question for knife engravers

[griff silver]

hello, I am intrested in trying to make some knives, however i dont know much about it. I bought a "premade blank to engrave on it was 440c stainless that had been crogenicly?? tempered and i could not engrave on it. So my question is: if a knife is engravered on the blade is it ALWAYS done before tempering? also does it go into the hardning process polished as though it were done?
PS i dont know how you guys engrave hardened guns, if there anything like knives.....WOW!

 

[pilkguns]

very few gun parts are as hard as knife blades in general. But some knife blades can be engraved normally, and this would be knifes like Case, or Schrade. Don't ask me why, always test in an inconspicous area.

 

[Christopher Malouf]

There are knife makers ... and particularly blacksmiths who make some very nice knives that selectively harden the blade. You can tell when the cutting edge has been hardened by the "hamon" line that runs just above the edge along the length of the blade. Above the line is some sweet steel for engraving.

 

[McAhron]

Knife maker here.We use two types of steel.One is called high carbon,it is tool steel,the kind that rusts.The second is stainless steel.To harden a carbon steel blade it needs to be heated till non magnetic and quenched in the appropriate oil to harden it.Then it is put into an oven for tempering which selectively softens the blade to a desired hardness.With a carbon steel you can quench only the edge of the blade leaving the spine soft which will allow you to engrave it.Stainless steel is air hardening.It is heated in a foil packet and quenched by either exposing it directly to air or by quenching it by placing it between two plates of aluminium to rapidly cool the blade.Then its oven tempered too.But since its air hardening the whole blade will be the same hardness,so you will need to engrave stainless before heat treatment,although there are some who are masochist who use carbalt and do it after heat treat.

 

[Hot Knobs]

Blades

Like the others have said the blades are to hard to engrave after heat treat, if I have blades engraved thay are taken to a 400 grit finish, after heat treat I hand finish them with 600 grit diamond paper on a block. I never buff my blades, do this on stainless and tool steel. You could put some 416 stainless or nickel silver bolsters or garde on a pre made blade and engrave them. Will try and post a picture of a 440 blade that was engraved pre heat treat. Deane