Barry Lee Hands 24k gold overlay work in progress

[Barry Lee Hands]

1.
Teeth raised
2. and 3.
Applying the gold
4.
More gold

 

[monk]

beautiful, barry. what graver did you use here to raise the hooks or teeth ? just curious to know. one can see this will turn out like much of your signature style. tyvm for showing.

 

[Jan Hendrik]

Superb work as always. I love to see your works in progress on the rare occasions you post them. If I may ask was the blade already hardened and tempered when you cut the recesses for the gold inlay?

 

[Sandro Boeck]

Excellent job
I saw the photos that the edge is not cut deeply. You could show how do?
I am knifemaker, and I would like to inlay the mark on my knives, Damascus steel is the mark disappears.
thanks

 

[Barry Lee Hands]

Superb work as always. I love to see your works in progress on the rare occasions you post them. If I may ask was the blade already hardened and tempered when you cut the recesses for the gold inlay?

Hi Jan,
The recesses are cut when soft, then hardened, polishished with grey scotchbrite to remove the scale, pressure washed and inlay/overlain.

 

[Barry Lee Hands]

Excellent job
I saw the photos that the edge is not cut deeply. You could show how do?
I am knifemaker, and I would like to inlay the mark on my knives, Damascus steel is the mark disappears.
thanks

Hi Sandro,

Here are some pics after I have cut the outline, after that, I raise teeth inside:

 

[dlilazteca]

Barry,

I have a question, i see you are inlaying square wire, my question is, as you inlay the square wire how do you keep from it overflowing to the sides, is it semi-annealed? or dead soft? any special techniques you can share.

Thanks

 

[Barry Lee Hands]

Barry,

I have a question, i see you are inlaying square wire, my question is, as you inlay the square wire how do you keep from it overflowing to the sides, is it semi-annealed? or dead soft? any special techniques you can share.

Thanks

dead soft, and it does spill over, so I trim it with a single point 90 graver.

 

[JMiller]

Beautiful knife, your work with raised gold on knives is some of my favorite....
do you size the gold to fit perfectly or a hair under since it spills over?

 

[Barry Lee Hands]

Thank you.
Perfect or a hair under, and then trim After it squishes out.

 

[Jan Hendrik]

To trim the gold after securing the overlays must take extreme skill not to leave marks on the knife blade!

 

[Barry Lee Hands]

True, although the blade is hardened already, so it is not as difficult to avoid scratching as soft material.

 

[Marrinan]

a brass flat will do a good job removing excess gold with little damage-tip from Marty/Fancygun

 

[Barry Lee Hands]

Yes, true.
I guess i like to do it the hard way - I use a glensteel single point and am careful.

 

[Dani Girl]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-32-square-brass-12-long-CZ121-/231676256581

This might make good gravers for trimming gold?

Fantastic work that Barry, and thankyou very much for sharing with us

 

[Marrinan]

Dani, Perfect!

 

[Barry Lee Hands]

Hi Dani and Fred, and thank you- It would work, however it would not give the bright cut on the edge that i am looking for.
During my teenage years i was very fortunate to have been trained in western silver to cut a bevel or flange cut on the edge of an overlay, and although it is a bit of a challenge to do it neatly without damaging the background - as long as i am focused on what I am doing I find it is not too difficult.
Over the years I have installed and cut thousands of gold overlays and practice makes perfect, or at least very good.
The hard part has always been the self dicipline to keep the tool in the metal 8 or more hours a day.

 

[Dani Girl]

I hear you on that last part Barry.

Can I trouble you for my benefit and for the thread for guages and details...

The stippling you're doing for the leaf overlay is just deeply stabbing a sturdy needle point that's like 30 degrees at the tip for strength vs depth (I am guessing)

With this technique you could use really really thin sheet gold if you wanted to save money or go as thick as you like I think.

(I'll stop cluttering this cool thread now )

 

[Barry Lee Hands]

I hear you on that last part Barry.

Can I trouble you for my benefit and for the thread for guages and details...

The stippling you're doing for the leaf overlay is just deeply stabbing a sturdy needle point that's like 30 degrees at the tip for strength vs depth (I am guessing)

With this technique you could use really really thin sheet gold if you wanted to save money or go as thick as you like I think.

(I'll stop cluttering this cool thread now )

Hi Dani,
I am happy this interests you.
You are very talented.
You can use much thinner gold, as done in damascene, but if you disregard the cost of materials and pour it on - your clients will notice.
Size does matter when it comes to thickness of gold sheet.
Just make sure you have control of your pricing.
The sheet is .012 inch the wire for the stems is 22 and 26 gauge.
I call this style of teeth raising louver, or arch.
The punch raises an arch. I am told the arch is the strongest shape in Nature,
in any case its much better and stronger than a tooth.

I developed this method after first visiting the Ali Hussein mosque in Cairo to study the 12 foot high 13th century damascened doors, here is a detail:



next I went to London to observe the technique of Ken Hunt in his studios in London at the suggestion of my very good friend David Trevallion who used to work with Ken and Lynton..

Trevallion with Ken and baby Marcus:



Trevallion with Peter Nelson:



Working in Trevallions shop:




Thanks to the intro from Trevallion, I was able to visit Ken and Marcus, and learned a lot while I was there.
Ken is an incredible artist and fascinating conversationalist, if you are interested in the history of british engraving.


Learning at Ken's bench:




Next I visited Phil Coggan ( learned how to organize gold wire from Phil, hehe), Then, at Ken Hunt's suggestion, I traveled to Kyoto to study Japanese damascene.

Studying damascene in Kyoto:










A year or two later learning more from my fellow students and instructors at Bottega Giovanelli when I visited my daughter Alyssa while she was studying bulino.

My daughter Alyssa:


I combined all I learned from their techniques, and what I had learned previously working for Gary Gist and with Dan Goodwin and Steve Huff over many years - to create this process.

here are some more pics:
Trimming the edge with a glensteel singlepoint 90. . .

 

[davidshe]

Thank you so much for posting this interesting, informative and helpful thread Barry!
Do you undercut the edges of the leaves and vines before applying the gold or do you only raise the teeth? Also, I would be interested to know how you go about cutting out the gold leaves to match the cavities? Do you transfer the leaves from the original drawing onto gold sheet and then use a jewelers saw? Thank you!