Engraving thickness

How thick of a sheet of silver should you allow for engraving a
name? The silver will be a link on a leather bracelet. Thanks!

Emie Stewart

Emie,

How thick of a sheet of silver should you allow for engraving a
name? The silver will be a link on a leather bracelet. 

There are several variables. What type of engraving, for example
drag- point, hand, power-assisted hand and more. I don’t engrave
myself but have contracted engraving of thousands of pieces. My
engravers varied in their preferences but for hand engraving most
don’t like to work thinner than 20g. Of course they can adjust their
technique to work down but it becomes increasingly expensive, because
the work requires greater concentration and has added risk of
failure. To give the engraver complete freedom of design I usually
used 18g for belt buckles and bracelets. For engraving that
incorporates bas-relief cuts you may have to go to 16g.

For lettering often a drag-point is used. This can be done on thinner
sheet but if a heavy line is desired I would suggest 20g or more, and
for large flatter type areas. 22-24g is fine for smaller pieces with
some curvature to support the stresses, like raised earrings. If you
give more specific you can get more detailed
suggestions. There is an engravers forum run by Steve Lindsay at

Dan Culver

How thick of a sheet of silver should you allow for engraving a
name? The silver will be a link on a leather bracelet. Thanks! 

Almost any thickness can be engraved. Your concern should be
structural stability of the link. If it can take tear and ware, it
can be engraved.

Leonid Surpin