ohowson Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 I've seen two ways of making touch marks: 1 - Cut the reverse image on the end of the stamp 2 - Cut the *correct* image on a piece of steel, then drive the stamp into it (when hot) Pros/cons of each? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 If you use a negative punch you can have a polished work piece and black letters or motto on the finished product pretty easily or the exact opposite if you use a punch with a raised design. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohowson Posted January 28, 2020 Author Share Posted January 28, 2020 Sorry pnut I think you've misunderstood; both result in a punch with the design raised - it's just how it's made that's different... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 The different design makes different impressions. If you have a design that makes indentations into the metal such as number and letter stamps, only the lines in the metal are moved. Think of a chisel mark. If you want a raised impression on a depressed field in the metal, you then must move ALL the metal to make the depression as well as leave an area for the metal to raise up and fill making the raised impression. This takes a much larger amount of force. Contact Stampman on IFI as he makes both types of dies professionally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohowson Posted January 28, 2020 Author Share Posted January 28, 2020 Again, Glenn I think maybe I've not described this properly. When I said touch mark I think I should have said touch mark stamp or touch mark die - I'm curious how to make the die not the mark itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benona blacksmith Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 They understand what you mean. There trying to give you another idea to achieve the same/different result (if that makes sense)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozzy Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 If you do a positive and make the negative from that, be sure and make the raised/depressed areas of the positive a bit taller/deeper than you need. There will always be a bit of a "blurry" edge (for want of a better word) on the negative you create from it so you can grind a fraction off and polish the end of the negative to get the crispness that looks good when stamped. Personally, I'd lean toward a professionally made stamp if I was marking a lot of stuff. Reproductions as well as scaled versions for other work would be a LOT easier..not to mention dumping the initial hassles on someone set up to do it daily. As to choice of methods...lots of factors including complexity of the image. Because of that, I'd lean toward the deciding factor being whether it's more easily "carved" on the stamp or the positive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohowson Posted January 28, 2020 Author Share Posted January 28, 2020 2 hours ago, Benona blacksmith said: They understand what you mean. There trying to give you another idea to achieve the same/different result (if that makes sense)! Not to me - I may be perennially stupid though. 2 hours ago, Kozzy said: If you do a positive and make the negative from that, be sure and make the raised/depressed areas of the positive a bit taller/deeper than you need. There will always be a bit of a "blurry" edge (for want of a better word) on the negative you create from it so you can grind a fraction off and polish the end of the negative to get the crispness that looks good when stamped. Thanks, that was the answer to the question I intended to ask. I don’t want to go professional - if I had the money I’d spend it on steel. I have a touch mark design which is simple like chisel marks so I guess I’ll try method 2 and follow your advice, see how it goes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kozzy Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 To elaborate a little bit, use a simple example of the mark being nothing but an "X". That's actually hard to make as a positive (to stamp a recessed X) by "carving" because the point where the lines cross is a devil to carve: The sharp inside corners in the "V"s are really hard to carve as a sharp meeting point and always end up rounded from the tooling. However, as a negative (recess), it's as easy as pie to make--just 2 crossing cuts. So, if my stamp was an X and I wanted the final parts I was stamping into to have the X image recessed (like your standard letter stamp), I'd make the punch by using the pattern method because cutting that X would be a 3 minute process...then stamp my hot punch into that pattern and clean it up. That'd keep all the lines and V areas as sharp as possible, with the rest being easy to clean up with a file. One other factor as these get more complex...you can make your pattern to stamp the hot punch into in multiple pieces rather than one single piece. You can't really do that if you are making the actual punch. By making the pattern in individual bits (and cleverly), you can tack weld the back side of the bits in place and use the most appropriate carving method for that individual segment. Takes planning though. And you can hybridize too...but this is already getting so convoluted and complex write that I have probably lost everyone already. Point is, use the method that makes each part as easy as possible to carve cleanly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 There is nothing wrong with practicing with a wooden stamp and making an impression into modeling clay. It will show you many of the problems involved and allow you to work things out without a whole lot of expense. There are discussions on the site as to how to make touchmarks and or stamps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 9 hours ago, ohowson said: 2 - Cut the *correct* image on a piece of steel, then drive the stamp into it (when hot) To me the pro about this method is when your stamp starts to wear (as they will) it's easy to refresh it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasent Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I made mine by filing the main shape then used an ingravers chisel to put the J in the center Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 17 hours ago, ohowson said: Sorry pnut I think you've misunderstood Yes indeed I did. I was at work when I read your post. I reread it and realize your talking about two different methods of making a negative stamp and not the difference between a positive and negative touchmark as I first thought. That's what happens when I'm doing too many things at once. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohowson Posted January 29, 2020 Author Share Posted January 29, 2020 Just now, pnut said: Yes indeed I did. I was at work when I read your post. I reread it and realize your talking about two different methods of making a negative stamp. Pnut No worries - I appreciate the effort in getting back to me Thing is you see I bought a rotary tool and needed to decide what to do with it! I'm going for a simplified pushmi-pullyu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnut Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I think it really depends on what your touchmark is going to be as to which method would work best. Personally I'd probably try both ways just to see for myself the pro and con of each. Pnut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I've done some work by making and using small chisels from flat cut masonry nails---heat treatable! to get the crisp lines and then a rotary tool to waste the background material pushed away by the chisels. One quickly learns that the excessive prices requested by professionals are really dirt cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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