Kai Lawson

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I was hesitant beforehand to actually commit my blade to any modification like that, but I may send it out for laser etching--hadn't thought of that. I may try the etchant method, which is something I asked about in the OP, as doing that in stages with wax, and then coating the sides and non-etched area of the blade with a resist would be slow, inefficient and maybe messy, but might work... I will likely just leave the piece alone, or make a very shallow etch with striations to look like iron inlayed letters. Again, thanks for the suggestions and advice!

I have a finished, heat treated sword blade, likely of 6150 steel, and I'm curious about the best method to engrave it, to allow for wire inlay. The blade is a production blade from a few years ago, so there was never a chance for me to request engraving prior to heat treat. Do people have recommendations for the best approach to this (pneumatic/electric graver, hand graving, etc...)? Additionally, would etching the base letter forms, then undercutting them work for wire inlay? The letters themselves would be fairly narrow. I know this is a pretty open-ended question, so I'm really just hoping for tips, suggestions or advice with this. Thanks!

I would highly recommend looking at both historical examples (you can google various versions of the Pompeii gladius--it changes over time), and checking out myArmoury for historical examples with dimensions and discussion. Apparently, copper alloy hilt plates and pale woods (i.e. birch) are the most common hilt components, but specific hilt forms and tang buttons also varied a little with find location and time.