When to engrave

[AKHammonds]

Question for all knife makers who engrave on the blade. Do you engrave before or after heat treating. Would seem to be to hard to engrave after and the decarb would mess it up if you engraved before. So how is the trick done?????

Thanks
Allen

[CWKnifeman]

A lot depend upon the steel being used. Most engravers would prefer to engrave prior to heat treat. After heat treat about the only way that it can be done easily is with a high speed handpiece, or by acid or heavy water engraving of which there are only a few that still do it that way (mostly in the European countries. A lot depends on what is to be engraved. I hope that this helps some. When getting a blade ready to be engraved it needs to be as finished as it can be prioi to heat treat, at least 400 grit finish. It also needs to be heat treated by someone wh is accustomed to heat treating engraved blades.
Curtis

[Thingmaker]

Originally Posted by AKHammonds

the decarb would mess it up if you engraved before.

I don't understand. Why would carbon content effect the engraving?

[CWKnifeman]

It is not the carbon content that is the problem it is the decarburzation that has to be done after heat treat. With high composition steels that is not necessarly a problem, but with high carbon you have no way to keep the steels carbon (scale) from building up around the engraved area. Post heat treat engraving of high carbon blades can be done easier than engraving on high composition steels due to the various makeup of the steels.

Like I said it is not the carbon content, but the different ways that the steels are heat treated.

If the engraver is just using a high speed engraver to do the engraving then it can be done post heat treat without any problem.
Curtis