Thread: etching on blade

Hey everyone,


Just wanted to know how everyone feels about etched blades. The good, the bad, the ugly. Fire away.

Nice, when well done, but a potential site for the start of corrosion if the etching is not dryed fully.

I like it. I like it a lot. Really gives the blade some "pop". Like the plain ones, too, but I'm a big fan of etching. Particularly the deep etching like W&Bs and some others (and mine ). Hate the gold wash and frosted etching...just not durable.

Regarding the gold wash...

I've seen a few older blades on ebay where the only rust or tarnish on the blade has been ON the gold wash...

MMM speaking of etching... have you (Joe) considered offering an etching service for the personalisation of blades?

Originally Posted by Joe Chandler

I like it. I like it a lot. Really gives the blade some "pop". Like the plain ones, too, but I'm a big fan of etching. Particularly the deep etching like W&Bs and some others (and mine ). Hate the gold wash and frosted etching...just not durable.

What he said.

for me it varies from razor to razor.

for the most part i don't like etching, but sometimes it works. I'd rather keep it simple with a sleek looking blade

i like this particular etching:

http://www.classicshaving.com/catalo...940/190250.htm

as well as this:
http://www.classicshaving.com/catalo...940/190248.htm

i love the deep etching on the Celebrated W&B's

in general i like simple etching (like words) or something formal (like a coat of arms, or company logos like a lot of Crown & Sword razors) or etchings that fit into a theme

for the most part i dislike when blades have big elaborate pictures etched in them (like the ones you see with battleships or american presidents and all that jazz) infact i just finished removing the etching on a Boker (it said "World Columbian Expo" or something like that with a picture of a building...just awful!! go to CS and find the Dovo triligy themed razors...i hate those too. on the other hand i've seen some really cool elaborate ethings

not a big fan of goldwash. the one and only time i liked goldwash was the Sahara Gold Camel Rider razor that sold on eBay awhile ago. that razor had a theme going on. other than that i think it looks tacky. (and i know i posted a link to the coat of arms etching that has goldwash in the design...i don't like it there all that much but at least it's stomachable)

i have one of the Imperial Craftsman razors that i'll be cleaning and will probably strip the goldwash off (it's mostly gone already) before i sell it. I also have one of the TI Spartacus razors that i'll probably strip the goldwash off of (it's cheaply done and bothers me immensly). I have a filarmonica doble temple that will have the etching removed soon (when i bought it it was already mostly gone which was convenient as i was going to remove the etching regardless of whether it was intact or not, and it probably saved me a few bucks as others were probably turned off of the fact it had been partially removed)

i like the Dovo Mammoth etching...kind of a cool etching that fits the theme of the razor.

don't really like numbers on the shank either...wait, that's getting into stamping...

it's all about the personality of the razor. etchings can work, goldwash can work, but i prefer to keep it clean. i like what i like and it differs from razor to razor. sometimes it adds to the personality of the razor, sometimes it detracts. sometime less is more. That's probably the best way i can explain it.

Originally Posted by Lancer

Regarding the gold wash...

I've seen a few older blades on ebay where the only rust or tarnish on the blade has been ON the gold wash...

MMM speaking of etching... have you (Joe) considered offering an etching service for the personalisation of blades?

I do do that, although up until now, I've just used it to replace what was already there after regrinding, or on my own blades. Words are no problem. Don't know squat about graphics, though, so I haven't done so well adding pix. Nenad helped me out with that some.

I don't care much for etching and hate gold wash. Gold wash is just cheap gold plating that is short lived. Etching... it can be good, but is more often tacky than artistic, in my opinion. The frosty stuff is horrible and laser etching, so common among blademakers these days, is OK for production stuff, but I'm surprised so many custom knifemakers and such are using laser etching for their marks. It's easy and pretty inexpensive to farm out the etching but I think that takes something away from a quality blade. I've seen some hand etching done by masters that was absolutely incredible, though, and I may end up trying some this summer. It's just too hazardous to do indoors and it's a very tricky temperature sensivitive process but I'll admit the results are incredible with extraordinary depth and detail, so it is worth considering.

I was a little tempted to get one of the EZetch machines with stencils and stencil maker, but decided against it for aesthetic reasons.

I'm not a fan of laser etching, either. It's just surface, with no depth. I use electrochemical etching, which can go as deep than any stamp, plus you can make it very black, to really stand out. Robert's right, though, in that etching looks cheap on some blades, and really good on others. The blade (and the customer) kind of dictates what goes on a blade. Kinda like crappy filework or tang hammering, or various other embellishments...if done well can improve a blade. If done poorly, makes it look amateurish.

Originally Posted by Joe Chandler

I'm not a fan of laser etching, either. It's just surface, with no depth. I use electrochemical etching, which can go as deeper than any stamp, plus you can make it very black, to really stand out. Robert's right, though, in that etching looks cheap on some blades, and really good on others. The blade (and the customer) kind of dictates what goes on a blade. Kinda like crappy filework or tang hammering, or various other embellishments...if done well can improve a blade. If done poorly, makes it look amateurish.

Yep.

For those that do like etching, you can get one of these and etch any design you want based on any computer output you want. There's one called the etchomatic that's cheap but effective, too. "http://www.martronics-corporation.com/knifemaker.htm". The etch-o-matic startup kits are on Ebay for about $50.00. Ebay Etch-o-Matic link.

What electrochecmical stencil etching processes might lack in handcrafted artistry it makes up for by being very quick and very easy and there's a lot to be said for that.

If customers feel it's really a value-added thing for them, I'll probably get one of those slick little etch-o-matics, too, albeit with some reluctance.