I put the final touches on this Spyderco Delica last night. After completing the front side I turned the knife over and put the Valentine’s Day date and signed it from Kelly. That all went very smooth. Final part of the project was to engrave the back edge of the knife. I used a wheat pattern here and it looks great.
I’ve attached a few photo’s of the completed knife.
Spyderco Delica engraved with western scroll
Dated Spyderco
Kelly's Spyderco "Wheat pattern"
I spent two hours finishing up the scrolls and shading them with fine lines. I was trying to figure out how to embellish the music notes when it dawned on me that lines of sheet music begin with a treble clef. So I drew in a treble clef and a few quarter note and a full note and it was just the look I was trying to achieve.
Hope you like it so far.
Spyderco Delica front side completed
While I’m waiting to finalize the Vaquero designs I have time to work on a knife project. This is to be a present so we collaborated on the design to get it just right. Kelly as in “Kelly’s Cowboy Company” in Durango and I have worked on a few project together. Rodeo prizes and brand knives to mention just a few.
So we started with a Spyderco Delica and some western scroll, and since he works with music we added a few “notes” to make it more personalized. You can see in the photo that I changed the design from the drawing to the knife. I like the look of the large scroll vice two smaller scrolls.
I have the name cut and the backbone of the scrolls engraved. I’m trying new geometry on this graver. It was recommended that I switch from a 90 degree graver to a 105 degree graver. So far I am loving how the cuts look and how easy the new graver is to guide.
Draft design and final drawn on Spyderco
Next will be shading the leaves and some backgrounding.
More to follow – stay tuned…
Scroll Backbone and name engraved.
After a wonderful Christmas holiday and recovering from the ringing in of the New Year it is back to work at the engraving bench. I actually finished all my Christmas engraving projects and got them in the mail for delivery before Christmas. It was a mad house here for a few days as I only left the bench for meals and bathroom breaks. I was really pleased with each of the jewelry projects and so were all the customers.
The next big project will be engraving a matched pair of Ruger Bisley Vaquero’s in .45 Cal. I’ve been drafting designs for about two weeks now and getting closer to a perfect design.
Definitely doing the back strap with scroll and owners name, frame, cylinder locking gate and maybe a bit on the cylinder. Hopefully I will be able to meet with the gun owner early this week to put the final approval on the designs. Once it is approved I can start the process of putting the design on the parts, sharpening all my graver’s and start making headway on this pair of beautiful pistols.
Photo’s soon…
Finished Sterling Silver Buckle
I put the final polish on this project today. Last night around 2200 I left the workshop thinking I had this finished. I had it all polished and even took a few photo’s. I took it to my “Quality Control” expert and she thought it looked great – except (I hate it when she says that) that you forgot to date it.
So I spent a restless night thinking about the date and where to put it. With the buckle attachments in the way the locations that will work are limited. After tossing in bed all night I got up early and went right to the shop and looked at the buckle. It was immediately obvious that the only place to put it was low right corner and very small.
I free handed the numbers with a 120 degree graver. The very first number was a one. And just as I feared the rim of the buckle is in the way of the cut. So I switched graver’s to another 120 degree graver but this one has a huge heel. I was thinking that a big heel on the cutting edge would allow me to float a bit and not require such a drop of the elbow for proper cutting. It worked perfectly.
It took another two hours to remount the buckle to hold for engraving, decide on location, engrave the year, un-mount the buckle from the GRS Thermolock, clean and polish the buckle (again).
Sure could have saved a lot of time if I had engraved the date the first time (before soldering on the parts). Oh well, it is done.
This sure was a nice project. John was really helpful in knowing what the design should look like so when I drew up a draft he made a quick choice and that was instrumental to making him part of the project. He also had a good idea of what he wanted the monogram to look like and he also had the idea to hide a favorite object on the buckle. That was fun too.
I guess I can divulge the secret item – a Ladybug. Hidden on the buckle. And no I will not tell you where to look. Go find it yourself. I’m sure John won’t point it out to her either. That will be part of the fun. I might even start hiding objects in all my projects just for the fun of it.
