Thank you Steve. I am looking forward to this as I have a gravermeister, just have not really had a chance to use it other than for minor embellishment. So tips, techniques, and advice on engraving would be great.

Brion

A number of years ago, I attended a GRS class taught by Steve Dunn. I've come to understand there are two types of people who engrave knives....1. Those who use a knife strictly as a canvas for engraving..while those indidvidual's work is outstanding, I personally do not like this type of work, because in my eye the engraving very often out shines the knife. 2. Are the people like Steve Dunn, who knows/understands how to utilize just the right amount of engraving to enhance the given knife, rather then overtaking the knife.

Engraving is all about practice. Setting aside an hour or two EVERY day, is what it takes to get good. (I'm far from "good"). Time is another big factor with engraving...there have been many times I've sat down at the engraving bench after supper, only to have my Mrs. say "Hey! Are you going to bed tonight?!" I look up and its 11pm. Then I look back down at what I'm working on, and have about a square inch of engraving done! <img src=' http://www.americanbladesmith.com/ipboard/public/style_emoticons//smile.gi f' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

There is so much to engraving, and so much to learn, its likely something I will never master...but it can certainly lend another dimension to your knives!

One of my favorite bits of engraving I have done was the Titanium Wedding cake set that I made for my Daughter and her Hubby. Titanium brings its own set of issue to engrave, like increasing the angle on the graver to 60+ degrees, and knowing its going to take time.

This simple engraving took me 4 full days to finish:

I got a GraverMax about ten years ago for the purpose of carving and wire inlay on sword hilts. It is only now that I am starting to dabble with what I would call real engraving. Ed is right- practice, practice, practice. But I have made it one of my goals this year to be able to include some engraving on my knives that is at least acceptable. The problem I am finding is the amount of time spent on the activity before it is up to a level where it can be an asset to my knives. Like so many other things with a learning curve, all it does is cost you money (time=money) until you reach that point where it can be an asset, a hard thing to do when you have blades that have to be made.

I had to think about this topic a while, before posting it for the topic of the month. Engraving is a great way to embellish your knives, so the appeal of doing it is strong. There are a few ABS Forum members who do engraving and likely many more who are contemplating getting into it. For the forum members who are already doing engraving, there hopefully will be information posted in this thread that will help them improve their work. For those contemplating getting into engraving, perhaps the information posted here will help them with that decision.

Taking a class at the GRS School of Engraving is a great way to get started. The school has fantastic facilities for the class as well as excellent instructors. I took the beginning engraving class, with Steve Dunn as the instructor. It was during this class that I realized the first real hurdle to my being able to do quality engraving. In this class, GRS provides the students with nice little practice plates to engrave on. These plates already have on them, the artwork for the student to cut. GRS also gives the students a folding knife, with stainless steel scales. This folder is for the student to create his/her OWN engraving design on. As I sat in my hotel room contemplating the side panels of this folder, it occurred to me that I had absolutely no idea how to draw engraving artwork. I had never seriously studied engraving art. I never took an art class in drawing. I was never the type to doodle on paper. There is nothing to engrave, until someone draws it. That someone will be you, if you decide to take up engraving. Can you create your own artwork for your engravings?

I don’t mean for my previous comments to suggest that GRS did not provide enough teachings in the class that I took. I signed up for an engraving class and that’s exactly what was taught. The class was great and I learned how to use a graver to cut steel. But, GRS also has classes on drawing art for engraving. I did not sign up for the class on designing artwork. THAT is the class that I should have taken first. I should have looked into whether I had the skill and aptitude to draw the artwork, before I spent the time and money on classes and tooling to cut steel. I wish that someone had pointed this out to me; and so I do it for you now. At the very least, get some of the books available on designing engraving art and study them. See if you have the aptitude to draw and shade this type of art correctly. If you cannot draw it, shade it and make it look realistic on paper, it will be difficult for you to create decent engravings from your art. Good artwork, cut with less than perfect skill will look okay. But if the artwork is bad, no matter how nicely the lines are cut, the engraving will look bad. Creating the artwork for engraving is quite another skill from cutting engraving. If you are good with a pencil and can draw respectably well, then you have a starting advantage over dummies like me.

I'll come back to this thread with information that will be helpful for those who have jumped into engraving and/or are trying to decide if engraving is for them.

A couple of my hunters with some simple engraving:

My previous post was very pointed about the necessity of being able to correctly create the artwork for your engraving. I meant it to be. But even for people like me, who have absolutely no skill with drawing, there is help available.

GRS has books on designing artwork. "The Art of Engraving" by James Meek is a classic. This book was written some time ago, so the engraving instruction is mostly about using hand gravers. But, the information is very good. The Art of Engraving

Ron Smith has written two books on artwork designing. "Drawing and Understanding Scroll Designs" and "Advanced Drawing of Scrolls". Ron Smith's Books

GRS also has a number of books that show examples of all kinds of artwork. These are great for planning your project. Art Books

Another great reference book is "L.D. Nimscke Firearms Engraver", by R. L. Wilson. This book is out of print, but often can be found for sale on Amazon. Nimschke was a renowned firearms engraver in the late 19th century. His engraving has influenced nearly every engraver that followed him. The book includes a large number of pulls from Nimschke's works. The book is a fantastic reference for period engraving art.

The absolute best instructional information that I have found on designing artwork, is by Lee Griffiths. Lee is an incredible artist and one of the finest engravers in the world. He is also a great instructor and he teaches engraving at the GRS School. I took one of Lee's classes a few years ago.

Lee has a book and DVD set that is awesome. In "Art and Design Fundamentals", Lee covers how to plan a project to fill an area with artwork. He demonstrates drawing scrolls, leaves, flowers and borders. And also how to do shading. The two DVD set, has nearly three hours of instruction. Art & Design Fundamentals

You can buy the book and DVD set separately; but get them both. The information that Lee provides in the book and on the DVD set is virtually identical. Having both the book and the DVD set is best, because it is very helpful to actually watch Lee drawing the artwork and hear him explain the important aspects of the art. The book is easy to reference when you are working on a project, so you don't have to put the DVD in a computer and search for the information.