Trophy Cup

[jeff Cadzow]

I have a old trophy cup that I would like to use. It is obviously rotary engraved. I would like to be able to reuse it, but the last line is a problem.
I assume that it is not possible to remove the "Grade B" text with out destroying the cup. I was wondering if it would be possible to disguise the B ? by engraving a flower or other symbol over it. Or possibly descuise teh entire bottom line with a banner. The cup is for our Air Rifle club and the name of the club is the Eagle Eye Air Rifle Group.
We would welcome any suggestions.
Regards Jeff.

 

[jeff Cadzow]

More pics

 

[WWC]

Novice here, so may not be worth much compared to what you get from others. There may be 3 options depending on what the base material is and whether it is plated or solid. Engraving looks fairly deep in pix, so mild "erasing" doesn't look like it would work. Some options might be inlay, overlay or jeweler laser weld filling. If it were mine & was not particularly high value, I'd probably see what a jeweler says first and if I didn't like that, I'd start by chucking it up in my lathe, take a narrow wheel on my toolpost grinder and grind the straight part of your banner down to the bottom of the engraving (you can do this with a graver, but it's going to take you a lot longer and the lathe setup ensures the grind is perpendicular to the rotational axis and is straight - a Foredom could be set up to do this if you have no lathe) & either work on that surface or inlay a dissimilar metal or ivory in the cut and then engrave the dissimilar metal or scrim the ivory. You could probably do the inlay with undercutting like you probably have seen on the forum used to inlay gold wire, but you may end up having to glue the inlay too, especially if you use ivory since your inlay material won't flow like a precious metal. I assume you want to cover it up to put the name of your club there or something. If so, another thought is to see what you could do in the way of coming up with a stylized eagle's eye and cover it up with that. An eagle's eye is recessed, but it is not black (except in the center), and there is a very dark shadow above the eye adding to the perception of depth, so part of the required excavation is already done by implementing the artwork. If you want to do the eye in color, india ink, etching ink or acrylic artist colors might work. The difficulty you would have with covering it up with an eagle's eye is that the eye is pretty close to round, and you have a fairly long text line with not much space above it to work with - hence the need to "stylize" the rendition a bit. Maybe put the eye on the buttstock of a Sheridan and use the airgun stock & barrel to cover up the text? Random thoughts, FWIW

 

[monk]

i have changed a few like you have. i stipple frosted the area, oxidized it and then engraved a suitable design thru the black. never had a complaint. naturally, feedback was sought from the clients.

 

[jeff Cadzow]

Thanks for your response WWC, The lathe is too much work and the cup is only plated. but I like the Eagle Eye. I was originally thinking that I could work an eagle head over the B but an eye would probably be better and I will explore that option. Thanks.

 

[jeff Cadzow]

Monk, I dont suppose you would have a photo of your work

 

[monk]

Monk, I dont suppose you would have a photo of your work

no. i found taking good fotos were a greater challenge than was the engraving. if you have something to practice on, engrave a letter or symnol. then stipple a rectangloe ,circle, or oval. oxidize the chosen stippled area. then engrave a small design or something appropriate to the actual award. very easily done.

 

[jeff Cadzow]

no. i found taking good fotos were a greater challenge than was the engraving. if you have something to practice on, engrave a letter or symnol. then stipple a rectangloe ,circle, or oval. oxidize the chosen stippled area. then engrave a small design or something appropriate to the actual award. very easily done.

Thanks again. i will trial your method it sounds like it will be a good option.