EngravingArts pricing. Adone T. Pozzobon

Factors that Effect Pricing

Hardness of the metal to be engraved is an important factor in regards to time and cost. e.g. certain stainless steels are extremely hard, some are not. Mild steel is soft unless it has been cased hard. Titanium may be soft or extremely hard depending on the series. Modern Alloys span a wide range of hardness levels. However in most cases the engraver will approximate the expected hardness by assessing the medium. e.g. we generally are familiar with most gun steels being used as well as those for knives...

Shape of the object to be engraved is one of the most important factors impacting on overall cost. Curved objects always present more difficulty than flat objects. The more radical the curve the more time is require to continuously clamp, un-clamp, rotate and realign the item. Concave objects are amongst the worst items to engrave. Additionally, certain items may have surrounding restrictions e.g. engraving the interior of a knife guard is an example, the grip / handle will interfere with the actually cutting, this means each scroll... must be cut half from one direction and half from the opposite and joined perfectly.

Style of engraving Bulino scenes / Animals or equivalent (dot pointillism or line style), complexity of themes... these greatly effect cost as they are the most time consuming techniques, however they produce stunning results. Style of Ornamental patterns also define which type of shading will be required, e.g. Vine and leaf requires time consuming bank note style shading, a standard scroll pattern generally requires a simpler shading method which dramatically lessens the required work time. However, there are exceptions to the above.

Precious metal inlay, raised or flush inlay and theme complexity e.g. A birds wing tips are far more intricate to precisely inlay then a simple shape such as a Leopard head or similar.

Design complexity of ornamental patterns such as interwoven vine and leaf often require extensive design times as compared to a standard engraving style such as simple scroll engraving.

Relief engraving doubles or triples engraving time, depth of relief plays a significant role. Sculpted images require more time then general relief engraving.

Background pattern styles in either relief or non relief will determine time and cost, there are a variety of backgrounds to select from e.g. Punched, stipple, lined, dotted, matted, beaded.. Some are quick to produce while others require extensive work as with Bulino stipple or micro line backgrounds.

Beaded foreground or background areas require masking out of the non beaded portions, e.g. Scrolls... require intricate masking, vine and leaf even more so. The more complex the pattern the more time will be required in the masking preparation for a beading process.

Research of sorts is for most part necessary when portraying scenes or other non ornamental motifs. Designs are always original, therefore there are no real shortcuts in their creation. Complexity determines cost.

The below images are perhaps the most time consuming of engraving techniques.
However they offer the highest exhibition grade quality nearing photo realism.

Click images for more information