Gold Inlay Discussion, cont...

[mitch]

to continue the recent discussion about gold inlays ("Gold Overkill"), here are a few shots of a simple cattle brand I just did on a very nice Rick Genovese folder. in the other thread i was trying to explain how one should make an effort to artistically elevate the use of gold above simply the crass addition of precious metal. the following shots help illustrate the basic concept of what i was saying.

the 1st shot is the basic cattle brand- a "Rocking K", flush inlaid in gold. yeah, it's fancier than just engraving it in the steel by virtue of the gold, but artistically it's really no better.

the 2nd pic shows the addition of a fine outline- this at least sets off the gold, which can pretty much disappear in a polished surface (sometimes gold inlays are virtually 'invisible' in B&W photos, their tone matches the surrounding steel so closely). as long as the client is paying for the inlay, one might as well do what one can to make it stand out.

the 3rd shot shows the final product with a dramatic shadow. in this particular case, it not only creates the illusion of raising the inlay up off the surface, but also adds movement to the 'Rocking K'.

the 4th is my suggested update of the old-fashioned cattle brand, but Rick didn't figure the client would go for it...

 

[Sam]

Nice, clean, perfect inlay job, nice photo series, and great drop shadow. And everyone should notice your perfect restoration of the knife's original finish which is one thing that separates the amateurs from the pros.
I've added this post to the Tips Archive. Thanks!

 

[SamW]

Home, home on the range? Mitch...

 

[K Frei]

So I've been struggling with this myself

So I've finally gotten a flow designed for a knife I'm working with, and I'd really like to inlay it but I can't seem to find a way to not make it look like a patch job, or that I just threw it in.... Just like you have been talking about. Are there some good examples I could study; that may help me through my design issue?

Thanks K Frei

 

[AndrosCreations]

Sam (The Dictator) - - Those are my sentiments... the inlay and artistic work are impressive... no question. But I would consider the refinishing of the bolster the supreme challenge and beautifully executed here.

 

[eastslope]

I really like what you did with that brand with the shading. Thank you for sharing this and I also really enjoyed the drawing although it would be quite difficult making that iron, let alone getting it to work on the side of a cow.

 

[Weldon47]

Mitch,

You are a man after my own heart!!

Luv the "rockin K"!!

Weldon

 

[Marrinan]

Mitch, You are with out a doubt in mind one of the worlds masters of gold work. Your "flat shaded" works is certainly among the best. I went through my captured images form forum posts after reading your last post. Fantastic! Over done-I DON'T THINK SO!!!!-Fred

 

[rayf24]

Mitch
Another fine example of inlay clean and tasteful with excellent design concept
Ray

 

[tundratrekers@mtaonline.n]

How do we Know,that he had to refinish the knife?

Maybe he's just real careful.mike

 

[Sam]

If I'm not mistaken that knife has stone (agate?) scales which means you are restricted to metal and can't touch the stone with an abrasive. This complicates refinishing exponentially. Obviously it's best to minimize the scuffing of the steel when stoning or sanding the gold flush with the surface, but there's no way to eliminate it that I'm aware of.

 

[kguns]

Well that would be nice.

 

[mitch]

iirc, i believe Rick said it's actually some variety of dinosaur bone and the surface is not really polished perfectly flat. i can't quite describe it, but it has kind of a pebble grain texture like some leathers. you can feel it more than see it. it's very well finished, but not flat smooth like stone or pearl- i'd guess it's a result of harder & softer components in the aggregate. i have no idea how Rick polished it, but it looks very nice. thankfully, the relatively small engraving area allowed me to avoid it entirely.

 

[mitch]

I really like what you did with that brand with the shading. Thank you for sharing this and I also really enjoyed the drawing although it would be quite difficult making that iron, let alone getting it to work on the side of a cow.

thanks- that reminds me of the only cattle brand joke i know:

Two ranchers were talking and one asked, "What kind of cattle do they raise on the Swingin' H-Lazy J-Double Bar X-Rocking S-Flying W-Slash D?"

"Tough ones."

 

[tundratrekers@mtaonline.n]

Maybe he uses an indicator/revealer,such as a thin coat of laquer.

And when down to this level with stoning,switches over to the final abrasive grits,and never actually touches the bolster with anything but the final finish.

mike

 

[bronc]

Beautiful work Mitch!!!

Stewart

 

[Sam]

When refinishing a knife that has pearl, ivory, or stag scales, engravers can sand over the steel onto the handle material without any issues (assuming you know what you're doing). Stone scales in interframe knives require different polishing techniques that normally only the knifemaker can do. For instance, polishing jade gets the knife so hot that paper stuffed inside the knife can scorch brown. And oftentimes the knifemaker can't restrict polishing to just the handle material, and must sand and polish over the entire surface of the knife.

Back in the day when makers started using stone scales in interframes, some engravers scuffed up the finish on the stone attempting to polish the steel after doing gold inlay. Their efforts failed, the knives had to be sent back to the makers for polishing, and the engraving was ruined in the process.

So the object is to do a perfect re-polish without touching the stone inlay. Very tricky and very time consuming, and can only be done by hand as far as I know.