The Old man and the Sea

santos · Apr 7, 2009

Hello all,

Iâ€™m making my 100th knife and my project is to engrave and anodize its titanium scales .
In one side it will be an old fisherman and in the reverse side a fish like a blue marlin or a sailfish.
Iâ€™ve cut 2 practice plates ( 20 X 35 mm) one with the old man in B&W and the other with the fish coloured by anodization.

Iâ€™m a bit disappointed by the colours of the fish and Iâ€™ve to work on that.

The old man has a few mistakes on the dark zones. Iâ€™ve cut a wrinkle too deep and it was not easy to burnish it on titanium.

Here are the plates, Iâ€™ll try to finish the knife and show it soon here. Thanks for looking

Greetings

Jean

qndrgnsdd · Apr 7, 2009

That guy is NOT old! just middle aged like me

Doc Mark · Apr 7, 2009

I agree, he's not that old!!! And,, although he loved to fish, he's better known as the author Ernest Hemmingway, who wrote "The Old Man and the Sea".

Mark

monk · Apr 8, 2009

allow my critique: both look excellent to me. esp the old man !

Andrew Biggs · Apr 8, 2009

Hi Santos

Looking forward to seeing the finished knife!!

You could always say the wrinkle is a scar!! :big grin:

Cheers
Andrew

rod · Apr 8, 2009

Hello, Jean!

Thank you for posting your practice plates for the new knife!

I am trying, late in life, to improve my sketching ( I have been an engineer, dealing only with straight lines and circles). If you will permit me, I see some small problems in the proportion of Hemingway's face on your engraving, and it reminds me that I have similar problems in my sketching. I find it very useful to analyze my problems by using Photoshop to push my sketches around a bit and see if I can determine what needs a bit of re-scaling. I do this by selecting, say the top of the face from the eyes up, and in the edit file, choosing 'transform/ distort'. Then I can lengthen or squash that part of the face to see if gets more life like. What a wonderful exercise it is, to draw the generic human face. We are all so aware of the tiniest differences in facial features.

Just to demonstrate this useful Photoshop property, I pushed around your engraving, just a little, by squeezing in the lower part of the bearded face, and stretching slightly from the eyes upwards, just to show the technique. I find that it helps me as a wanna-be sketcher, to play around with this very fluid and non destructive approach.

We look forward to seeing the finished knife!

best wishes!

Rod

Marcus Hunt · Apr 9, 2009

I see what you mean Rod but I was wondering if it is anything to do with the perspective? The plates are lying flat and the camera isn't directly above them so I'm thinking this could possibly be what's distorting the image?

What I'd like to know is more about the anodizing process. Does it fill the engraving at all or just colour it? Perhaps you could show us what you did to the fish Jean?

Like Andrew says, I can't wait to see the finished knife either.

Arnaud Van Tilburgh · Apr 9, 2009

Marcus, anodizing Titanium does not fill or add anything to the material, it is just a controlled way to oxidise the Titanium.
I can also be done with heat, but with less control about colours.

arnaud

KCSteve · Apr 9, 2009

Marcus

Santos gave a step-by-step tutorial of the process in post #15 (on page 2) of this thread

It's surprisingly simple to do - the trick is in controlling the color.

Marcus Hunt · Apr 9, 2009

That's neat Arnaud. I'd like to know some more about it......more hours on the computer no doubt!

Ron Smith · Apr 9, 2009

Jean,

My question would be: How are you isolating the areas you want colored without the whole thing turning if you are using heat? Are you using a heat stop formula or what?

Maybe you aren't doing it with heat, but chemicals.

Ron S

rod · Apr 9, 2009

Marcus Hunt said:
I see what you mean Rod but I was wondering if it is anything to do with the perspective? The plates are lying flat and the camera isn't directly above them so I'm thinking this could possibly be what's distorting the image?

True, Marcus, I agree the photo is not taken face on.

rod

Powderhorn · Apr 9, 2009

Ron;
The coloring is done with electrical current. For instance on Niobium, you use a solution of TSP (tri sodium phosphate) Which you can get at a hardware store. You use a stainless steel anode, and low voltage, generally no more than 6v DC. You can also use a stop off compound to mask areas that you don't want colored.
This just a quickie, and I didn't go into deep detail.

santos · Apr 9, 2009

Hi Owen and Mark,

Youâ€™re just right , this man is not old. The first time I read Ernestâ€™s novel I was fourteen and for me the fisherman was at least 40 years old. I read it again a few weeks ago and I think now heâ€™s above 75 â€¦or 80.

