Glen Monaghan
09-24-2012, 11:59 AM
About a year ago, I engraved the handles of several knives for someone. The engravings are essentially line drawings and text, no thick/wide engraved areas at all. He liked the look on the wood handled knives where the engraving was a bit darker and into the wood, but the black-on-black engraving on black micarta handles was hard to see unless turned in direct lighting to create shadows in the engraving.
The knives have golden colored brass rivets, so I tried color filling with a matching gold. That made the engravings "pop" and the guy was very pleased with the look. We first tried Rub-n-Buff but that quickly discolored, picked up dirt and grime from using the knife, and even seemed to ooze back out when it got warm. Next tried acrylic paints and they lasted a bit longer but not much before discoloring with use. I then tried an enamel gold paint and it seemed like it was going to work, but my sample has darkened noticeably over time and he called to say that the knife he uses frequently has no gold color at all anymore. My sample brightened back up when I wiped it with acetone so I've asked him to wipe it with solvent to see if the surface is just very dirty or if the paint is actually gone and needs to be replaced. He's going to check on that, but the idea of requiring annual color replacement or requiring periodic solvent wipe down wasn't acceptable.
As an experiment, I tried coating the fill with a couple of different clear substances like epoxy and superglue. The quick set epoxy didn't flow well and was too thick, while slow set epoxy took too long, was still noticeably thick, and the thin edges where I tried to feather out the epoxy didn't wear well in either case. Thin superglue didn't flow evenly over the engraving and left a broad shiny patch look; trying to smooth it out and remove the excess with solvent after it hardened made a growing mess.
I asked a couple of laser goods suppliers how to handle this; both said they'd never had demand for such a thing and had no ideas for where to turn... I'm wondering if there's something like a gold colored epoxy that can be used for the color fill that is very durable and non-oxidizing? Might the paint used on stone monuments work for this (assuming there is a matching gold color)?
Bottom line is, does anyone have any suggestions for a durable gold color fill or possibly a way to seal the fill that doesn't "stand out" and isn't hugely labor/time intensive? Or suggestions on where to go to find help with something like this?
-Glen
The knives have golden colored brass rivets, so I tried color filling with a matching gold. That made the engravings "pop" and the guy was very pleased with the look. We first tried Rub-n-Buff but that quickly discolored, picked up dirt and grime from using the knife, and even seemed to ooze back out when it got warm. Next tried acrylic paints and they lasted a bit longer but not much before discoloring with use. I then tried an enamel gold paint and it seemed like it was going to work, but my sample has darkened noticeably over time and he called to say that the knife he uses frequently has no gold color at all anymore. My sample brightened back up when I wiped it with acetone so I've asked him to wipe it with solvent to see if the surface is just very dirty or if the paint is actually gone and needs to be replaced. He's going to check on that, but the idea of requiring annual color replacement or requiring periodic solvent wipe down wasn't acceptable.
As an experiment, I tried coating the fill with a couple of different clear substances like epoxy and superglue. The quick set epoxy didn't flow well and was too thick, while slow set epoxy took too long, was still noticeably thick, and the thin edges where I tried to feather out the epoxy didn't wear well in either case. Thin superglue didn't flow evenly over the engraving and left a broad shiny patch look; trying to smooth it out and remove the excess with solvent after it hardened made a growing mess.
I asked a couple of laser goods suppliers how to handle this; both said they'd never had demand for such a thing and had no ideas for where to turn... I'm wondering if there's something like a gold colored epoxy that can be used for the color fill that is very durable and non-oxidizing? Might the paint used on stone monuments work for this (assuming there is a matching gold color)?
Bottom line is, does anyone have any suggestions for a durable gold color fill or possibly a way to seal the fill that doesn't "stand out" and isn't hugely labor/time intensive? Or suggestions on where to go to find help with something like this?
-Glen