Help, please: Jeweler

[Mitchell.trahan]

Is there a problem with casting 14kt. Gold knife handles and attaching it to pocket knives other than the cost of gold. Not much information about using all gold handles then engraving it. Been doing jewelry work for 25 years and was looking to try something different to keep interesting. Just been hearing men talk about their pocketknives and was thinking of getting into the engraving part of making gold handles and selling them. Any advise.

 

[Marrinan]

Take a look at the work of Hennery H. Frank. Many of his knives are made with karate gold completely. He is a German by birth and trained there. He lived in Oregon the last I heard. Fred

 

[Brian Marshall]

If you can possibly avoid casting you will get a better result.

Roll out the rough stock you need and then carve/engrave.


Brian

 

[silverchip]

I have made scales for hand made pocket knives from solid sterling silver by casting an ingot and rolling it out to 1/4 "stock.

 

[Chujybear]

Can cast. May have to weld in bits to correct porosity. Hammering surface will create density.

 

[jerrywh]

You don't have to weld in bits you can inlay easier. Casting is harder than rolling by far but it depends on the shape. Engraving 10K is easy. I use carbide gravers for gold but it may not need be for 10k. The 10K I have engraved holds detail better than sterling.

 

[silverchip]

There is no reason you can't cast an ingot of 14k and roll it out to the thickness you want or for that matter 10k. I am sure you could order gold in the thicknesses you are looking for if you don't have a rolling mill that is adequate. I am making four slip joint pocket knives for a custom order soon and the scales are solid sterling.

 

[Mitchell.trahan]

Thanks for the advice. Was gonna buy flat sizing plate of gold, enough for both handles. Going to try on small case Texas toothpick pocketknife. Running into problems already because don't know about pivots yet. Very new to knife making but excited to assemble it together. Still trying to learn about engraving plus figuring out what tools I will need. Looking for all grs tools for the serious business as these tools would work on my regular jewelry repair. Thanks again on advice.