That's funny! Makes one wonder how, and by whom, this work is being done.

All I can say is..WOW!

You mean buying a $5,000 + engraving machine doesn't make you a professional engraver? :S 

Funny thing is, the person who did the engraving probably does not see anything wrong with it. My oh my!

So the employee said. [Does not work here any more.]

I would have been happy if I thought that if she was trained for three weeks on those medals alone, that would have been her best work.

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Tips Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

David,

I have a dear friend about 35 miles from here, who also does engraving work (laser only). When we first started in this business, and before we could afford our own laser, we took all of our stuff to him for engraving.

That's the kind of work that he did for me...and he was actually HAPPY with the quality. When I would tell him that the work was unsatisfactory, he would respond with something like "well, you didn't tell me that the engraving needed to be centered".

This guy was one of my closest friends, so it was very hard to tell him that I would have to stop using his services. We were just thrilled when God opened the door for us to buy our own laser so that we could actually CONTROL the quality of the work!

We've had customers bring perpetual plaques to us, that someone else had engraved in previous years. Some of the plates would be embarrassingly off-center or crooked. How could someone let something like that get out of their shop??? On more than one occasion, we've replaced the offending plates at no charge (without being asked)...just because we knew that these folks would appreciate the "extra attention" we gave them.

This is another example of your competition being your best friend!!

Cody

***
Edited to add:

Please tell me that your customer wanted these mounted with the engraved side DOWN!!

***

Cody,

This customer didn't want these adhered to the plaque. They wanted visual access to the back sides and didn't want any tape, velcro, etc. stuck to the medal. I ended up using eye hooks and simply hung the medals from the face of the plaque. It made for a rattling presentation, but he was quite pleased with the finished product.

I wish I had my camera in the shop today to post a picture. A person brought in a wine bottle that "Things Remembered" had engraved. The name was first middle last. They didn't put any spaces between the names and the font was so small I couldn't even read it, without a magnifying glass. And they still charged him $35.00 for the engraving. He also had them engrave one wine glass to go with the bottle and told them 2 times he wanted gold filled writing. Kept asking them to write it down...they assured him they'd get it right. Nope he got it natural ... and then they told him they don't do gold fill on wine glasses. I did another wine bottle for him, and colored filled the wine glass. Needless to say he asked for several business cards to pass out and tell his friends about his experience. I just love this type of advertising (devil) 

Zona

Somewhat off topic.
What do you use to gold fill glass? I assume you would have to sandblast to get deep enough for the fill to get a good key. If you use a paint fill, does it stay in for any length of time and will it discolour with wine or washing? I guess it would not be dish washer proof.

I have a cylindrical engraver and use a diamond (I only use diamonds from Bruce Diamond) cutter. Use rub n buff for gold and silver (metal colors) glass paints (Hobby Lobby, etc.) for other colors. Engrave a little deeper for the paints vs the rub n buff. I've been dishwashing a couple of coffee cups with rub n buff since 1996. (Microwaved also) with no problems.

Zona

Thanks Zona,
I have a cylindrical engraver as well (Vision Max) but not set up for glass. Prefer to laser or blast.
I will give the fills a try! Always had grave doubts about longevity.

Don't laugh but I have found one of the best ways to remove the excessive rub 'n buff without removing from the engraving is .............. a hot breath. (doesn't work after eating ice cream ;-)  ) Just 'huff' on the item and polish. (I always wash my items before packing so I don't have to worry about spreading germs. ) I've tried some thinners, WD, etc. but it will also remove from the engraving and takes more work to clean the glass for packing. My two cents.

Zona