Hand engraving

Be it presentational, sporting, commemorative or heraldic, you will not find a more enriching method of engraving than hand engraving. Most precious metal items can be hand engraved. We can carry out all your artwork requirements such as the layout of inscriptions, designing cyphers or monograms, heraldic designs, etc. To help you in choosing a font style for engraving please refer to our Stylecard. The stylecard should be used as a guide only, no one job is the same, consequently each new design will be scaled up or down to suit the size and shape of the item. Each job will be quoted on an individual basis.

To explain in simple terms a little about hand engraving we shall break the process into four steps.

• First the design is composed and sketched onto the job.

• With the use of an eyeglass we point the design down using a metal scriber.

• Using hand held gravers (chisels) that have remained unchanged for hundreds of years we meticulously pare the material away, in doing so bringing the design to life.

• To remove any scratches we then polish the item on a polishing motor and mop using varies techniques to give the article a mirror finish without wearing down the fine engraving work.

Silver, gold, platinum, soft brass, copper silver-plate and pewter are suitable for hand engraving. Steel, titanium, most modern silver-plated items and anything with a pre-lacquered surface are all unsuitable for hand engraving.

When writing out your engraving instructions, please consider the following points:

Items: please give a brief description & the amount sent.
Positioning: i.e. is the ring to be engraved on the inside or outside.
Fonts: i.e. would you like the text in all upper case or a combination of lower and upper case. Never use all upper case for script fonts. We will assist you with the layout of inscriptions.
Delivery date: allow yourself an extra day or two for carriage. Approximately 1 week turnaround.
Contact Details: always include a contact telephone number.

Unless instructed otherwise, all engraving layouts are at R.H. Wilkins discretion.
Engraving instructions must be sent in writing/copy. We cannot accept any instructions verbally.

Request a Quote

To request a quote, please use our online quote request . You can also call or fax us your inquiry if you prefer.