Steve Lindsay's engravings are cut by hand under a
microscope. The layout and designs of the engravings are first drawn with pencil and the
design is then cut under the microscope. 24k gold is used for inlays. Generally, knife
engraving prices range from $3,000 (for scroll on a medium sized interframe folding knife
without gold inlays), to $32,000 to $55,000 (for elaborately engraved Lindsay designed and
made folding knives). Please visit the engraving gallery to
view some of the engraving work.
Steve grew up in the back of his father's jewelry store, learning the
skills of gold and metal working. His father is a recognized watch maker and
gemologist. Steve's great grandfather was an engraver and jeweler, and his
grandfather was a landscape painter. Steve says the art and design part of the
engraving is the most enjoyable. Steve attended Southeast community college in
Milford, NE and majored in tool & die and engineering. He has been a full time
engraver since 1979.
Steve began hand engraving at the age of 12 under his father's
guidance. In 1975 he had the opportunity to meet James Meeks, author of the book
"The Art of Engraving", in his home and studio. In 1976 he met John
Rohner, co-inventor of the GRS Gravermister in his home and studio. Around this
same period Don Glaser, the other co-inventor of the GRS Gravermeister, visited Steve's
father concerning tools. Steve's father created numerous tools to aid in
engraving. One of them in 1972 set Steve up with a stereo gem microscope over an X,Y
positioning slide ball vise. The microscope setup was later shown to and taken up
by Lynton McKenzie. In 1977 Steve was honored to have Lynton McKenzie visit to enjoy
pheasant hunting as well as help with engraving techniques. Mr. McKenzie helped
Steve with engraving in those earlier years as he did so many other engravers.
Steve's father most influenced Steve in engraving by inventing and making so many of the
tools and processes still used today. Other people that influenced and still influence
Steve in his engraving career are Dick Hodgson, Jack Busfield, Steve Hoel, SR
Johnson and Buster Warenski, six of the world's top custom knivemakers. Others
include, Steve's high school art teacher, Steven Wilkie, and college tool & die
teacher, Al Carter. Steve's work is sought after by private collectors as well as
museums throughout the world. He has worked for several notable companies as an
engraving consultant, including the largest US manufacture of designer sunglasses.
Steve has been working with several new knife folder designs and
mechanisms. These are screw together folders with all screws and pins hidden. The screws
are accessed by reaching inside the bottom edge of the knife. The locking mechanism is
also new. Many thanks to friend Barry Trindle for preliminary help
with this mechanism. The lock bar is hidden inside, making the top edge of the knife
completely engravable. Here is a link to one of
the designs. Rather than taking orders for these knives, pieces are
posted for sale on the engraving page as they are finished. Collectors who are interested
in these knives can be notified by email when a piece is posted for sale, if they request
notification.
Currently Steve is not accepting additional engraving work on other makers' knives. This
is to allow him to concentrate on the venture described above. Perhaps at a later date,
Steve can again begin taking engraving orders on other makers' knives. However, if you
have a need for a small engraving project, i.e. engraving a name in a fancy font,
designing and cutting a small scroll design or an unusual small or large project, please
e-mail.
Other Steve Lindsay related web
sites:
HandEngravingSchool.com
Older restored Hardinge machine tools:
Hardinge machine tools
Auto Toolpath GCode Software for Autocad and CNC machine tools
http://www.nyx.net/~slindsay/gcode
Digital Read Out 4.0(do-it-yourself linear and rotary positioning read out software for
encoders for use with machine tools) http://www.nyx.net/~slindsay/dro.html
Arrow Master Pro (arrow weight and balance archery program)
http://www.devinfo.com/archives/coast/msdos/sports/
Air Chasing Graver