I've made a few knives now and I want to start putting a makers mark on knives in the future but I don't know if I should try to etch or stamp. What do y'all prefer and why?

Thought we were talking about a whiskey knife, was hoping for something with a wax dipped handle.

I used to etch my knives a long time ago and switched to a stamp when I found someone sanding off my makers mark that was etched.

I made an electro etch you plug into your house outlet. works great. I found the schematics with a google search and it cost me about 50 bucks to build.

I prefer stamped. My objection to etched is that, if through error or neglect, there's a scratch through the etching, there's no restoring it. A deep stamping will withstand the occasional polishing.

When you stamp do you use a hammer or some kind of fancy press?

Did you get stencils made specifically for etching?

This is what I use, I ordered my stencils from Ernie Grospitch. I mainly use the mark setting.

http://www.knifemaking.com/mobile/Product.aspx?id=2365




http://www.erniesknives.com/

Depends on the knife for me I guess. Some of them I stamp and some of them I etch.

adhd?

Could be but I make a lot of smaller EDC knives and I feel the etched mark kind of over powers them.

I could use a press and I have one but I just use a two pound hammer just before I heat treat it; I get it hot before stamping and does a good job.

Where do y'all get your stamps?