Buck knife

[Big-Un]

Here is my attempt to engrave the Buck knife with Ron Smith's artwork on it. I tried it strictly for the exercise in tool control with such small scrolls and such.

Bill

 

[allan621]

That looks pretty good for such a small knife. How did you hold it? I've been thinking about getting a couple of these to engrave as gifts. How did they cut? Did you have any problems with the points of your tools breaking a lot?

Allan

 

[Big-Un]

I used ThermoLok from GRS and it held fine in the vice and there seemed to be no vibration. In fact, it cut pretty good. My graver is 115 degrees with a uniform heel of 15 degrees and I experienced no breakage. Just to be on the safe side, the face and heel were touched up for the second side. If you are going to do these for gifts, be prepared to spend a lot of hours on them. The first side took between 6 and 7 hours, but the second side was done in approximately 25% less time. If you figure $50.00 per hour, that is $600.00 worth of engraving. Of course, as you get more used to the design and tools, you will be faster and you can either charge less for the piece or charge the same and pocket more of a profit. For gifts, the cost is not an issue. Good luck with them. For my opinion, I would get the knife and place my own design on them. The knife cuts real good.