Etching your blades ??

[Wal]

Hi

 I have a 14 year old son that is turning out a few nice knives and is now at the stage he would like to etch his blades with a logo.

 What options does he have to do this ? I have seen the electric etching with a stencil and it appears most popular, and probably the best way to go. However I recently saw the knives of a fella who had passed away and the details told of how he made his mark was sketchy, it went along the lines of.......he had his logo on what appeared to be photograph negatives and he applied a solution to the blade then the negative on the solution and exposed it to UV light (told he just used the sun to best effect)and the light activated the etch.

 For the life of me I can't find a description of this process, but I don't really know what I am searching for either,   can anyone enlighten us a bit please ?

Below is a copy of a post I put on OZBOW (australian forum)of Tylers knives

Cheers


As some of you would have seen from my post in the photography thread I have a young fell Tyler, he's 14 and my middle son ,Jordan is 16 and Ant (Anthony) is 12. All are keen on the archery, guns , hunting and  fishing etc, But Ty is a bit of a hands on kid who has always looked at thing and tried to think how he could make it , so developed an interest in knife making, starting with a few kit knives off ****, then a local fella Adam Parker joined our club and that was it , tyler had someone who knew their stuff to ask questions and was good enough show some interest in a kid that was keen and continues to  be a wealth of assistance, advice and encouragement.

  I know he's my kid , but i am still a little in awe of some of the stuff he does, even though I am his harshest critic, and am always encouraging to push to make each the best he can and try new ideas. The majority are grournd from 1055 hi carbon steel with a few now starting to be done from ATS34 stainless that Adam can heat treat  for him, the leatherwork is all his own, I may have lost the best part of a shed corner to all his gear grinders saws etc and sick of a saw dust coating on everything, but he is gunna pick my old age home so i sort of have to support him  :biggrin:  

Anyway here's some pic's of his stuff, I'll encourage him to join up here and post more pics as he goes along in the future.

Cheers
Wayne


 

 

 


 


 

 


 

 

[Wal]

And a couple more

Cheers


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

o

[GrayRhino]

Nice work!    

[Lin Rhea]

Etching is pretty easy and is what I would recommend for him to start with. You need to help him start marking his work as soon as possible. Also, he has talent, so see that he has an opportunity to take a class or two. That would send him on his way to being an exceptional maker. It will also help him with several methods of constructing his handles. I look forward to seeing his work as time goes by.  Lin

[Lin Rhea]

Tried to send you an email Wayne but it bounced back.

[akaboomer]

I agree with Lin. Your son has talent, that much is certain. But he also has ambition and determination, that is uncommon in his age group these days, at least here it is. I would also suggest him joining the American Bladesmith Society. There is a wealth of information available.

I do hope to see more of his work soon.

Chris

[Kevin Evans]

I agree with everything these guys say ,
Great talent!


Tyler:Ask lots of Questions
Tyler:Please join ABS

Dad:Keep being the harshest critic of his work,but also tell him what he's doing right.

Advise:Just make each knife little better than the last.
If there s anything I can help with just ask.
My family is my harshest critic ,and it helps a lot

[Arrowest]

Congratulations Tyler on some excellent work. Keep at it and don't hesitate to ask questions, great resource of skill and knowledge here.

Dad, your son has some serious talent.  Continue to critique his work, but encourage him as well.  I would think that most of us have a critic in the house, I call my son the Quality Control Inspector.  Some excellent advice given above.