Here’s a photo of the buckle. I hope you like it and I hope you can find the “Lady”.
Now I know John will just die when he see’s this little video. I’m shooting this just for fun and to illustrate how hand engraving looks to those who have never seen the process. It is a silent film but if John were shooting it it would have music and fade-in’s and outs and be in focus too.
I’m making the left side cuts to the border design for this Sterling Silver Buckle. The 120 degree graver is placed at the starting point and the graver cuts while I steer the metal with my left hand. It is a combination of slowly turning the ball-vise and graver at the same time. All while looking down through a microscope at 10 power. A real eye – hand coordination test.
It is a slow process and it takes a lot of concentration. So it is not the kind of work that you can sit down and do 4 hours at a time. I do 15 minute sections. Then take a short break. Gives my hands and my eyes a relief period and helps me stay fresh.
I hope you enjoy the short show.
Finished this knife tonight. The fastest I’ve ever done a knife from design to finish.
A pretty simple engraved western scroll design and lettering so it went fast and smooth.
Master Sergeant Spyderco Endura reverse side.
Hope you enjoy it.
Master Sergeant Spyderco Endura knife.
I try to keep my engraving work schedule loose enough to cover contingence’s such as this. A good friend and neighbor needed an retirement present for a retiring Master Sergeant. I thought no problem – when do you need it? Tomorrow!
So I stopped work on the silver monogram buckle just long enough to put this knife to the head of the line. So far I have I have six hours into the design and front side of the Spyderco Endura.
The stainless steel of the Spyderco is cutting very well. I’m using a 120 degree for the lettering. I like the bright cuts for this Celtic font. A 90 degree graver for the outline of the MSG rank and a combination of 120 degree and 90 degree graver’s for the scrolls.
Now time to flip it over and finish the reverse side…
Master Sergeant US Army - Retirement present
Snowing and blowing outside, 18 degrees and dark. Perfect weather for engraving inside!
I made great progress on the Sterling silver buckle today. I cut all the scroll leaves and shade lines and about half way finished with the backgrounding.
The photo shows the unique Monogram letters. Really a fun project to design but even more fun trying to figure out the best way to engrave such letters. I relied on my tried and true method – I engraved a complete monogram on a copper practice plate. There are so many options with graver geometry, direction of cut, width of cut and where to flare and where not to. All kinds of ways to do this so I spent about an hour on the practice copper.
I did each letter a little different, trying to find the best technique to really show off the monogram. After running the practice plate by my “Quality control” consultant she picked the same style that I liked the best. After that it was full speed ahead with engraving the silver buckle monogram.
I would have finished the backgrounding today but I had a phone call from one of my favorite Navy buddies. His oldest son is getting married and he wanted some advice on Diamonds and settings. Gee, I remember that young man as a baby so it is hard to believe that it has been 27 years already. She’s a luck girl because he is a terrific young man. But of course the “apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. I knew he’d be a good man because he had a great family life. Maybe he’ll need a nice silver buckle for his fiancee!
Back to the trophy buckle. Trying to come up with a nice border design to finish this off. I’ve measure the space and there is plenty of room all around the buckle. I’ll take a pad of paper with me while I watch the Charger game tonight and sketch ideas. Then tomorrow morning I’ll have it all figured out. Another method that works great for me.
Backgrounding the KSC Silver buckle
Trying to watch Denver Bronco’s and still stay on my work schedule has been really hard to do today. Denver won again and I finished the monogram. I love it when a plan comes together.
Sorry for the low light but I took this photo with my iPhone. You can see that this is a nice and intricate design. Lots of bright cuts to catch the light and big enough to recognize from a distance.
I am using a 120 degree graver and a relatively slow speed. Frequent graver polishing on diamond has kept the bright cuts really shiny.
Now I’m starting the flowers and then the scrolls. Can’t wait to see it all come together…
Engraved KSC Monogram
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