Hey guys- anybody out there have any good ideas for holding your spurs while engraving? Straight edged spurs are no trouble, but when trying to engrave scalloped bands, it's tough not to bugger up the sides. I use scraps of leather to cushion things, but need to come up with something to support better (I've been playing around engraving the steel).
Any ideas?

I have often had the same trouble. I tried shaped wood blocks and lead blocks and strips. Nothing works great. I finally went to just engraving the bands while flat and then bending. It works great, although you have to factor in careful bending and shank attachment. When I do them this way I usually use the old two piece style and peen the shank on. It is much easier in my opinion to do high quality steel engraving before the band is bent. Good luck -- Denny

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Denny Lytle
L & M Spurs

What do you (and other guys) do with inlays? I am fairly confident about my inlays, but not that confident! I have done as you suggested with overlays and not had too much trouble-except that I usually put at least 1 good ding in each spur and have to try and fix my engraving after.

The idea I had in my head was simlilar to what you have tried, with blocks shaped to fit the inside of the band, but then you need a set of blocks for every size boot to get a snug enough fit to benefit using them in the first place. I'm still playing with this idea-thinking I should be able to come up with something adjustable (like GRS advertises for holding knives-only workings would be inside).

There are two things I use alot with my knives which should work good with spurs bits etc.

1- I put 3m packing tape on the opposite side of where I am engraving , then hot glue the piece to a block of wood. The word is oversize to the metal which alows me not to mar any metal surfaces. You can use any wood and cut it to different shapes. Plus you can put a hole lot more preasure on the wood with your engraving vise. When your done engraving pour rubbing alcohol between tape and metal and the bit spur will pop right off.

2- I get a product from www.grstools.com called thermal lock. This is some kind of plastic which when heated in the microwave it turns soft (don't leave it in too long get to soft) then you take it out, put it on your spur then into the opened vise. Now you wait for it to cool. It cools very hard and will hold your object fine. One other thing about thermal lock is it bonds very well to plastic, but doesn't stck to metal. DON'T get it on your counter top, it don't come off. We broke the plaslic handle that is on the water tank we use to haul water and made a new one with just the center part of the plastic.
This will probably work the best for a set of spurs. I use an old micro wave thats in my shop. You can put the whole thing back into the micro wave, just put it on a plate and make sure it the metal can't touch the sides or it might arc. The other way is to make a two piece jig by incurting a thin piece of metal inbetween so you will have to parts.

Hope this helps
Rick

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Rick Eaton
www.eatonknives.com

Thanks for the help. I was overcomplicating this whole process! Thermo lock looks like the way to go- but will try the hot glue-till my GRS order shows up.