An engraved door knocker makes a wonderful personalized gift or addition to your
home. With a little forethought it can become a treasured family heirloom.
Over the years I have engraved scores of door knockers. Many of which were
similar in style but each unique in its own way due to the message it carries.
It seems that there are a lot of choices to consider. As an engraver all I can
do is offer advice and information.
First of all, think about what you would like to accomplish before
you purchase your door knocker. They come in different shapes and sizes all
offering differing engraving opportunities. Some are not engraveable at all. Be
sure of what you are purchasing. It may be safest to purchase from the same
place that is doing the engraving if possible.
When it comes to the engraving itself, there are quite a few choices to be
made, for example:
Names, addresses, greetings, a combination of all of these.
Lets address the most common question, the engraving of a name.
Is it proper the engrave just the last name, the last name with an s making it
plural, or the last name with an apostrophe s making it a possessive?
Any one of these would be correct given the message you want to convey.
Name only: This is always nice and is easily understood as the name of
the family living behind in this home.
Names plural: Also nice as it states that more than one family member lives in
this home.
Name's possessive: This method states that this residence belongs to this family.
Just to throw another cog into the wheel, How about putting the work "The" in
front of the name?
The Shaylers -or- The Shayler's -or even- The Shayler Family if room
allows.
I'll bet you did not think that there was so much to consider just getting a
door knocker engraved. Well, there is more.
A name does not need to be used at all. You may want the street address or
simply "Welcome". How about "Howdy"? Maybe "Bless This House"
Perhaps you are engraving a door knocker as a wedding or anniversary gift.
Typically the engraving includes the new last name and a line with "Est. 2006"
Est. being short for established.
All of these choices are very nice and are correct given the situation they are
to be used in.
The words themselves are not the only choice to be made. You must also choose a
font. Depending on the font used you may want all upper-case letters or mixed
case letters.
A general rule of thumb is, if you are using a script or ornamental font always
use mixed case (upper and lower case letters). Most just do not look right in
all upper case.
Roman and block fonts look very nice in either case, all upper or mixed. The
Roman and block fonts may not be the most attractive but they are definitely the
easiest to read.
The shape and style of the door knocker may dictate the font and case used. A
small engraving area may prefer all upper case to prevent a descender ( letters
like y or g that go below the base line ) from making the words to small to read
easily. All upper case has no descenders and may fill the area more uniformly.
Most engravers can advise you as to what the limitations are but again the
final decision lies with the customer. I have engraved some ornamental fonts in
all upper case (ugh!) because this is what was wanted.
Be sure to use a bold font that stands out well. Door knockers as a rule do not
offer a lot of contrast for the engraving so thin fine letters really do not
show up well at all. Here again the engraver is a great source of advice.
All in all a little planning before the purchase will make the experience a
brighter one.
Bill Shayler is a professional engraver and the owner of Shayler Engraving. For more information or to contact Bill, please visit: www.your-door-knocker.com a web site owned and operated by Shayler Engraving.
Copyright (C) Shayler Engraving 2006 All Rights Reserved
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