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- Aug 13, 2002
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Here is a basic tutorial I promised about doing a silver inlay in a blade. This one is for the Inquisitor which should finally be done in a week or so.
First of course, you have to do the cutout for the inlay. I did not get pics of that part, sorry. For mine I used the mill for the basic shape and then needle files for the details. I would advise you to keep it simple for your first try, even the smaller details on this cross makes it a lot harder.
Once you have the cutout done and well cleaned, you need to make the filler piece. You want it about 50% thicker than the blade so that you dont run out of material when tapping it in. You also want the best fit you can get. That's what gave me the most trouble. I finally settled on some clay that you bake in the oven to make a mold that I will then cast in sterling silver.
I pushed the clay through the the cutout until*it protruded about 100% of the blade thickness from the other side. Then popped the blade in the oven at 230F for about 30 minutes. I let it cool and removed the hardened clay. Used a jewellers saw to cut the the cross loose and needle files to clean it to get a tight fit. The clay shrinks when it hardens so the fit is not perfect but close enough for our purpose.
I then used some Delft clay to cast the cross in silver. Here is a picture of what the mold looks like. I did not take pictures of this process because you can find great tutorials on YouTube that explain it much better than I ever could. I must say that I just loved this simple and relatively inexpensive system. (120$ for the aluminium rings and about 4lbs of clay I think plus about 35$ for a crucible and handle).
Here is the casting right out of the mold.
Cut the extra silver and some more file work to make it fit.
As you can see from the pictures there is still a little gap but again, for our intended purpose, I think that it is close enough.
Now time to cut a v-channel on the inside of the cutout. This could have been done with a Hart Burr in the Foredom if it was done when it should, that is when the steel was still soft. But of course I had to do things the hard way with hardened steel. I used a v graver with the Gravermeister (pneumatic engraver).
It is not the prettiest of v channel but will be plenty enough to give us a mechanical bond when the silver fills the cutout.
The silver cross goes back in and it is hammered from both sides to make it expand and fill the whole cavity. Switch from one side to the other frequently to make sure that you don't hammer the silver lower then the surface of the blade. You also want to pay particular attention to the sides so that there is no gaps between silver and steel. Since you cant see if there is a gap or not until the next step, spend a little more time hammering the perimeter to make sure.
Now the fun part. Time to remove the excess silver. I used a file first, being careful not to scratch the almost finishes blade. I then switched to sandpaper backed with a steel bar first and then a sanding stick made with hard rubber glued to a wood backing.
That's it, time consuming but not really complicated. And I must say that it looks really good, especially with an acid etched blade like this one where the contrast with the silver is really good. The silver could be polished for another look or even engraved, but that's for another knife.
Hope this inspires you to give it a try and helps you with the process.
Thanks for looking.
First of course, you have to do the cutout for the inlay. I did not get pics of that part, sorry. For mine I used the mill for the basic shape and then needle files for the details. I would advise you to keep it simple for your first try, even the smaller details on this cross makes it a lot harder.
Once you have the cutout done and well cleaned, you need to make the filler piece. You want it about 50% thicker than the blade so that you dont run out of material when tapping it in. You also want the best fit you can get. That's what gave me the most trouble. I finally settled on some clay that you bake in the oven to make a mold that I will then cast in sterling silver.
I pushed the clay through the the cutout until*it protruded about 100% of the blade thickness from the other side. Then popped the blade in the oven at 230F for about 30 minutes. I let it cool and removed the hardened clay. Used a jewellers saw to cut the the cross loose and needle files to clean it to get a tight fit. The clay shrinks when it hardens so the fit is not perfect but close enough for our purpose.
I then used some Delft clay to cast the cross in silver. Here is a picture of what the mold looks like. I did not take pictures of this process because you can find great tutorials on YouTube that explain it much better than I ever could. I must say that I just loved this simple and relatively inexpensive system. (120$ for the aluminium rings and about 4lbs of clay I think plus about 35$ for a crucible and handle).
Here is the casting right out of the mold.
Cut the extra silver and some more file work to make it fit.
As you can see from the pictures there is still a little gap but again, for our intended purpose, I think that it is close enough.
Now time to cut a v-channel on the inside of the cutout. This could have been done with a Hart Burr in the Foredom if it was done when it should, that is when the steel was still soft. But of course I had to do things the hard way with hardened steel. I used a v graver with the Gravermeister (pneumatic engraver).
It is not the prettiest of v channel but will be plenty enough to give us a mechanical bond when the silver fills the cutout.
The silver cross goes back in and it is hammered from both sides to make it expand and fill the whole cavity. Switch from one side to the other frequently to make sure that you don't hammer the silver lower then the surface of the blade. You also want to pay particular attention to the sides so that there is no gaps between silver and steel. Since you cant see if there is a gap or not until the next step, spend a little more time hammering the perimeter to make sure.
Now the fun part. Time to remove the excess silver. I used a file first, being careful not to scratch the almost finishes blade. I then switched to sandpaper backed with a steel bar first and then a sanding stick made with hard rubber glued to a wood backing.
That's it, time consuming but not really complicated. And I must say that it looks really good, especially with an acid etched blade like this one where the contrast with the silver is really good. The silver could be polished for another look or even engraved, but that's for another knife.
Hope this inspires you to give it a try and helps you with the process.
Thanks for looking.
