Basket weave pattern

Jan Hendrik · Mar 8, 2015

I had a knifemaker ask me to engrave something quick on a knife that he made. My shading still needs a bit more refinement, I know. This is a continuous strive toward perfection! The engraving was done in 316 stainless steel. Total hours spent on both bolsters was roughly 9 hours.

Sam · Mar 8, 2015

Very well done! I like it. :clapping:

Jan Hendrik · Mar 8, 2015

Thank you Sam! I followed your advice on a previous post of mine of a family crest i engraved with gold inlay. I now pay very close attention to back cutting my outlines. Thanks!

Dad of 3 · Mar 8, 2015

Very nice! Jan thank you for posting how long it took as well. I'm really starting to get my head around the hours spent on some of the nicer works I see that have been done. Can I ask how do you guys maintain a decent shop rate and still produce this level of work? I really try my level best to charge 60.00 per every hour doing anything but if I'm not careful end up closer to 50 to be honest. Do you have buyers that understand the level of time and skill put into your work and are still able to charge over 500.00 to do that work? The reason I ask is we hit 50-60 per hour using a few bucks in tools and want to add engraving but would hate to be into engraving for thousands of dollars and lower or billed shop rate in the process.

Jan Hendrik · Mar 8, 2015

I hear you Dad of 3. To be honest i charge well below what most engravers here on the forum would consider reasonable tariff per hour. South Africa differs radically from the US in our monetary value system as well as the value people here place on exclusive work. If you convert it to US Dollar my tariff here comes to $15 to $20 per hour. I have considered immigrating several times in the past as my skills are totally undervalued in South Africa. (Jewellery designer, master goldsmith, diamond setter, gem cutter and engraver). The difficult part is to find a company willing to take you as a worker from another country on a work visa.

Dad of 3 · Mar 8, 2015

Jan I completely understand I can only hope your costs are much lower there, I don't know as I've never been there. Sometimes I forget to be thankful for all the opportunities we have here. You can take some comfort in your ability to produce very nice work no matter the location.

Sam · Mar 8, 2015

Jan Hendrik said:
Thank you Sam! I followed your advice on a previous post of mine of a family crest i engraved with gold inlay. I now pay very close attention to back cutting my outlines. Thanks!

Yes, there's obviously a LOT of back cutting on a job like this with all the straight lines. This is very neatly engraved and you've left a bit of whitespace exactly where's it's needed.

I did a sculpted version of this years ago you might be interested in.

Peter_M · Mar 8, 2015

This is very nice, almost looks like a nightmare to lay out.

Peter

Jan Hendrik · Mar 8, 2015

sam said:
Yes, there's obviously a LOT of back cutting on a job like this with all the straight lines. This is very neatly engraved and you've left a bit of whitespace exactly where's it's needed.

I did a sculpted version of this years ago you might be interested in.

I would love to see your sculpted version Sam.

Jan Hendrik · Mar 8, 2015

Peter_M said:
This is very nice, almost looks like a nightmare to lay out.

Peter

The layout was actually quick to do. I used Corel draw to draw a grid, Then turned the grid 45 degrees. This was then transferred to the metal via acetone transfer method. I then erased the unwanted extra lines of the transfer and started cutting.

monk · Mar 8, 2015

neat & sweet !

don hicks · Mar 8, 2015

Very nice job, thanks for posting the hours spent. I often see beautiful work on this forum and wonder how much time the artist invested. As in every art form, it's tough to get paid a reasonable hourly rate. Thanks again.
Cheers
Don

Peter_M · Mar 8, 2015

Jan Hendrik said:
The layout was actually quick to do. I used Corel draw to draw a grid, Then turned the grid 45 degrees. This was then transferred to the metal via acetone transfer method. I then erased the unwanted extra lines of the transfer and started cutting.

Jan,
Keep forgetting we got the aid of graphics programs, that be the way to go on a job like that, doing that by hand be challenging I think.

Peter

Basket weave pattern

Jan Hendrik

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Sam

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Jan Hendrik

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Dad of 3

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Jan Hendrik

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Dad of 3

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Jan Hendrik

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