I have had a few people ask me about the stippling/texturing that I do. I will try to explain it, moderators let me know if this doesn't belong.
First I would like to give credit to the person who taught me how to do this, Ed Caffrey, a Mastersmith from Great Falls, Montana. Ed's work is simply amazing. Caffreyknives.net for some great examples.
Start with your knife completely finished, I usually go to at least 400 grit, all scratches need to be removed before you start texturing. I use a Foredom tool with the 1/6 hp motor, bigger is not better here. The weaker motor is easier to control. less torque. Use a pencil or colored pencil to mark to area to be textured, be creative but remember it should add to the piece not detract from it. Do this drawing by hand not with a ruler, it looks better if it's not perfectly straight. It should flow not look angular, hope that makes sense. After drawing in both sides of the handle place your knife in a Moran Style vise that allows you to rotate the handle 360 degrees. You should have a ball cutter chucked in the Foredom tool, along with a flexible shaft and a foot pedal.
Now comes the fun/boring part, make sure you have a firm grip on the tool and plunge the ball cutter into the area to be textured. Depth is approx. the diameter of the cutter ball about 1/16". this creates dust of course so if you have a small fan use it to help clear the work area. This process will take you a couple of hours to do, do not rush it. One reason for finishing the handle before starting the texturing is so that you can see any areas you missed in the first pass, make sure to go back over the areas you missed or the skipped areas will show up shiny. That's about it as far as instructions go, like all skills it takes a bit of practice but it;s not that hard.
Couple of random thoughts:
Do not use majic markers to draw off the area to be stippled, it can go deep on some woods and bones.
Brace yourself for torque from the motor or you will have deep scratches and grooves that you did not want! Work with a up and down motion, not side to side.
This technique will work on woods, bones, ivorys, and leather.
I hope this helps you guys, and explains how this technique is done. This is my first time trying to explain how to do something on the internet, let me know how I did.
Thanks!
Topic: Texturing Tutorial (Read 1403 times)
