Naval Officers Sword question

[Scott Shepherd]

I have a customer that brought in a Navy Officer's Sword to be engraved. It's ornate and has relief engraving in the blade length with a small blank spot where you would engrave something, like a name.

The customer asked me if I knew of any regulations on what would allowed to be put there. Since that's the first one I've ever seen, I'm not up on my Navy regulations ;)

Anyone know if there are any rules on what can or can't be in that blank area?

I'd hate to have to join the Navy to find out.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Scott,

Here's a link to what Bupers says http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/support/uniforms/uniformregulations/uniformcomponents/Pages/3501_84.aspx

[Scott Shepherd]

Thanks Ken, it doesn't look like they specify what can or can't be engraved on it. The thing costs about $650 so I'm not too keen on messing it up :)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Scott...if you do a search they do specify what can be placed on Chief Petty Officers saber.........I find it interesting. I'll do some more searching.

I couldn't find anything concerning engraving under regulations but here's a link to a company that sells both uniforms and swords. They show options on how they engrave names on the sword http://www.militarysabers.com/navy-officer-sword . I wonder if one might call the US Naval Academy and someone there might answer the question.

[Scott Shepherd]

I looked at their website Ken, and they don't list anything you can or can't do. Below is the area I'm talking about.

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[Mike Null]

Here's what I did to a Marine Officer's sword. (This was a gift for the golfer, Peter Jacobsen, who had done a good bit of work on behalf of the Wounded Warriors Foundation.)

This was sandblasted using 180 grit silicon carbide.

[Scott Shepherd]

Thanks Mike, that's exactly what I wanted to do, but not what they wanted :(

[Kev Williams]

What you can put on a sword depends on who owns it--

If it's an Armed Forces issue to someone in active service, there's likely going to be some rules to follow...

If it belongs to a civilian, anything goes.

[Scott Shepherd]

Here's photos of the actual sword and area to be engraved. So far, no one's been able to tell me anything relative to what can or cannot be put on it (i.e., is there a limit on letters? Font sizes, etc.?). On the sites that sell them and offer engraving, they only offer Old English fonts because they "look appropriate" as best I can tell from their descriptions. No where in their processes does it mention anything about what can or can't be put on there.

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[Gary Hair]

The customer asked me if I knew of any regulations on what would allowed to be put there. Since that's the first one I've ever seen, I'm not up on my Navy regulations

I always defer to the customer, especially in a situation like this. You can't be an expert in every circumstance. "I'll engrave exactly what you ask me to engrave."

[Bruce Clumpner]

What I picked up from the MilitarySaber.com site is that they etch their swords, not engrave them. So while rotary or diamond drag will work, chemical etching may look better. Who knows?

[Scott Shepherd]

Thanks Bruce, good to know. The place the sword came from, Vanguard, state that they laser engrave theirs, but they only offer 18 characters including spaces, and the customer wants more than 18 characters.

[Mike Null]

Sadly, you've probably already lost money on it. And it's probably not something you'll want to do again. At least that's my perspective. In my case I donated my services to the WW Foundation but I'm not looking for more work of this kind. I've done several other swords, not military, and used Cermark on all of them.

Interestingly, Old English has been the preferred font.

[Kev Williams]

The fuller on that blade (I had to look that up ;) ) is in a lousy place in relation to the engraving area--

But as to the wording itself---





http://www.engraver1.com/erase2/sword.jpg[/img]


:D

[Aaron Koehl]

The fuller on that blade (I had to look that up ;) ) is in a lousy place in relation to the engraving area-- But as to the wording itself--- [/img] :D

One sword to rule them all..