Hello Matt. Yes it is allowed, but you will be judged on that too. So, in my opinion why take the chance. Just present five nice clean knives and save the engraving for other pieces.

Good Luck!

Brion

As Brion pointed out, it is allowed, but you will absolutely be judged on it.  Another point to bring up, however, is that it is so seldom that Journeyman do engraving that there will probably be a pause in the judging while you are called in to verify that the engraving is yours, so be sure to let them know, perhaps ahead of time, that it is.  

I have to back up what Brion and Kevin have said.  When I read your post, and particularly "I am also just learning some hand engraving and inlay techniques." 

  The red flag went up.  My advice is don't.  I have judged a number of times, and can tell you that I have seen a number or instances in the JS judging, where an individual presented a knife or knives with something that they had either "just learned", or something they sought to "impress the judges" with....did it poorly, and it caused them to fail.

  If you're supremely confident that you can execute the techniques nearly flawlessly, then go for it.  However, if there is ANY question (and there usually is at the JS level), the wise thing to do is just build 5 knives as flawlessly as you can, and leave the embellishments off.    

  Remember that those who will be judging your knives are all Mastersmiths.... there is nothing you can do in terms of techniques/embellishments, that they don't do, or haven't tried. 😉    

Ok perfect answers! Thank you. Next question is about blued guards and fittings. I know etching is discouraged but what about darkening fittings. I wouldn't do it on all my pieces but one of my more aggressive knives would look great with darkened fittings. I don't see many JS knives doing that, but for example Matt Parkinson did a couple knives that way and passed. Just wanted to make sure I won't get a strike against me if I do.

As far as I know bluing is acceptable, I will say don't do what I did  on one of the knives and use it on a partial tang. I scratched one of the fittings in assembly and needed to re-blue it in place that was unfun.. mine were cold blued (ox-pho ) Hot bluing is definitely preferred as in general it is a more even color and slightly tougher finish.

good luck!

MP 

Thanks bud! I am getting all my knives to condition before deciding final details. We shall see. Just wanted to know if it was frowned upon or not.

 To my knowledge there is nothing again bluing hardware for JS presentation knives.  Again... IF you can pull it off (the bluing) in a near flawless fashion.  And once again....a warning.... make sure you DO NOT use the bluing in an attempt to cover up/hide less than stellar finishes on whatever the bluing is applied to....I've seen that attempted at the JS level too, and trust me, to MS judges that sort of think sticks out like a sore thumb.   What wins the race at the JS level is Super Simple designs, executed to the Nth degree. 😉