Question: Scratch

[mmcfarlin]

I put a scratch in a stainless steel flask I engraved for a client. This is not a deep scratch, light surface scratch. It seems to have a chrome? mirror polish. Anyway, client is upset and I'm afraid if I try and get the scratch out it will just make it worse. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I'm thinking of offering the engraving job for free, as the flask can not be replaced.

 

[JJ Roberts]

mmcfarlin get up a picture of the flask so we can see the scratch maybe someone here can help you. J.J.

 

[SamW]

I have found stainless steel scratches easily and gives them up grudgingly, meaning the scratches are hard to remove.

 

[allan621]

Agree with Sam with the unfortunate addition that if the steel is plated with chrome you have to remove the plating before removing the scratch. If not you will see the edge of the plating you removed. This is an unfortunate thing to happen. But I've learned through my own grim experience to not engrave plated material. And if they insist on it, they take the risk of damaging the merchandise beyond repairand pay for the time I've spent unsuccessfully engraving it. By bumping up the risk back to them it makes the customer think twice about insisting on stupid engraving projects. Saves a lot of arguments at the end.

Allan

 

[mdengraver]

Knowing which engraving projects to turn down is one of the greatest challenges of being an engraver! Thankless jobs! And the costly mistake of engraving an object your best judgment tells you not to do doesn't go unpunished!

 

[tdelewis]

Always know the material you are engraving. My self, I wouldn't touch anything that is chrome plated or any kind of plating. I would say if it is plated or just stainless it can't be that expensive. Look for a duplicate on Amazon and start over and chalk the loss up to experience.

 

[Sam]

I don't recall ever seeing plated stainless steel.

If its stainless then you can stone, burnish, and repolish, and it's a slow process. If it's chrome plated, then you're screwed. There's no simple way to fix an error on a plated surface without having to have it replated, which is something you really want to avoid.

 

[monk]

with client goahead, i have stippled an area into a "panel" shape, then engraved a monogram or such into the stippled area. this not possible if the scratch is in an odd area. or if it's off center. one coulld also sandblast and then engrave. one oh, poo ! erases a hundred, "attaboys" !! giving the job free ? that would be a sifficult decision, but would make for a happier client.

 

[allan621]

Sam, if you go over to Amazon you can see a lot of plated steel flasks. Sometimes the plating is a color to give the flask a better look and sometimes its chrome to give it a mirror finish.

In the late 1980's I had a lot of trouble with sterling silver being plated with a nickle alloy or a chrome plating. Couldn't cut it, couldn't polish it away. Incredibly frustrating. I had a long talk with someone who worked in one of the New England hollowware manufactures. The point wasn't to give it a good looking finish. It was to try and prevent the scratching that comes from improper handling. They fixed the scratching problem with the new plating. But the next problem was the return of entire runs of trophies that couldn't be cut right with either the New Hermes machines or the new computer engravers. And the fact that the plating was kind of a new process for some of the old firms which meant a lot of the pieces weren't cleaned right, which meant that some of the time the plating just flaked off. Sometimes in big big flakes.

After a little while the plating problem went away. Lesson learned. To be replaced by a new problem of asian manufacturers needing some time to get the revere trophy bowl to sit square on the base. That got solved as well. Now, there is very little new sterling trophy work.

Which reminds me of a story. I had to layout a new loving cup sterling trophy. Loving cups narrow as they go lower into a v shape. I talked to the customer and told him the options for listing names. He asked me what the best option was. I told him it didn't matter to me. He asked me why. I told him when it gets to that point that the options have to be decided on I'll probably already be dead ten years. The sales person looked freaked out by the remark. The customer thought about it and then agreed with me. He said he'd probably be passed caring about it at all by then, if not dead as well. I love helping the salespeople.

Allan

 

[mitch]

Allan-
YOUR story reminds me of two. Just recently a local upscale jeweler asked about engraving the winners' names, etc. on the base of a golf trophy and I gave them a quote. A few days later they asked if I would mind just working directly with the client because he's balking at the cost of my work, plus the shop's markup?

I told them to be perfectly honest I'd rather not do it at all, but would as a professional courtesy for their shop. If the client doesn't want to pay for hand engraving, including a reasonable commission for you handling the arrangements, he can go find somebody to do a crappy machine job. The manager said, "Thanks! We were thinking the same thing, but are glad you spelled that out."

The other involves a bunch of sterling cups I've engraved for a few major PGA events. When people ask who my favorite golfer is, I say "Tiger Woods!". Then they ask if I'm a fan and I say, "Not really, but his name is pretty short. I get paid by the cup, not the letter. Guys like Phil Mickelson & Brandt Snedeker cost me money!"

 

[monk]

Allan-
YOUR story reminds me of two. Just recently a local upscale jeweler asked about engraving the winners' names, etc. on the base of a golf trophy and I gave them a quote. A few days later they asked if I would mind just working directly with the client because he's balking at the cost of my work, plus the shop's markup?

I told them to be perfectly honest I'd rather not do it at all, but would as a professional courtesy for their shop. If the client doesn't want to pay for hand engraving, including a reasonable commission for you handling the arrangements, he can go find somebody to do a crappy machine job. The manager said, "Thanks! We were thinking the same thing, but are glad you spelled that out."

The other involves a bunch of sterling cups I've engraved for a few major PGA events. When people ask who my favorite golfer is, I say "Tiger Woods!". Then they ask if I'm a fan and I say, "Not really, but his name is pretty short. I get paid by the cup, not the letter. Guys like Phil Mickelson & Brandt Snedeker cost me money!"

hmm, this is a practical way of thinking. i've done a few multiple plates at times, and given the task of placing them in a pleasing order. not real easy when someone has a name with nearly the entire alphabet on board.