Stamp Question

Sando

Sando

Knife Maker
Joined
Jul 4, 2002
Messages
1,148
I'm thinking about getting a makers' stamp. (Instead of etching).

Question is for you forger types, when do you stamp? Just before heattreat? Do you have to anneal before you stamp? Do you stamp when hot?

How about stamping annealed stainless?

Thanks Guys,

Steve
 
Steve, I started with a stamp and went to etching after 20-30 knives. It works fine on stainless provided you can control it from double-stamping. Using a press like Kit displayed today or something like a dead-blow hammer may help. Some kind of positioning jig is also beneficial. It would cause the impression to stay the same depth across the stamp. I personally don't like it when I see an expensive piece with a letter or two washed out on one end from uneven depth.

I wonder whether using a hardened stamp repeatedly in hot steel ("hot stamping") would slowly draw the temper such that if one went to stamp a room-temp stainless blade it would ruin the stamp?
 
I stamp when hot on rustic pieces and normalize a couple of times afterwords.

When I want to be sure of placement , I stamp cold.

You most definately can stamp annealed stainless.

I also have a roll of material from Marking Methods that I can stamp and use with my etcher.

Theses things are pretty tough. They are O-1 and can take the abuse.
 
I stamp cold before hardening. I have one of Al's stamping presses, it makes life much easier. Stamping is an art, and it takes some practice to get good at it. If I was smarter I would move to an etch, but I like the antiquity of stamping ;).

Matt
 
I stamp hot before heat treat, but if I where using a punch type mark, I might change that... my touchmark is made from a ball pein hammer head, and has a nice handle on it, serves 2 functions:

1. I can tell when I'm on level by the angle of the handle

2. My knuckles don't get burnt.

Tony
 
crex has a neat stamping gadget. pre-heat-treat. I'd like to make something like that sometime. Clean and simple. Wish I could describe it properly....maybe crex will chime in?


I sent off a quote request the last time this came around (can't remember the company)...came back at $250....:(......I guess it might be worth it in the long run....but that would get me halfway to a decent mini-mill.

I may end up doing some precision grinding and making my own.
 
Here's what mine looks like:

tochmark.jpg


Tony
 
I use a stamp and think it just looks better. I milled the ram on my arbor press to accept the stamp and it works great for holding the blade down and you don't have to worry about double stamps or shifting.Dave :)
 
Wow,

Thanks for the ideas. I called one place and got a quote for $120 for 3/16" square mark. I'm worried about the double stamp thing.

Over a year ago I bought some stencils, but never got them to work. They always burned before a decent mark was made (tried all sorts of voltages and techniques). I think I got the wrong kind. Their blue I believe.

I figured a stamp would be less hassle. I really like the idea of using a press. Dave, I assume you use the press to hold it in place and then smack the top of the press bar with a hammer?

Steve
 
I've always used a stamp too, and built a little jig to hold it steady - reduces the flinch factor swinging a four pound hammer at my hand... :D And keeps everything lined up for an even impression. The modified arbor press works the same way, and I think Riverside Machine sells one ready to go. My jig is adjustible for different sized stamps, which is better for me since I also use number stamps to serial number the blades.

I always stamp right after grinding and before normalizing and HT.

I got both my stamps from Harper Manufacturing in Las Vegas. If I remember right they were about $120-$150 including the setup to work from my own art. Took about six weeks to get delivery.
 
OK Dave-buddy, my turn to ask :)

Does your jig go in an arbor press or is it stand alone?

I have an arbor press, but don't have a way to modify the ram.

I'm thinking I could use some kinda jig and the press? Maybe an aluminum block that has a hole for the stamp to go thru and a notch underneath for the blade to slip under the stamp. The block would just hold the stamp upright.

Steve
 
It's just a standalong thing I made out of scraps of stuff in my shop. I'll try to post a pic in the morning but I'm hitting the hay right now...
 
My new stamp came in finally. I milled out the ram on an old 1-ton arbor press, but I'm not really excited about the results. It's fairly easy to get repeatable results when trying to keep the stamp perpendicular to the blade, but its a shooting match keeping the stamp from becoming skewed, i.e. one side of the name has a deeper impression than the other side. I'm a stickler for getting that part perfect. Ah wt-heck... I'm a stickler for all parts to be perfect. :rolleyes:

Anyhow, I might get Evers to make me a stamp with a round end and maybe I'll buy a new arbor press and redo it. The old one was rescued from the dumpster at work, and definitely has seen some abuse.
 
Jeff, you would laugh at how I fixed the rounded end problem.Not wanting to grind my new expensive stamp I milled a piece of 1/4" rod in half and cut it the width of my stamp and inserted it in the slot above the stamp before tightening my set screws.Worked great.I also drilled and tapped the top of the ram to accept a steel cover to hit so it takes the hit instead of the ram and doesn't mar up the ram.

Steve, getting the ram milled at a local machine shop shouldn't cost much and you can drill and tap the set screw holes yourself. Dave :)
 
Here's a pic of my jig. There are short slots cut in the back of the support so that one of the uprights can be adjusted to accommodate different sized stamps. That way I can use it for both my maker's marks and for all letter and number sets. Some day I'm going to have to replace the anvil part because it's getting a little divot in it under the impression area. ;) This was just bolted together one afternoon out of crap laying around my shop. It's worked pretty well.

StampHolder.jpg
 
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