Hand Chasing – Keeping the skills alive

Posted on Apr 11, 2016

In our 20,000 square foot bespoke built factory, Swatkins are still designing, creating and manufacturing our Silverware in Walsall, West Midlands. We are extremely proud to still be hand chasing our awards in house, a skill that is very rare in today’s world.

The pattern on each hand chased Swatkins Trophy or Award has been chased by hand in our factory. This method of decoration has remained unchanged over centuries.

Method

Chasing is a metalworking technique in which a metal, in our case copper or brass, is ornamented and shaped by hammering the material to create a design in low relief.

The first stage is for the area that is being chased to be placed onto a bowl or filled with pitch. This chasers pitch can be pine resin- based that can be kept soft by heat, but must be allowed to dry by being left in a cool area before chasing. The purpose of this is to provide a solid base to work on, whilst allowing the metal to be pushed out and shaped without obstruction or damaging the initial shape of the area.

Tooling

Steel tools are used to work with the metal area. A Liner is a steel tool with a very thin, slightly rounded end that is used to create the first outlined lines on the metal. The liner is hit on the end with a chasing hammer therefore pushing the thin line of the tool into the metal to create the shape. There are many tools that can be used, and most of our tools have been passed down by our skilled craftsmen. These tools are perfect for all of the many designs we have in our four comprehensive catalogues. All of the chasing artwork has been designed by Swatkins craftsmen.

Because each piece is chased by hand, this means that no two awards will ever be identical. This means your Award is truly a one of a kind piece, making it exclusive for your presentation or ceremony.

Supreme Awards

Our Supreme range is simply the best Awards money can buy. With most of our Hand Chased range falling into this category, this means that these Awards hold a warranty against defects in manufacture for life of first ownership. The Supreme Awards are manufactured for major events worldwide, making them the finest collection of British handmade awards available.

For any further information, or if you wish to speak to a Swatkins Representative, please contact us here, and we can point you in the right direction. Alternatively, please visit our Stockist page, where we have a number of online stockists that would be glad to take your call.

Awards you will be proud to present, Swatkins Silverware.