My First William-Henry Knife

[Doc Mark]

Well, I feel I've finally gained the first step into the rarefied atmosphere of the "professional" engraver. Although I've sold a few knives and some jewelry in the past, I am very pleased to say that I have now done a knife for William-Henry Studios. I salute their commitment to launching several engravers into a larger pool of customers and encouraging us to "design at will", so to speak. Rick Thronburg told me that their new emphasis at William-Henry on custom engraved knives has been successful for them and for the engravers. I like a "win-win" situation. They occur only too rarely.

This particular bolster was uncharacteristically extremely hard to cut for some reason. It was very frustrating to cut, and particularly under-cut, the inlay channels. But, I thought that , 'What the hell, I'd gotten this far, might as well try to finish the bugger." I'm glad I did, as I learned quite a few lessons about working with tough metals.

Critiques on how to improve the design are always welcome. I may ignore you, but your still welcome!:biggrin::biggrin:

 

[rod]

Congratulations, Mark!

Very nice work!

I have come to learn from direct experience what an honor it is to be commissioned to be a William Henry engraver. At last year's and this year's Reno shows I got to spend time with Rick Thronburg, and we have exchanged emails in between. Let me state at the outset that I am on a different track in my work, so knife engraving at a professional level will not be in my future resumé. Rick and I simply had a chance to hang out, and I have grown to enjoy his friendship and good hearted humanity. A special treat this year was when Rick and I sat down together for lunch. We talked over a range of subjects, and towards the end of the lunch, almost as an afterthought, Rick revealed his small soft bag containing a treasure trove of spectacular knives and knife side plates.

Boy, what a garden of delights!

One or two other colleagues were around the table. Rick graciously allowed careful examination, and we all exchanged superlatives. He allowed that it has been a good year, so that must mean for you engravers too. I had seen on the forums photos of some of the work resting on the white tablecloth, and that only increased the thrill of having these pieces in my hand. Permission to take some pictures was granted, and my informal results can be seen in the Reno slide show:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rodcameron2/

Apologies that my photos had to be taken hand held, with available lighting.

I am so glad this company is providing both a showcase and commissions!

Rod

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Very nice indeed Mark. Looks great!!!!

It was a pleasure seeing you in Reno again

Cheers
Andrew

 

[SamW]

Mark, well done! You are not the only one to find the metal much harder to cut than needs be. I think Rick is working on that problem which is in the arena of heat treatment. I found it impossible to keep a sharp point on my stipple tool for background matting.

 

[GTJC460]

Nicely done!

Did William Henry approach you or did you contact them?

 

[Haraga.com]

Nice job on the knife. Thanks for showing it. Did you keep track of the total time spent on the project? Did you sign it? Are these knives factory made or are they made by individual knifemakers? The knives have such a nice look. I would love to pack one.

 

[Doc Mark]

Thanks for the support guys! Bert: Rick from William-Henry contacted me first. Haraga: yes I kept track of the time (37 looong hours) only because of the difficulty with this particular metal. They are in the process of correcting the hardness factor right now. The knives are made in the William-Henry factory but they have the fit and feel of a custom knifemaker. They are truly excellent knives and command very good prices. Oh yes, I signed it on the tip of the bolster, next to the blade.

 

[Sam]

Big congratulations, Mark! You've done a very respectable job and are now in the big leagues working on custom knives A suggestion would be to have a thinner border around the holes. The one you have seems a tad wide. Also, on your leaf tips where you shade with the graver diving in and picking out at the end...I think i'd go a bit lighter on those cuts.

As for William Henry, they are an awesome company. Rick has been a very generous supporter of the Cafe and wants nothing in return as far as advertisements, etc. He appreciates the fine talents of our members and obviously sends some nice work their way.

I started seeing the William Henry name as more engravers started doing work for them, but I didn't know much about the company. I did a bit of research and discovered that William Henry is in many retail jewelry stores around the US. What this means is that they are getting the hand engraving art into retail shops and into the hands of customers that are not the usual knife show crowd. The value of this to our art is inestimable. Every engraver - whether engraving for them or not - owes them a hearty thank-you for getting custom knives and engraving into the hands of those who may never discover it otherwise.

 

[Tira]

Nice job! It was fun seeing your knife in person at Reno. I feel your pain with the hard metal. The first titanium knife I did for them took me about 40 long hours (with the gold inlay, etc.). The great news is that now that you have done one the next one will be easier.

 

[thughes]

Marc,
That's way cool.

 

[GTJC460]

Thanks doc! I was curious as I'd like to get into this type of engraving. Seems like all I do is cutting running leaf designs on rings.

 

[Mike Fennell]

Congratulations on a job well done, Mark.

And thanks for letting me have an early look at it at Reno. I was also one of the guys sitting at lunch with Rod and Rick and had an opportunity to see some unusual knife work up close. Reno is a great place to learn new things and meet new people.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

I just received this in an e-mail from William Henry Studio. http://www.williamhenrystudio.com/ and thought you would like to read it.

Cheers
Andrew


"Hi all, Matt here from William Henry. I am the founder, owner, and designer of this little company, and I have had the privilege of working with Rick Thronburg for more than 10 years now. Let me just say, to all the engravers that we work with, that it is a great honor to be able to present your work on my pieces - I am, quite frankly, in awe of you as artists and technicians. I am proud to work with you, to have you sign your works of art, and to be able to offer them to the world

Best to all!" Matt Conable

 

[Doc Mark]

Thanks for posting Matts' letter. All the engravers that I know who have worked for William-Henry have had nothing but good things to say about their working relationship with Rick and William-Henry in general. It's wonderful to see that they appreciate us as well. Hopefully, this will be a long and fruitful collaboration for years to come!