Hi Monk and Andrew my friends, tanks for your comments. Andrew Iâ€™ll try Maori scars in the next one :big grin:

Hi Rod,
You are very helpful, thank you. Photoshop is a very nice tool for us, and I appreciate very much your advice :beerchug:

Your transformation has better proportions , but the engraving is just like the photograph : Iâ€™ve used a printed transfer.

As Marcus explains the camera is not exactly above the engraving and the perspective distorts the engraving . The plate is not inked and to get some black and grey Iâ€™ve to find the right angle between the light , the plate and the camera . The sheet at the bottom is slightly curved , so Hemingwayâ€™s photograph is perpendicular to the camera

Thank you Marcus for your interest , as Arnaud and Steve said the oxidation of Titaniun reflects some wavelengths of light.
Itâ€™s well explained here :
http://www.valhallaarms.com/wyvern/titanium/anodizing.htm

Hi Ron, I havenâ€™t used heat for that but the anodizing process as I explained in this thread :
http://www.igraver.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2947

For the fish and for the sea I need a lot of blues from light to dark blue .
You have to colour first the areas who need the highest voltage. In such a little engraving the electrolyte smears quickly , so I had to make before a mask with a permanent marker around the area I was going to anodize. (I use fine Staedler markers)
Then, when youâ€™re using lower voltages, you havenâ€™t to mask the areas previously coloured, their colour wouldnâ€™t change . Try it , itâ€™s a funny process , but donâ€™t use voltages above 50 volts .

Itâ€™s not really easy to explain that. Writing English is a challenge for me isnâ€™t it ? Much like engraving :big grin:

Iâ€™ll take 3 or 4 photographs during the engraving of my knife.

Thanks to all.

Dulltool · Apr 9, 2009

Santos,
If you are depicting the fish from the "old man and the sea" I would go with the Marlin as they get to 1,189 lbs and sailfish only get to 221 lbs. The old man caught a Marlin.

Ron Smith · Apr 9, 2009

Your english is fine Santos, and so is the work.

How durable is that finish, and does it have a rockwell hardness? I know some anodizing does. You are doing this job on aluminum? I wasn't aware that you could do anodizing on anything else.

Ron S

santos · Apr 10, 2009

Hi Dennis,

I agree with you, the fish in the old man and the sea couldnâ€™t be anything else than a Marlin . The sailfish has a nice dorsal fin to engrave, but Iâ€™ll certainly cut a blue Marlin on the knife to follow the novel. Thank you

Hi Ron,

Youâ€™re very indulgent both with my English and my engraving,
This finish is very durable, Iâ€™ve engraved a crocodile knife and Iâ€™m carrying it everyday since 6 months and the colour lasts very well. See the knife below . Iâ€™ve another knife with a snake on the benchâ€¦
This oxide coating is not very hard and itâ€™s very thin , it can be removed with sandpaper. I donâ€™t know if titanium hardness increases with anodizing . But I think itâ€™s more resistant than any painting or varnish.
Iâ€™ve never try selective anodizing in aluminium, itâ€™s not the same process.

Hi Powderhorn,
Iâ€˜ve never see anodized Niobium , can you show us any picture with this coloured metal ? Iâ€™m very interested. Thank you Everett

John B. · Apr 11, 2009

Hi Santos,
Your crocodile knife is very attractive and well done.
Thank you for sharing it with us.
Did you make the knife or is it a production piece?
Either way, you have created something unique.

santos · Apr 11, 2009

Interesting link

Thank you John,

I made the whole knife. Knife making is another hobby.

A friend of mine give me a link to a website in UK.

Look at the work those guys and gals are doing on titanium, it’s awesome:

http://www.reflectionandrefraction.co.uk/delarge.html

Best regards

Jean

Powderhorn · Apr 11, 2009

Santos;
Give me a day and I will post some pics of some Niobium work.

The Old man and the Sea

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