New to the Forum...

[Journeyman]

Hello!
I am so glad I can now find the artisans and resources to learn how to engrave metals via this forum. My specific interest is how to learn inlay (primarily silver) into steel to replicate the golden age of Scottish hammermen from the 16th-18th Century; specifically, how to inlay all-steel flintlock pistols and baskethilt swords with various Celtic designs/motifs (I am also wondering if highland cattle horns can be inlayed with silver/gold to decorate as drinking horns???).

I stumbled onto Steve's website today, after following some links after I viewed a "YouTube" demo on using a pneumatic engraving tool (and have since seen positive posts/reviews of Steve's "Palmtool" system). I would greatly welcome anyone's experience with the technical aspects of steel inlay, along with a list of essential tools/graver types, etc. needed to accomplish this.
Best,
Journeyman

[Daniel Houwer]

Hi Journeyman,
Welcome to this forum. The right place to get info on what you are looking for.
You got me curious about the hammerman and what weapons they used and how they looked. Do you have any reference to a site where I could see images about that stuff?

The tutorial forum has some good tuts about inlay/overlay. That could help you some. there is a difference between pure gold, pure silver and sterling though. With gold its the easiest. Pure silver workhardens pretty fast, so what you want to inlay should fit very good from the beginning. Sterling really needs a tight fit from the start otherwise youll never get it in.

Good luck! and Hope you have a nice evening

[Journeyman]

Hi Daniel,
Thanks for the info/welcome! To get a flavor of some the "best of the best" examples of basket-hilted scottish broadswords, there are a couple of avenues:
1. If you can get a copy of the book, "Swords and the Sorrows", it is an OUTSTANDING (and I think now out-of-print) reference book for Jacobite-era accoutrements, weapons, etc.

2. If you do a "Google", try a simple image search for "Scottish baskethilt sword", and you will get the gamut of images (mainly modern repros), but every once in a while are .jpgs from auction houses and museums. There also are a few modern hammermen (i.e., sword makers) out there, including Vince Evans, so if you do a search of his name with "scottish swords and dirks", that should take you to some of his swords that have the silver/gold inlay in the baskethilt.

3. John Allen was a basket-hilt sword maker from the golden age (18th Cent.). If you google his name with "Basket-hilted broadsword", etc, you should get some good images. His work is the ideal, and how they did it back then without the modern gadgetry we have the luxury of using, is very humbling...

If you don't have any luck, let me know, and I can send you more direct links.

All the best, and Happy New Year to all!

[Daniel Houwer]

Hi Journeyman,

Thanks for the info. I do know what a baskethilt looks like. Kind of liked the rob roy movie where he wields one like a true champion if I am not mistaken.
could not find anything usefull on the hammerman exept some stupid youtube movie about a guy with a very big hammer

Best wishes to you too!

Daniel