Personalizing pocket knives is an art, because it’s not the same as using a color office printer and printing on a piece of white paper. Knives present a unique set of obstacles such as:

• Color of the material
• Type of material (wood, metal, bone, synthetic)
• Irregular surface contour
• Required durability of the imprint

These problems are not usually a direct concern of the customer unless his company logo has a lot of detail or requires a color imprint. Each logo imprinting request is handled one at a time. When our art department receives your logo, the artist looks at these questions:

1. Does the logo contain too much detail
2. Does the imprint contain text smaller than 6 point
3. Are the lines in the imprint thinner than 1 point
4. Is a color imprint required

These problems can be solved by our art department or yours. A complex logo can be simplified to eliminate the detail problem. Small text can either be eliminated or re-arranged somehow. Thin lines can be broadened. A black and white version can be made of your logo if needed.

Most pocket knives are laser engraved on the metal blade, metal handle, metal bolster, or the wooden handle. Laser engraving doesn’t offer color. However, laser engraving on stainless steel looks black or dark. Laser engraving on anodized aluminum handles looks white. And if doing this same method on a blackened metal blade or handle will look white.

Some knives can be pad printed on a handle in color, or screen printed on a metal surface.

Case Knives can be personalized in a few different ways. If the handle is made of smooth bone, wood, or synthetic material (except Zytel), Case can imprint in these ways:

• Laser engraving
• Laser engraving with a 1-color fill.

Color added to laser engraving: Gold, white, silver, black, red, yellow, blue, or green.

Another imprinting option is Electro-etching, which looks dark on a stainless steel blade. This method of making personalized pocket knives is considered semi-permanent. It doesn’t go as deep into the metal as machine engraving and laser engraving. This leads to a final method of imprinting knives, which is machine engraving. This is like using the engraving machine that jewelers have to engrave your initials on a pendant. It is good for lettering only. It is permanent.

Most promotional items  have their share of printing problems, but Pocketknives have a unique set of hurdles for the imprinter. That’s where Advantage-Advertising.com and Logo-Knives.com can use their experience to make your folding knife a cherished gift with your corporate logo.