A Material and Engraving Option Guide

Choosing the right product for your horse or barn can be overwhelming. As the years go by we have added multiple materials and engraving options to our website and there are many choices to make. Please use this guide to help you make your decision. We have also included a handy chart to simply your decision at the end of this article.

 

Drag engraving is when a diamond tip engraver is dragged mechanically over the material in order to physically groove the surface while also removing the paint layer. The engraving will always be the colour of the material itself, under the outer paint layer. This is silver with aluminum, and gold with brass. Because this machine is one with a specific sized tip, you can not make the lines bolder/ thicker. With the drag engraver we use a font called Roman 3 Line to do the "bold" engraving as it is made up of three lines and uses small and large capital letters to create more visibility in the font. For secondary text we use Aura, a single line font with both regular upper- and lower-case letters.
Please bear in mind that since drag engraving creates thin lines; lighting will play a big part in the product's visibility.

Drag engraving also allows for the option of letter blackening on most products. This is done by hand using a chemical that reacts with the unpainted metal in the engraved grooves and causes it to darken. As this process is done by hand the application is not perfect. We are very picky with our work and check it over carefully, but if you would like black letters that are completely uniform across the whole product you may be better selecting laser engraving.
Again, please bear in mind that since drag engraving creates thin lines; lighting will play a big part in the product's visibility. This is less so with blackened letters but we still recommend laser engraving if you think this might be a concern for your item.

 

Laser engraving is when a laser beam is targeted at the product using a computer mapping program and it is used to burn the top layer of the product off. Depending on the product, this will produce different effects. Laser metals and plastics have different coloured layers so that when you burn the top layer off, the second layer will show up. Clear acrylics will engrave white, and wood will engrave darker than the rest of the wood. The laser also enables us to import logos, pictures, and use various fonts since it is not just a special sized head that is doing the engraving. Photo engraving takes a lot of time and tests to get just right, which you will see reflected in pricing, but can be quite stunning.
Laser engraving is thicker and bolder since it is not limited to the size of the engraving tip and is by far our most visible engraving option.

Aluminum is our standard metal that we offer. It is available in a wide range of colours and we use the drag engraver in order to engrave it. Aluminum is has a shiny and pretty finish but is fairly susceptible to scratching. This product can be bent carefully to fit on curved surfaces, although the surface paint may crack if enough care is not taken. As it is a metal, it is very durable in the way of breakage and can be worn on halters that are left on horses full time. Keeping in mind, of course, that it will likely become scratched.

We have a full line of products available in our aluminum range and it is particularly good for halter plates and blanket tags since the cold weather will not affect it.
One note with our aluminum, is that it is a thinner metal. This makes it possible to bend it, as mentioned, but also means it can be bend when you don't want it to be. Horses that wear their halter full time and rub their faces a lot may bend and damage the plate.

Aluminum can be blackened after it is engraved making it the line with the most colour variation options we have to offer.
Please bare in mind the colour of the plate vs the letter colour (silver or blackened). Silver letters are harder to see on light plate colours and especially hard when the silver plate colour is chosen.

NEW Laser Aluminum

 

Lamacoid is a two layer plastic which is engraved with the laser engraver. Most colours engrave in either black or white, but there are many colour options available. Lamacoid engraves very clean and bold and is very attractive to look at. Its down-side, however, is its durability. Lamacoid is quite bendy, especially the thinner 3M, but if bent to its limit it will snap. In cold weather, the plastic becomes much more brittle and is more susceptible to breakage. For stall plaques and plates, and for tack labels, this is not a concern since they are mounted. It becomes more of a concern in halter plates, and sometimes in blanket tags if the weather is very cold.

We have tested our 3M halter plates (with rivets) during the winter in temperatures down to -15c for several months and have found that most plates did not break. When horses wore the halters full time, 50% of plates cracked. When used on halters that were not worn full time (used when the horse was in use), we had none break in testing. These halters were used as normal and often tossed on the ground when bridling the horses.

We recommend that if you are choosing this product for halters consider how you will use your halter, and the type of weather you get. For shows and photos we find this to be a very flashy product for halter plates and it would be our top choice, but would not recommend it for horses wearing their halters full time.

 

Brass is our most durable product. It is similar in many ways to aluminum but is available only in its natural gold colour. Most of our brass products are thicker than the aluminum making it more durable. Brass is engraved with the drag engraver, and the letters can be blackened as with the aluminum. The difference here is that the blackening has a slighter cleaner/ darker appearance than the aluminum as the material is more susceptible to the chemical process. Our brass ID tags are a great example of a durable brass product. They are not as “pretty” as some of our other materials and the material is not blemish free as with the others, but they are very durable and the wear is not nearly as obvious on them.
Also in the brass line we have halter plates and saddle plates which are of a ‘prettier’ type of brass and do not come with the blemishes mentioned above. They are able to be scratched, but still have a more durable finish than our regular aluminum and Lamacoid. This material has a less durable finish then our gold/ silver laser aluminum.

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Don’t hesitate to reach out if you need any assistance making your choice!
If you feel that anything could be added to this guide to help you further, please contact us at driftawayacres@gmail.com and let us know!