name stamp for ricasso

I am ready to start marking my knives. I want to get a very basic stamp with my last name (FRANKL) in all capitals. Do any of you have a good source for this? And what about the size of the letters?

Thanks,

John

The size is a good question. I would recommend something that would not look Huge on a small knife. If you used 1/8" letters and you have six letters in your name, this could be a pretty big stamp. Try to think of what your most common size knife would be and pick your letter size accordingly.

Another thing to think about is HOW you will stamp your blades. Hand holding a stamp and hitting it exactly square is fairly easy but your name will make it a little difficult to get all the letters to the same depth. It can be difficult to try to restamp if you left one side a little lite. I have accidently moved the stamp and double stamped a knife. This adds a lot of work and sometimes the only way to get it out is to regrind your blade to another shape.

Have you considered electro-etching? If you like that style of marking, you can build the components fairly inexpensively.


I bought my stamp a LONG time ago and don't remember where. Maybe someone else can help with that. I do remember that I ordered it from an ad in Blade magazine back in 1993. I do still use it though, I use it to put my initials in my knife sheaths.

Jon,

I use a name stamp on all my blades I like how permanent it is compared to etching.
Etching is a lot more versitile though from what I have been told. So its a tough decision.

If you are still interested in having a name stamp made just e-mail me :

ericelson@hotmail.com

And I can give you a price to have one made etc.

Regards
Eric

Go with Henry Evers Corp.! I've been using stamps my entire knifemaking career, and Evers seems to be the only ones that last for any length of time. I've had stamps from Harper, Centaur, and a couple of others, which just flat out didn't hold up.
As far as size, stick with 3/32" or smaller. My first stamp was 3/32" but was too large for things like my EBKs, I've since went with 1/16" and it has worked out great. Don't let the 1/16" size fool you. It is very readable.
If I remember correctly, the 1/16" "CAFFREY" was around $100. Seems pricey, but consider that the first stamp I ever had lasted over 10 years, and probably stamped more than 1000 blades. Add up the cost of stencils with layouts, and an etching machine for that many blades, and you'll find that a stamp is much more economical.
You'll have some folks out there who will argue that a stamp weakens the ricasso of your blades..............don't believe it! I tested the theory, and found no truth to it.

Thanks everyone.

Is H. Evers the one in Providence, RI that advertises in Blade?

John