Engraving

[Macman]

Hi

I have been asked by a local company if I can make them some pens with their company name on them. They are a joinery company so the idea of bespone wooden pens appeals to them.

I know that timberbits can engrave on slimiline pen clips but due to the name of the company he has advised the lettering will be very small on the clip. The other option is to get the pen body engraved or perhaps to a decal and put it under the finish, neither of which I have tried before. If anybody has done this or knows where I could get the pens engraved I would appreciate some advice.

Thanks

Macman

 

[PhillH]

Welcome Macman,

Can't help with the problem per se, but there's a couple of people on here who probably can, I'm sure they'll be along shortly.

 

[nimrod]

I have used Mike Dempsey to engrave wood and acrylic pens and the results have always been excellent, he is a forum member his email address is woodturner@blueyonder.co.uk or home page, hope this of use to you.
Robin

 

[Jim]

I have used the decal system, but i hated doing it as i never seemed to get the decal exactly where i wanted it, if you look at the top right image of the home page there is a pen with a Yorkshire Rose on it using the decals .. But to get one good one it took me about 4 or 5 attempts, hence why i gave up ..

Now, if you can get it right, it really is a good way of doing exactly what you want .. Give it a try, they do look good when you get it right .. Welcome to the forums BTW ..

 

[paulm]

How about David (JimJam) cutting out a logo?

 

[Grump]

How many letters in the company name? What size letters? What wood will you be using? What kit will they be going on?

 

[Penpal]

:encouragement::biggrin-new::nopic:

Welcome macman if help is directed in a post a sample of what you want without the real names to ensure the eventual surprise for the client expect a professional result and good luck seems like you already have a grip on this.

Kind regards Peter.

 

[turnaround360]

I have engraved on bullets if you do it on wood engrave it with the tube/blank turned but not to a finished size then sand it down just my thoughts .

 

[Jimjam66]

Macman, either Brian (Grump) or I could help you out. We both have CNC mills. PM one or other of us and we can look at what you need and what is possible.

 

[Macman]

Macman, either Brian (Grump) or I could help you out. We both have CNC mills. PM one or other of us and we can look at what you need and what is possible.

Hi Thanks for the responses,

For some reason I can't seem to find where I send a PM, maybe its becuase I havent posted before?

The timbers being used are, oak, meranti, walnut, tulipood and sycamore - the customer is supplying this as they make products from all of these.

As for the size of letters, that is not fixed it is more about fitting the text on, which will be www. followed by 11 letters and .co.uk. Sorry to be criptic but I have no idea if they are happy with me putting their name out on the itnernet etc.
They have come back to me and said they would prefer pencils and not thin ones so I am thinking of the classic pencil kit, they will mainly be for giving to architecs and they prefer pencils apparently.

if anyone has any suggestions for other pencils that would be great, I need to keep the costs down so nothing too fancy.

Cheers

Macman

 

[Grump]

Hi Macman www.elevenlettr.co.uk equates to 21 if I count correctly including dots.

That seems an awful lot to put on one line so it would be readable. I won't suggest pencil kits as that would be a customer preference.

You could do some measuring of your preferred kit with the suggestion that anything less than a 3mm letter height is not readable at a glance.

Also the softer woods tend to fray and not produce such a crisp edge.

Taking this into consideration I don't think I have the experience necessary to feel confident in doing your engraving for you.
David (jimjam) may have more of a clue, I love to look at his work he inspires me.

The other suggestion and one that would give you more business is to engrave a box with the pen / pencil in it.
Neil has a saying worth stealing "It's not a gift until it's boxed and presented" or something along those lines.
Ask him he is brilliant with words (OH TO BE EDUCATED INIT?)

As for Pm hit the avatar and select send private message.

A pen in a velvet pouch is a pen in a velvet pouch, a pen in box is a gift.

 

[Jimjam66]

Macman, Grump is right. If we were working with aluminium (which most cheap giveaway pen barrels are made of) we could laser engrave tiny lettering and get lovely crisp edges. But we're not - we're engraving wood, the edges of which easily crumble when we either apply pressure (as with a spinning engraving bit) or heat (as with a laser). So we need bigger lettering - not to mention that if the customer wants something as impersonal as a web address it's unlikely that they will pay the going rate for engraving in the UK (most marketing giveaways are manufactured in China these days). I would recommend going back to the decal idea. You can run the decals off an inkjet printer, and after some practice and some Youtube video watching you will get a very passable result for very little money. I seal the decals under CA glue to make them reasonably hardy, and you can keep your costs down by sticking with slim lines.

If you still want to pursue the engraving idea try to contact a commercial laser engraving crowd who can do rotary engraving. I suspect the cost may still be prohibitive though.

 

[nimrod]

I had a 20 letters laser engraved on 20 pens by Mike Dempsey the price was 2.50 + VAT per pen + return postage. Customer very pleased with the results.

Robin

 

[Grump]

I had a 20 letters laser engraved on 20 pens by Mike Dempsey the price was 2.50 + VAT per pen + return postage. Customer very pleased with the results.

Robin

On oak, meranti, walnut, tulipood and sycamore?

 

[nimrod]

On oak, meranti, walnut, tulipood and sycamore?

No that was on acrylic, I have had zebrano and black walnut laser engraved with very good results.

Robin

 

[Grump]

Then he may well be the person to go to.

I can't speak for David but I wouldn't for £2.50 I wouldn't switch the light on in my shed let alone the heater, computer cnc machine and then start experimenting with different cutters for the various materials.

One broken cutter which is very easy to do and that's all the money gone, I don't know how he makes any profit, sounds like he does it for nothing

 

[turnaround360]

My local engraver charges £9.95 then 25p a letter thereafter if it helps.

 

[Grump]

My local engraver charges £9.95 then 25p a letter thereafter if it helps.

Now that sounds a more realistic quote. now can we talk quantities?
Minimum order 1000.

 

[Penpal]

Quite a minefield Engraving sometimes it pays to only send the barrels to be engraved if you want to keep the integrity of the kit intact, I recently had a kit defaced by a professional, no comeback position blahhhhhh.

Peter.

 

[turnaround360]

I have an engraving machine a gravograph but like Brian said it wouldnt be worth doing for that money this is a company if they want special then special costs good luck in your quest.