Starting gold inlay

Hi Sam,

First I love the new forum! I've been lurking from the beginning and have learned quite a bit already! I'm a newbie ( slightly over one year) and have never been so frustrated and entertained at the same time as when I'm engraving! I was once a commercial artist and could always count on becoming at least somewhat proficient at a new artistic technique within a few months, not with engraving! I'm getting better, but I have a long way to go before I feel comfortable cutting anything of value. So far I've stuck to cheap belt buckles, small knives and some jewelry. Now I want to learn gold inlay techniques. I've read your hints and I've got the FEGA DVD on inlay but I've still got quite a few questions. I read that you buy 18 gauge 24 k gold wire and use a draw plate to size the wire to your needs. I've never used a draw plate, do you start with the first "binding" hole and work the wire down each hole in succession, or can you "skip" down to smaller holes more quickly? How often must you anneal the gold as you are drawing it? Can you use a standard flat graver of the final desired width to cut a uniform channel for the gold wire? How deep to you cut the channel and how do you determine what size gold wire will fill the channel and not way overfill? Which brings up the next question, what is the best technique for flattening the raised portion of the gold after it has been set? Do you make your own brass punches? What would be the best punch face diameters to have on hand? Can a brass punch be made for a Gravermax or do you only use a hammer? What gauge gold sheet would you buy to start off? Sorry for the myriad of questions but that's what we new guys do, bug the pros!

One more request: if possible can technique photos tell the viewer what SIZE an engraving is? I was very frustrated once trying to mimic a shading technique I saw on another website, only to find much later, that I was trying to cut the same design less than 1/3 the size of the original! Needless to say I could not get the same number of shading lines in the alloted spaces. You were kind enough to tell us on one of your designs that it was 25mm in length, and that alone helped immensly when practicing cutting the style. By the way, out of curriosity, what was the approximate size of those great "leaf script" initials in your hint list?

Anyway, enough questions! Again, we really appreciate your commitment to engraving education in such a friendly format.

Mark Sedlak

Hi Mark. Thanks for participating in the Cafe.
*Draw gold down in size one hole at a time.
*Anneal as needed...usually every couple of pulls. I can pull thinner wire with less annealing than thicker wire.
* A flat graver is used after cutting the channel with a square graver first.
* Adjust gold size to the channel, not vice versa.
* The depth of the channel should be approx 50% the thickness of the wire.
* Brass or copper punches drive gold in nicely. Texture the face first with a fine file.
* A punch slightly wider than the wire is sufficient.
* I use my GraverMach to drive-in the gold.
* I usually buy 18ga sheet gold and roll it to size with a small rolling mill. There is no right or wrong size. Overlays require much thinner gold than inlays. A small mill is an excellent investment for the engraver who's doing inlay work.
* That's a good point about indicating size. Sometimes it's deceiving. I'll try to remember that when I do tutorials.
* The leaf script letters were about 25mm tall. The one shown here is about 18mm tall.

I should add that there are many ways in which to inlay gold wire. Don't consider the info above to be the only way or best way because it's not. It works for me, but I encourage you to experiment with other ways too.

cheers! / ~Sam

Thanks for your quick reply Sam. I'm going to get the basic wire and draw plate and make some punches and then experiment as you suggested. Maybe some day I'll have the guts to photo some practice plates and put them on this site for critique.

Thanks again,

Mark Sedlak

Mark- Lets see if we can stir up anymore responses about gold inlays. What Sam said is correct, so I'll just add to it. The basic border that I use is done with a #36 flat following in the channel made with a square or 90 degree graver. It is easier to follow more precisely a scribed line with a 90 than with a flat graver. Now the flat graver will take the path of least resistance and follow in the channel of the 90. The #36 is just my preference any width flat will do. You if you use a larger # then you will just need a larger dia. wire than the figures that I use. I buy 0.025 inch 24k gold wire. I draw it down from there to 0.017 inch or the hole marked .475 on my draw plate. This seems to work in a 0.008 to 0.010 deep channel made with the #36. The depth is something that you have to get the feel for. It's difficult to measure, best way is to lay the wire into the channel and as Sam said try to get 50% in the channel. I use a brass punch made from 1/8 inch brazing rod this can be used with a hammer or used in a QC Collete with a handpeice. There are different methods of matting the end of the brass punch. I use a flat smooth file and hold the brass perpendicular to the file, I then slid the brass along the file teeth thus creating lines or groves in the brass I then rotate the brass and do it again thus creating a crosshatch design on the bottom of the punch. The idea here is to grip the gold and force it down with out it sliding away. Oh yes, you'll need to under cut the bottom edges of the channel or raise some opposing teeth in the bottom of the channel to give the gold something to hang on to. I use a 5/0 onglette to just remove a small curl from both bottom edges of the channel. I have found that it's not necessary to cut a big dovetail. Also you will find that a very short heal on the flat will give you better results when making scrolls or turns helping to prevent chattering the outside edge of the channel. A longer heal will help you to go straight when you want to go straight. Annealing the gold is important to make it flow into the cavity. I know there are various methods but what works for me is hold the gold with tweezers if necessary and heat it with a bic lighter that I keep at my bench for just this purpose. Let it air cool , wipe off any shoot and it's ready to set with a punch. This is what works for me on the basic gold border or vines. I would like to hear if someone has a better or different approach to this.
Mike

Mike,

Thanks for the suggestion about the brazing rods! I was about to spend an inordinate amount of time cutting down some large brass rods on my small metal working lathe.

Mark