file engraved butt plate or not?

[bowkill]

Have a guess what you would say is a factory engraved butt plate. To get the best fit I will need to file the edges and it has engraving up to the edge., or should I just forget it and file to edge to see just how close I can get it without removing engraving.

[bowkill]

[Mark Elliott]

I am not sure what you are asking at this point as it looks as if you have already inlet the tang.   As a general rule,  I am of the opinion that fit is the first priority.    Also,  if it was me,  I would file off the cast in engraving and re-engrave after the part is inlet. 

[bowkill]

its not all the way down, proud about an 1\16. think i am going to just file it off . would rather have good wood to metal fit
than the engraving..

[Long John]

Bow,

Remember that you can move metal with a ball pien hammer and a little judicious hammering.  The word "smith" comes from the old English word "smite" - to hit.

Mark on the back of the part where it does not fill the inlet with a Sharpie pen.  Flip the part over, place it on an anvil like hard maple end grain and use the ball pein head of your hammer (a small one) to move the metal laterally in the direction to fill the gap.  A good smith can close up a 1/16th inch gap easily and quickly this way.  Is it as good as making a nice tight inlet - NO!  But sometimes $#@* happens.  A little skill with a piening hammer can fill in those little gaps.  Make sure that you anneal the metal frequently to prevent cracks.

At the fair, I have been demonstrating this for the past couple of years but I can't attend this year.  But those gaps you have can all be filled by just nudging the metal over.

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[bama]

I would continue to inlet the butt plate down to where the tang sits flush with the surface of the wood. If you filed a slight bevel to the edges of the tang before inletting you may open up bigger gaps around the edges of the butt plate by filing the butt plate down flush with the wood now. The cast in engraving to me is less important than having a good fit. Get a good fit, if you still have to do some filling, then worry about if the engraving needs to be totally filed away. There are ways to improve on a gap in the fit of metal to wood. Peening as John has suggested is a good one. If the gap is slight you can also wet the wood around the inlet to swell the wood. Do this with the butt plate in place and fit to the best of your abilities. Don't be affraid to give it a good bit of water, give the wood time to swell, let it throughly dry before doing anything else. If you still have gaps then I would peen as John suggested.

[Mike Brooks]

The cast in engraving is really deep on those castings. You can file quite a bit before you hurt it.

[bowkill]

Did not know it was deep cast , thanks good things to know..

[Stophel]

its not all the way down, proud about an 1\16. think i am going to just file it off . would rather have good wood to metal fit
than the engraving..

If the buttplate is standing high from the wood, then it simply is not inlet deep enough.