Maker's mark

K

KDX

Well-Known Member
I finally got my stencils today. Now I need to get familiar with the etcher. And make some good knives of course. It's my initials for the curious.

IMG_20150217_194523_hdr_zps36f20f79.jpg
 
Looks great! Use several small timed pats with a three count instead of leaving it on the stencil till you roast it.
 
I'm gona preach a little, so bear with me. If you ever intend to sell your knives, please do yourself a favor and use at least your name. I can't count the number of people who have come to my shop with a knife that only had initials, or some obscure "logo" on it, asking me to help them find the maker so they could order another knife. Tracking down a maker by initials or a logo is impossible (unless its a long time/well known maker). A name will at least give someone a starting point to find you... Something they can type into an internet search engine.

OK, preaching done. :)

On the etching.....I have the best success with "wiping" action. I tape the stencil in place, give a spritz of windex, moisten the pad with etching solution, and then do about 10 "wipes" each direction on AC, then about 10 wipes both directions on DC to draken. The windex solved all my issues with marks "bleeding" or "frosting" around the edges.
 
Ed, are you putting the windex over the stencil or under it? I put it under it and it seemed to help a good bit but there is still a bit a shadowing.
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
I'm gona preach a little, so bear with me. If you ever intend to sell your knives, please do yourself a favor and use at least your name. I can't count the number of people who have come to my shop with a knife that only had initials, or some obscure "logo" on it, asking me to help them find the maker so they could order another knife. Tracking down a maker by initials or a logo is impossible (unless its a long time/well known maker). A name will at least give someone a starting point to find you... Something they can type into an internet search engine.

OK, preaching done. :)

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Ed is smart and right on.
 
EdCaffreyMS said:
I'm gona preach a little, so bear with me. If you ever intend to sell your knives, please do yourself a favor and use at least your name. I can't count the number of people who have come to my shop with a knife that only had initials, or some obscure "logo" on it, asking me to help them find the maker so they could order another knife. Tracking down a maker by initials or a logo is impossible (unless its a long time/well known maker). A name will at least give someone a starting point to find you... Something they can type into an internet search engine.

OK, preaching done. :)

On the etching.....I have the best success with "wiping" action. I tape the stencil in place, give a spritz of windex, moisten the pad with etching solution, and then do about 10 "wipes" each direction on AC, then about 10 wipes both directions on DC to draken. The windex solved all my issues with marks "bleeding" or "frosting" around the edges.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I'm in my 26th year of being a guard and I strive for anonymity in my personal life as I don't want inmates/gangsters knowing anything more about me than I can help. That is the reason for choosing to use my initials. Once I retire and move away from where I am I can look at changing my maker's mark. Am I being overly paranoid, probably, but it's my nature to be cautious when it comes to my family.

Please explain the windex usage more and do you ever clean the back of the stencil?
 
What kind of etching solutions are you guys using? Are you all using Ernie's recipe for electrolyte?

KDX, your etch looks good, sorry to hear you cooked a stencil. I hope I don't cook one, mine should be here soon.


Don
 
I'm using some from usaknifemakers that does both steels.
KDX - I have been applying the windex to the steel then stencil on top of that. There is a good video someone had floating around here on it. I use the neutralizer boss sells on the blade and stencil then a drop of dawn on the stencil to clean it.
 
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