Jewelry engraving refers to the use of an engraving tool to carve a specific design into jewelry. When engraving, you can clearly feel what kind of wear and tear is on the surface of the engraved material. In addition, the marks created during engraving are permanent. Moreover, if the engraver is highly skilled, the engraving can be done with a precision that is beyond human imagination. And it can make the price of the jewelry multiply several times. If you are interested in jewelry engraving. Then you can’t miss this article.
At present, the market of jewelry engraving is gradually thriving with the increasing level of social productivity. There are more and more jewelers who have made it their goal to improve the level of jewelry engraving. Although the current level of technology, laser engraving is the fastest way of jewelry engraving. And in addition to fast, laser engraving engraved jewelry style is almost exactly the same, very suitable for users of mass production. But now there are still a lot of jewelers who insist on hand-engraved jewelry. Because now a lot of high-end customized brands are using hand-engraving as one of their selling points.
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Introduction to the different types of jewelry engraving
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Hand-carved
As mentioned above, although laser engraving is by far the most convenient way of engraving, there are still a large number of jewelers who still pursue hand engraving. Hand engraving is the use of the most primitive engraving tool with a chisel to carve the desired pattern on the jewelry. Nowadays, however, a lot of engravers use engraving machines like pneumatic engravers instead of manual engraving, like Katway, – one of the more common brands. However, the prerequisite for using an engraving machine is that you must know more than enough about the craft of jewelry engraving and have been trained for some time. After all, it is still quite necessary to have some of the professional jewelry knowledge.
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Laser engraving
To do laser engraving, you have to create a file in vector format on your computer. The completed design file is then uploaded to the fiber laser machine. The fiber laser machine will adjust the intensity of the laser and the thickness of the laser beam according to the design within the file. When the laser beam hits the metal, the metal in the corresponding zone will be vaporized, eventually forming the pattern desired by the designer. After all the patterns have been engraved, the jewelry needs to be polished at last, and the work of laser engraving jewelry is finished.
If you were to ask me what the difference is between hand engraving and laser engraving. I think the biggest difference between the two is that laser engraving can only engrave flat patterns, while the difficulty of the patterns that can be engraved by hand is not the same. From simple text engraving, to complex relief pattern engraving, hand engraving can be capable of.
Does engraving on jewelry devalue it?
Generally speaking, having jewelry beautifully engraved is something that can add to the value of the jewelry. However, most people will choose jewelry engraving in order to leave a message on the jewelry that is relevant to them, or to someone who is very important to them. So, in a way, jewelry engraving is actually a highly personalized thing. So, when you want to resell your engraved jewelry, it might be a little bit less expensive. I think this is something that you might expect as well.
Can engravings be removed from jewelry?
Generally, it is possible to remove a design that has already been engraved on a piece of jewelry. If you want to modify an engraved design on your jewelry, you can go to your local jeweler and tell them what your needs are. Using specialized soldering equipment, the jeweler will fill the pattern with precious metal as they see fit and repolish the filled areas. Most try to bring back the original shiny look of the metal.
What materials can I engrave on?
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Metal
Most of the jewelry on the market today is made from precious metals like gold and silver. So, metal is considered a very common material for jewelry engraving. However, hand engraving can only engrave some metal whose texture is not so hard. Laser engraving can engrave a wider range of materials.
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Gemstone
If you want to carve a gemstone, then the most primitive carving knives may not be a better choice. For one thing, it is easy to damage the structure of the gemstone itself in a large way. On the other hand, the fineness of a hand engraving tool makes it difficult to engrave a gemstone of such a small size. Laser engraving is a more suitable method for engraving gemstones. Take diamond as an example, diamond is one of the hardest substances in nature, and it is almost impossible to carve a diamond with an ordinary carving knife. Laser engraving, on the other hand, can do just that.
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Plastic
I know it may be shocking when you see plastic. Why can plastic be used to make jewelry? This is because a lot of children’s jewelry on the market nowadays take plastic as the main material. But plastic is a special material, special because it is not heat resistant. As long as the temperature is a little high, the plastic will be melted. Therefore, rotary engraving is not suitable for engraving plastic. Because, in the process of rotating the engraving head will generate a certain amount of heat, the plastic is likely to melt.
