what am I doing wrong, again.

[thughes]

Hi all,
I have the same dumb question as before. I was engraving this crappy little knife for practice, and i showed the pic just to show ya'll how I have it set up. Problem is, again, i keep breaking points. Is it because the side of the folding knife is flexing and vibrating. Do you guys usually wedge something in there to try to stiffen that up. Of course the knife was all of three dollars at Smokey Mountain Knife Works, and it's china's finest steel I'm sure. I guess it could lots of junk in it that I'm hitting. It seems soft as butter then I'm skidding all over the place. Sorry for asking everyone should know, but I'm kinda slow.

 

[tim halloran]

thughes: Try opening the blade, mask it off with tape ,so it won't cut you. Re imbed the knife in the thermo loc, and try using a little less thermo loc. This should make it a lot more rigid. If this is one of those three dollar wonders , the side plates may be laminated, as in several layers stacked together. This could affect rigidity, also the external stainless side plates could be very thin and only crimped onto cheaper non stainless side plates. Remember you don't know what grade stainless steel it is, and is probably a crappy 300 grade which can be difficult to cut. Also you get what you pay for, but even good quality knives can be difficult to cut because they are only worried about how well will it wear. GRS sells BUCK knives made with 416 stainless side plates that are great to engrave, check them out.

 

[thughes]

Tim,
Thanks I'll try that. It's REALLY a crappy little piece of chinese ****, but I thought it would be OK to screw up practicing on. I was wondering if all pocket knives gave you that problem because of the hollow nature of the folder.

Todd

 

[tim halloran]

thughes;One thing i forgot to mention is that i always use good quality micro grain carbide tools, as in C-Max or equivalent. I always use a lubricant , keep your heel short, and make sure both heels are of even width and meet in the center of the tool,also on carbide you need to dub the tip. I also put the final polish on carbide tools with a cast iron lap, you won't believe how much better tools cut if they are really sharp. Hope this helps you out.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

GRS sells BUCK knives made with 416 stainless side plates that are great to engrave, check them out

I would second that advice. It may be that the metal you are trying to engrave is a complete dog and simply not worth the effort.

If, after trying all of Tim's advice above, it still doesn't work..............then throw it in the bin and start buying something a bit more decent to work on

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Thughes, I can’t say if you are doing something wrong besides that I didn't use a carbide (Cmax) graver but a HSS from Chris.
Mine I show here is also a cheap Chinese one that looks quite similar to yours. I had the same idea cutting on something that could be used at least.
I did several GRS buck knives, and like Andrew says, yes they cut great and have some more value than a 3 dollar Chinese one, at least to me.

Anyway, cutting my Chinese one didn’t cause many problems, quite similar to cut as the GRS Buck knife.

arnaud

 

[thughes]

Andrew and Arnaud, you guys are probably right. I was just looking at it as a funny shaped practice plate. One of my friends kids saw it and wanted it bad, so I let him have it. The other side didn't seem quite as bad as the first. It doesn't look too bad at arms length, but under the scope it's pretty rough. Surely not as nice as yours Arnaud, that's beautiful. My backbones aren't too bad, but I sure can't get the hang of shading like that. Practice, practice.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it.

 

[Artemiss]

Thughes, I would suggest two things to try...

First... try working on an entirely different piece of metal with your current graver (ie 2x2 practice plate). If your tip still keeps breaking, you know it's either you or the graver.
Second... use another graver on the knife you're having issues with. If your tip still keeps breaking, you know it's either you or the knife.

I've recently cut a couple of knives very similar to the one you've shown, and they cut absolutely fine. Although, the graver did go a bit 'squiffy' when cutting through the invisible pins.

Good luck,
Jo

 

[mrthe]

one question, were we can buy knifes for practice like this in Europe?
thuges have you try to dubbing the point or ise 50-55 face in your graver?