Question: stainless knife handle question

Dani Girl said:

I cut one of those when I was fairly new. It's pretty hard stuff... but go with the harder gravers. They'll chip... but just focus on your tool control to reduce that... and dub the points. I've also heard that finishing them fairly coarse like 1500 or less will cause less chipping if you'd believe it. Try going a little more shallow on hard metals... don't force the tool... when it doesn't want to move don't push harder just drop your hand a little a nd a little until it starts moving by itself.

I haven't tried it but folk rave about grs c'max stuff.


Please post pic when you finish it we'd all love to see.

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I know I went on a long time in that last post, but I forgot a few things about SS. When I read Dani Girls's post it reminded me. I too found that I could not engrave near as deeply on SS, as I usually do softer on materials.
When I sharpened past 600 grit on diamond wheel with GRS powerhone, I had worse fractures, and chips more often. I will try this again (sharpen to polish on ceramic with diamond spray) with more of a dub in the future on SS.
When I mentioned the sweet spot. on a soft steel, the angle of attack can be a window of say 20 degrees(just a guess, I never measured it, it is way more than on a SS piece). On a SS piece, the window is less, like 5 degrees. If I get below that angle, I slip out and scratch work. If I get above that angle I bog down / break point or worse, fracture point. The GRS C-max really helped! I have never had the C-max fracture. When I use up my Ngraver carbide, I will buy only C-max carbide, unless someone comes out with a tool that never breaks and never needs to be sharpened! How cool would that be!

P.S I know I talked about firearms a lot, but I went from practice plates, to knives (yes SS also) and some bad ones, to firearms. Some of us new to engraving are going through, or have recently been through the same problems that you face. We are happy to help you, just as others have helped us. Good luck!

I just remembered something else that may help you. I use the same graver geometry for cutting everything (thick, thin, soft, hard). I adjust my SPM according to what I'm cutting. Thin silver matchbox cover or brass Zippo lighter, 4200 SPM. Soft cap / ball pistol, 2300-3200 SPM, Hard A@! Ruger and hard SS, 1200-1600 SPM. For shading I go with a higher SPM than what I cut main structure with. I had less point breakage, definitely on the hard stuff, with a slower SPM.
This just goes to show you how much we can forget as engravers. I'm new to engraving, but, I have just dealt with these same problems in the last year, and I am having trouble recalling what I did. What we learn just seems to just become something we do as second nature. It actually will help me remember these idea's by helping you.