Critique Request Military Insignias in knife steel

These are my first attempts at engraving military insignias on a knife. Critique please. Anyone have some other examples of similar? Thanks, Robbie

the airborne design, is, i think-- very good. the calv insinia doesnt show well on my screen. :clapping:

not quite the same, but here is a clan crest I did in gold, about the size of a nickle.

Robbie:

1.) The Airborn insignia looks pretty good but would benefit from a border around it per my attachment.

2.) The background needs more work to make it smooth and flat.

3.) The overall appearance looks over sanded/polished. The eagle edges seem rounded off from sanding. Your goal should be to keep it flat, sharp, and crisp, as polishing really spoils engraving.

4.) Nice job on the lettering.

That's some tough steel you're working in! Me, I refuse blade steel but you jumped right in and got 'er done. :bow:

diandwill said:

not quite the same, but here is a clan crest I did in gold, about the size of a nickle.

Click to expand...

It appears to be heavily polished. The engraving isn't sharp. Be really careful about that. All polishing should be done BEFORE engraving and none afterward with the exception of very light deburring if necessary. Polishing your engraving spoils the sharp edges.

Thanks all - appreciated.
diandwill: I like the thistle. I've incorporated my interpretation of a thistle in my logo (ThistleCrest). I noticed you are in eastern Washington. I'm from Spokane. If you are so inclined, please send me an e-mail and let me know what town you are in.
Sam: Thanks for your review and constructive comments. The outline you applied really helps the overall appearance. Your advice on polishing well taken. This insignia is normally seen as a fabric embroidered patch - I have seen it on a "class A" uniform with feathers (not standard). Do you think feathers (if well executed) would improve the appearance in steel? Background removal was tough, in part because of the hardness of the steel. Do you think a high speed rotary burr would be useful here or should I stick with a flat graver? Regarding knife steel - as I'm a bladesmith, I do need to continue in efforts to engrave it. I do have some control of hardness with differentially heat treating the spine, ricasso, and tang but, as you know this stuff is still quite hard. I've found that attempts to engrave this steel with very hard gravers (e.g. proprietary carbide) produces a very clean cut for an extremely short period of time before chipping (even with relatively steep face angles). I'm back to using HSS with frequent re-sharpening. I ordered 3 of your DVD's this a.m. Thanks again.