Quick Review: Ernie Grospitch Stencils

David Schott

David Schott

Joined
Sep 27, 2004
Messages
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I recently needed to re-order new maker's mark stencils. My last ones were home-made from a knifemaker friend and I had always been forced to fight them and clean them up when they were done.

I contacted a number of places and most wanted an absurd setup fee to type my name in a particular font and hit "save" on their computer.

I contacted Ernie at http://erniesknives.com/Etching%20Stencils.htm

I sent him a quick image of the font I wanted on Friday. Wednesday the stencils were in my mailbox. They are VERY nice quality and work fantastic. Clear, crisp etches and he gave me two sizes to fit smaller and larger blades.

Total cost for setup, stencils, and delivery was $30. This is cheap enough that one-off stencils could be made or one each year with the date on them and still be economical. I got 10 total stencils and each will last multiple knives, so they could probably last me a few years as a part-time maker.

I highly recommend Ernie for anyone needing stencils.
 
For what it's worth, I paid $70 for two sheets of stencils from IMG, would have been $50 for setup and my first sheet. I made Pat work for over a week until I liked the stencil art and it was exactly what I wanted. I know what my time costs per hour, so I didn't feel bad paying for hers. Now I can get my sheets for 10 bucks each plush shipping and I'm happy.

They have a minimum setup like that because some people work them to death and others are easy to do. It averages out I figure.
 
True....depending on what you want, I can understand the art fees. I just didnt want to pay $50 setup since all i wanted was "D. Schott" in a certain font that I already had in a PDF.
 
I understand where you're coming from, I think our stencils are often less complicated that other industries' so the standard fees seem a little overbearing.
 
I placed an order with Enrie after reading this thread.
Sent him an email on May 22, and stencils are in my mailbox this morning, May 27. And that's coming from frickin Florida!
I'll second that recommendation.

Mike
 
I did the same after reading this post. I had stencils within 3 days of emailing him. I emailed him what I wanted, he emailed me back because I had a question and boom here are your stencils. He's got a thumbsup from me.
 
Thanks for this thread. I'm very much behind on getting a mark on my blades!
 
Im glad to hear he got some sales from this thread! Its good to support a knifemaker by buying stencils he makes...keeps the money in "our" court!
 
I thought about emailing this question to Ernie or to you, David, but hey, might as well let everybody benefit from the answer, right?

So this is the first time I will have etched any knives; I've always just stamped them. I thought that the stencils for electric etching were supposed to be vinyl with the letters cut out, so that there are openings where the liquid touches the steel. These stencils have a blue background and yellow letters, and they seem to be a solid piece. What gives?
Do the yellow letters disappear? Are they actually cut and I just didn't notice, and I need to pull them out? Does the etchant/electricity go through the yellow somehow and not through the blue? What's the deal?
 
Nope these stencils are almost like silkscreening stencils. The yellow is the membrane that will allow the electrolyte through the stencil, and hence, the electricity through wherever they have the yellow. Where the vinyl is, nothing will pass through electricity-wise and you won't get any etch.

Youll want to clean your blade. I do this with acentone followed by a scrub with steel wool to get any acetone resiue off. You'll place the stencil where you want, tape it to the blade so it cannot move, then apply electrolyte to your marking machine pad, then begin on the "etch" setting. Do passes of 5-8 seconds, then remove the pad to allow the stencil to cool a bit. Then do a series of these (test to see how deep each pass makes the mark). Once you think you've etched deep enough, set your machine to "mark" and repeat the passes to put a dark black oxide layer into the mark you just made.

...at least that's how I do it!

I have a piece of steel where i've etched for 1 pass through 20 passes to see how deep I want it. I love DEEP etches, but as you get deeper, you start to lose a little definition on fine lines, so you'll need to cater to whatever mark you are doing. *Disclaimer* if you mess us a deep etch, you will never be able to sand it out.
 
David Schott said:
The yellow is the membrane that will allow the electrolyte through the stencil, and hence, the electricity through wherever they have the yellow. Where the vinyl is, nothing will pass through electricity-wise and you won't get any etch.
Click to expand...

Perfect! That's exactly what I needed to know. :)
 
MSCantrell said:
Perfect! That's exactly what I needed to know. :)
Click to expand...

I'd never etched or seen a stencil before so I thought I had ordered something wrong. I went ahead and tried it and came up with a good looking etch.

Side note, I made the etcher off of Chris Crawford's tutorial and use a mixture of salt, vinegar, and water for the electrolyte. I use it on cpm-154 blades. The only thing I haven't figured out is how to get it to stop rusting once I blacken the mark. I"ve tried using dish soap and water to clean the etch afterwards, but it still rusted. I saw something about using baking soda so when I go to messing with it again I'll try that.
 
I've been using Ernies stencils for about a year and couldn't be happier, a dozen or so stencils for $30 and I'm getting about 30 and possibly more cuts per stencil off my personalizer plus how cheap can it get.
 
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