Etching A Logo Vs A Touchmark

What is the best way to put a "Makers Mark" on my knives? I've finally come up with a design that I like but I don't know what to do now. There has been lots of talk on here about getting stencils done and etching it on the blade but nothing on using a touchmark and stamping it in. What is the best option?

 

Think when I settle on mine I am going to go the etching route. Like most things in knife Making, it's up to the individual I think. As for stencils, I just saw a YouTube video by Chops Knives on a relatively inexpensive label printer by Brother that has stencil cartridges.

 

Damn that's spiffy!

 

@Griff thanks for the video, that printer looks great. I like the idea of having a mark stamped into the blade, but being able to make any stencil I want definately has its appeal.

 

Going to try this out, just ordered one on amazon, should be here this Tuesday

 

Were you able to find the stencil tape for it? I found the printer at best buy for 49.99 but no luck on the 24mm tape.

 

Can anyone provide me the model # for this? Thanks

 

Brother P700, cartridge TZe-251 24mm, $110 and $42.99 at Staples, 82 and 22 on amazon.ca . I'll have mine by mid next week I'll test this out and I'll post the results.

 

The printer is pt-p700

I think the TZe-251 is just a regular white stick on lable. The stencil tape is a "STE" part number I think.

 

Great, so is this video totally misleading? I thought he was using the backing paper. Maybe I've ordered all the wrong stuff?
edit- looks like the printer is ok but not the tape. it is indeed ste

 

Found it on ebay, STE 151 Stencil tape, http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BROTHER-MOBI...195840?hash=item3d26565000:g:eFsAAOSwLF1X4ro1
Product description: http://www.brother-usa.com/supplies/accessories.aspx?ASKU=STE151
On its way.

 

Well you chomped down on the bullet faster than I did @cuatroXcuatro! I had only got as far as sourcing the printer, but I guess shame on me for thinking the tape would just be as readily available...anyway since you've gone first I am looking forward to your findings.

By the way this guy is a pretty decent fellow as far as I can surmise, so I am sure you'll be making stencils like crazy, as long as the tape is as he used

 

So I've been playing with it and the tape that came in the box, just regular label tape. Bottom line: max 150x150 dpi, not clean enough for what we want :-(
This one does 300x600 dpi but so far haven't found stencil tape for it yet: Brother-QL-710W

 

My printer came from best buy today. The stencils are from the US so not here yet but I was playing around with the sample labels in the box and I was able to get fairly good results. I created a .94" square in ms paint to upload my makers mark into the supplied software. That way there was minimal distortion from resizing. I printed one and then adjusted some of the lines and reprinted and repeat repeat repeat. On my 6th or 7th print I got what I believe will be a very clear stencil when I have the proper stencil tape. Granted I have a very basic makers mark so that may be why the low dpi has less effect on the quality.

 

Mixed results then. But he never said in the video stencil tape comes with the printer, he said you can get stencil tape. I watched again and looking at his etch he got the whole word CHOPS on the label and it's not small either! So I think since a lot of makers marks are smaller by comparison being a symbol or couple of intitals for example there should be plenty of room.

@IamSteve-O looking forward to some photo results when you get the stencil tape!

 

Well we're back to the video being misleading. I got my ste151 stencil tape today and it seems to not work in the pt700 printer. Can't figure out how to get it to print. Maybe you will have better luck cuatroXcuatro. Let me know of you get it to work. I am just getting an error message.

 

Sorry spoke too soon. One of the ste151 cassettes was faulty and won't connect to the printer. The other works just fine. Better call it a night and try again when I am fully awake.

 

Well cuatroXcuatro is defiantly right about the low dpi. As you can see in the first picture when you get up close it is very noticeable. That being said that picture is a close up of the makers mark at the bottom right of the second and third picture. It is a quarter inch across and looks fairly good at that size when you are not zoomed in on it. As you can see there was a lot of trial and error with the etching. I use salt water a q-tip and a 12v a.c. adapter that I cut open and bypassed the bridge rectifier using this instructable as a guide.
https://www.google.ca/amp/www.instr...-and-Marking-from-a-DC-Adapter/?amp_page=true

I had a hard time getting a good deep etch without burning through the stencil resulting in dots etched all around the logo. And I defiantly don't think I would risk trying to reuse a stencil on a near finished knife. That being said...
The printer was 49.99
Two rolls of ste151 tape was about 70 bucks after exchange rate and shipping
The a.c. adapter was a spare I had laying around

So all in 130 bucks will probably be enough for 200 stencils and then just refilling the tape after that. I am calling it a win.

 

@IamSteve-O Thank you so much! I believe this is a win too, very nice results considering the amount of stencils you can get off one tape.

Cheers,

Griff.