What is better, stamping or electro-etch?
Depends on who you are asking. Many makers swear by stamps and others like etching, some even engrave their names. Some people think that stamping creates a weak place in the blade. I have never heard of a blade breaking at a logo mark so I wouldnt worry about it if the blade is correctly heat treated. Electro-etching does not create any stress on the blade as far as I know. Both logos could be ground off but the stamp could be recovered if it were absolutely necessary. When a logo is stamped into a blade it makes the metal below the letters more compact and harder. If the logo were to be ground or sanded off it could be Raised by putting weak acid on it. The acid would attack the dense steel at a different rate than the rest of the steel. The acid would eat away the rest of the steel and the logo would be Raised to a point that it could be seen. This is how police raise the serial numbers on stolen guns that had the serial number ground off. Not really a factor for knives but an inter
