Hello,
I've got a couple questions about doing an inlay on the handle of a knife I'm making for a friend. I recently got a stamp with my logo on it, but the blade was already h/t, so I'm not planning on stamping it. However, my friend would like the logo on the knife somewhere, and he asked if I could stamp a small piece of metal, then inlet it into the handle. Now to be honest, I would prefer not to do this. It's a small knife with a beautiful handle, and I'd rather not risk ruining the appearence of the wood with an inlay. But operating on the principle that the customer is always right, I told him I'd consider it. Which leads to my question: has anybody every done anything like this? I recently built a longrifle and did a lot of inlay work that would be similiar, so I have a little experience at it, but a knife handle is so much smaller. I'm not even sure how I would attach it to the handle - pins, epoxy? If anybody's got any thoughts on this before I spend a lot of time at it, I'd appreciate 'em. Thanks!

Josh Blount

Josh, the current issue of Knives Illustrated has an article in it by Jerry Fisk on how to inlay an escutcheon into a knife handle. I believe this is exactly the information you are looking for.

I have done several by scribing around the piece to be inlaid, then routing out the mortise with a Dremel tool (with a router base to control the depth) and a dental bur. I rough up the back of the inlay, and use slow cure epoxy to cement it in place.

Adding pins to the equation would have two negative effects- first, any stamping you did before dressing the pins would be subject to obliteration. Second, if you inlaid the piece prior to stamping, the very act of stamping might be enough to knock it loose.

You may consider etching your logo into the blade. Some like it, some don't, but it is a good option on hardened steel.

How about taking the knife to a jeweller and have your name engraved in the blade. They can usually manage this for you.

Another route is to stamp the name in a rectangular name plate cut a rectangular pocket in the back of the scale then open cut an opening through the scale to allow the name plate to show through while the scale retains the name plate securely around the edges.