdf and re-authored the file with their scale marks next to it. I work in the software business, wish I could get paid $63.00 to click insert image and click print for a "Plate Charge"...

I'll have to check into them, hoping it's going to be a while.
 
I ordered a 2"×7" sheet of 5 stencils from TUS Technologies and it cost about $45 total. This included their one-time set-up fee, the stencil sheet and shipping to Canada. No mimimum orders.
 
I got 2, 2 x 7 sheets from TUS for $90 total, first time run. Should be less the next round if I stick with it. 5 per sheet.

This is about .5" circumscribed.

33ymbs9.jpg
 
Got my stencil in last night and tried it out on a cracked blade. The etcher I built seems to work pretty well.

 
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