Engraving mistake by Sam

[Sam]

Here's an engraving mistake I made a few years ago. I engraved about a half-dozen of these charms for a lady, and each one had a grandchild's first name on the front side and birth date on the back. She emailed me and said that one of the charms (this one) was engraved with the name going bottom-to-top as opposed to the others which went top-to-bottom. Well, there was no fixing this one, so I had to buy a piece of gold and saw out a new charm and engrave it, losing any profit I might have made! Oh well...a lesson learned. At least I have a piece of scrap gold

 

[Gargoyle]

I'm surprised you didn't just slice it in half down the middle, turn it around and solder it back together.

This is why, when I do lettering on buildings, I have the client come and sign off once I have it penciled on the stone, prior to cutting; I tell them I don't know spelling or grammar.

I've known carvers (especially with gravestones or memorials) who ended up in the middle of disputes when different branches of a family spell the last name differently.

 

[Sam]

Reminds of a headstone I saw in a Vermont cemetery where the stonecutter left out a letter and corrected it by putting a little up arrow ^ with the missing letter above the inscription. I guess you could get away with that in the 1700s, but probably not now!

When I get commissions for lettering I either have something in the customer's handwriting or in an email, and I can assure you it's saved my butt more than a few times. If it's in their handwriting I always make a photo copy for my records if I have to send back the original work order, as in the case of a jewelry store.

 

[rodsta]

This may be a good thread starter seeing the different ways that could solve a problem. It's always good to have a few tricks up your sleeve for times when things aren't working out quite right.....*smile
Sam, was there a reason that you couldn't just cut off the jump ring from one end and laser weld it back on the other?

Rod

 

[Sam]

Rod: That would be easy if I had a laser welder. I was out of town teaching when I was told about the error, so I ordered some gold, got it and finished it the next day and shipped it off.

 

[mtgraver]

I was demonstrating h/c engraving on site at a living history event about 15 years ago. A fellow wanted his name engraved on the top flat of his flintlock rifle barrel. Luckily I had him write it out so the spelling was correct, it was a long name with a "ske" on the end. He came back, picked up his rifle and paid with a smile. About 2 hours later he came back saying that I engraved his name wrong, My buddy sitting there couldn't believe it when I pulled out the card with his name on it and showed that I did what was asked. It was the last letter "e" so the only fix was to cut an "i" through it, actually didn't look too bad, good laugh for me but not him I'm sure.
Sam is absolutely correct, get it in writing before you cut and if at all possible get another set of eyes. I had an award plate to make for a show and took the info over the phone. Granted my hearing isn't the best so I asked a couple of times and thought I heard it correct, too many E's and P's together. I had added an E where it shouldn't be in this particular spelling. Luckily the gentleman wasn't in attendance so I remade the silver piece and replaced the mistake.
Mark

 

[Mike Cirelli]

A common name would have been nice. Ebay could have taken care of the mistake.

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

Reminds of a headstone I saw in a Vermont cemetery where the stonecutter left out a letter and corrected it by putting a little up arrow ^ with the missing letter above the inscription. I guess you could get away with that in the 1700s, but probably not now!

Here's another example on a headstone. It was originally engraved "Adged" and then crossed out the first "d":

I was demonstrating h/c engraving on site at a living history event about 15 years ago. A fellow wanted his name engraved on the top flat of his flintlock rifle barrel...

Several years ago a friend of mine made a nice replica of a hawken rifle. When he engraved it, he made a spelling error: "J&S Hawken - St. Lewis"

 

[Gargoyle]

Here's an old Italian marble plaque with an interesting letter layout. Note the little "e" on the upper right.

 

[silverchip]

Mark- Maybe you should have put JK for fun on the end after fixing the "e"--- LOL

 

[Andrew Biggs]

After 30 years in the sign trade, no matter how hard I tried, spelling was always an issue. It was never the complicated words because you looked those up in the dictionary and double checked. It was the words you thought you knew that were always the problem. Double check, triple check.........and you can still get it wrong

The best one I ever made was in 6 foot high letters on a banner. Instead of HAMBURGERS........ I wrote HAMBUGERS. The worst part of it was I never noticed it because I kept on reading what it was supposed to say, not what it actually said. Fortunately the owner of the shop had a sense of humour.

And then their was the time I spelt my own name wrong........but we won't go there. It's too embarrassing

The old saying about tradesmen is still relevant today. "A good tradesman knows how to fix their mistakes" or if it can't be fixed then replace it...........immediately!!!! It's not the mistake that normally gets you into trouble, it's how you deal with it that really counts. I've seen some really bad examples of people trying to BS their way out of a mistake and it has cost them dearly.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Ed Westerly]

I have always heard that the difference between a master engraver and an also ran is that the master engraver finds all of his early work, buys it back, distroys it, and never speaks of it again!... Guess that's not true on this forum!

 

[Eric Olson]

Another note: for "ID" bracelets (or other items) that may have the plate engraved front and back,
be sure to figger out which way the bracelet will be flipped - vertically or horizontally.

 

[monk]

i gotta agree with andrew on his reply. honesty up front, can make one feel uncomfortable and downright awkward. but in being honest, and willing to repair the damage, at whatever the personal loss, if the client is a reasonable person-- you still have the client and perhaps have gained even more trust from them. i've learned this on my own== didn't have to read it in a book !

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Sam, in a way it is good to know also you and others make these kind of mistakes like I did on the bell. And it is like Andrew says, it are the words we think we know how to write them that probably have less attention.
Yes Andrew I needed to look several times before I figured out it was HAMBUGER.

Arnaud

 

[Willem Parel]

Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

I think this explaines a lot why we make these kind of mistakes, even when reading it over and over again.

 

[silverchip]

I barely can type as I had t o laugh at my self forrr beeing abble too reeeed this!!!!!! and Yes I have made spelling errosr while ingraiving two!!!

 

[Ed Westerly]

Willem, that post of yours is priceless! Just loved it.

 

[Tira]

I second that! Priceless! Amazing that it could be read so easily!

One thing I do to proofread is go letter by letter backwards. Sometimes even upside down. I was not good at spelling as a kid and really don't want to have to fix lettering problems after they've been engraved.

 

[billrice@charter.net]

OK everyone after reading this thread I have to tell you about my day today. I am a Blade Smith by hobby ( in other words I only forge a few knives per year or when I have the time ) other than my RR spike knives I teach a basic knife forging class and I use a RR Spike as the teaching tool I make one as I am showing the student how to forge his own by the end of the day the student has a nice knife and some basic knowledge on Knife forging. He takes his home and I have a finished RR Spike knife to put in my store for sale they do real well in this Vacation Area. Any way I have a customer from NC in and he wants to buy one of my knives and he can see that I am also a engraver so he asks me to engrave three letters TMB plus a date. easy peasy He leaves to get lunch and I sit down to engrave and for some reason I do not read off the paper TMB I read TMS and get busy engraving . He comes back and is all excited about being able to ship this gift off to his son today. Well when I hand the knife to him he looks at it and wants to know who TMS is oops any way I take the knife back from him and I reload it back in the vise and I am able to make the S into a B and it looked reall good when i finished. He was happy and we shipped off the knife. I can tell you what from now on I am attaching a very big sign on to my Microscope that reads Check - double check - Triple check the spelling. I know everyone has their sxperience with this problem and I hope this was my last time it happens to me It is not a great feeling. This just happened to me today