Question: Suppliers, Recommendations???

BarCLeather

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Joined
Mar 9, 2009
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7
Location
Ocala, FL
Hello All! It's been a long while since I was here. I'm finally taking the plunge!! Been a leatherworker for many years now and have always dreamed of adding custom silver engraved pieces to my line but have been busy building up to it!! Last year I bought a gently used Gravermeister without foot pedal and hand piece. Today GRS is shipping my foot pedal, 915 hand piece and standard block along with the system upgrade for my machine!! (Oh yeah, and Jeremiah Watt's silver smithing, engraving and bit/spur making video series).

SOOOO, now I need to know from you experienced engravers, who is the best supplier for practice materials?? The only supplier's I have found are OttoFrei, GRS and C.C. Silver and Gold, Inc. What material is the closest in engraving properties (& most inexpensive) to silver? Is it copper? Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!!

MANY Thanks!!

Natalie
 

KCSteve

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Kansas City, MO
I'll pass along a tip I learned from Gail

Go to Home Depot / Lowes and buy a box of nice, big fender washers. They're cheap, a nice material to work on, and if they come out good you can find ways to 'use' them.

If you get the big ones you've got plenty of space to work in and the shape gives you a chance to learn how to deal with shapes.
 

quickcut07

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Jan 13, 2007
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Ontario Canada
If you are looking for material to engrave you have endless choices. A local sheel metal supplier can get or may have in stock material from rough crs to polish naval brass, home depot as mentioned also has tons of flat and round pieces to engrave washers , hinges copper in all shapes . Every dollar store has stainless flatware most of it engravable, it's best to get one or two items or a knife and spoon set to try first. Then there is places like Enco, KBC, GRS, or other tool suppliers that carry ground flat stock in three foot lengths. Try to decide which way you are going to go in your engraving then have some fun. There is a neverending supply of cheap pocket knives out there that can end up as gifts or samples as well. If it's laying around and is metal could be fair game.
Stay away from 300 series stainless 400 is okay. Leave the chrome plated stuff alone. That should get you going. Others may have more suggestions.
Good Luck , Happy New Year and enjoy the cutting !:beerchug:
 

wdale.bass

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Joined
Dec 23, 2008
Messages
69
Location
Amarillo,Texas
BarCLeather, Go to websites for indian jewlers supply in Albquerque,or Gallup,also Rio Grande in Abq,the carry sheet copper and other metals that are engravable and are the best place to get that concho and saddle silver stuff youll want, any questions about this stuff let me know as I have been a "cowboy silversmith" for about 20 years
 

Haraga.com

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Jul 27, 2007
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Skiff
Natalie, use sterling silver. When you are done practicing with it, send it to a refiner and get more sterling back to practice on.
 

leroytwohawks

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Jul 29, 2009
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North Eastern PA by the way of Texas
I know your looking for a silver substitute but it might be a good idea to also practice on some steel because you never know what job you might run into. I have a friend who does leather work also and he's looking in to incorporating some engraved buttons and other things into his work. If you go to Lowe's they sell pieces of cold rolled sheet steel in different thicknesses for around $10, I got one and took it to a machine shop and had it cut into about 25 2"x4" pieces for $10, so for around $20 you have lot's of practice plates and if you can learn to engrave the steel, silver will be a breeze.

Just my 2 cents, good luck,
Kevin
 

BarCLeather

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Mar 9, 2009
Messages
7
Location
Ocala, FL
Thank you SO much to everyone! So very helpful! I'm taking a trip to town today and maybe I'll check out some of the odds and ends at home depot, meanwhile I'm going to order some copper sheet from one of the recommended websites.

I'm guessing if I try some the stainless that I'll have to sharpen my gravers sooner...I'd like to try it but I'm a little intimidated on the graver sharpening since I haven't tried it yet. Do all of you use a fixture or do you free hand sharpen? What kind of stone do you use?
 

KCSteve

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Kansas City, MO
The GRS system - dual angle fixture + powerhone is the most versatile. You can do any possible point with it. The only problem is that you have figure out how to do it.

Steve Lindsay's template based system is just about fool proof. You put the graver in the holder and work your way around the sides of the template(s) (most points are a two template set, one for shaping and one for the actual sharpening). Problem is that you're limited to what you have templates for although there are ways to do minor variations off of a template.

Tom White makes his own powered hone that allows you to shape a graver much faster.

Because I'm a lucky SOB with an ever-indulgent wife the only thing I don't have is one of Tom's wonderful toys. I did, however, get the 100 grit disk Steve Lindsay has for use on my GRS PowerHone for initial shaping - saves a lot of time. I also got the inexpensive mandrel for using the disk in my drill press if I want to.

So basically, yes, you want to have some kind of fixture. The exact angles you use matter, but not nearly so much as being able to get the same angles every time.

I tend to recommend the Lindsay system for people starting out because of it's simplicity. Some sort of powered grinder is a major help in getting your gravers shaped. Once you've done the bulk removal and shaping the actual sharpening of a graver doesn't usually take a lot of work and is easily done with bench stones. The only time you really need to go back to power is if you break the tip back far on a hard graver or otherwise need to do some serious reshaping.

In the end, all that really matters is consistency and your choices there are either going with a fixture or spending years (literally) to learn to do it freehand.
 

eastslope

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Jan 16, 2008
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Conrad, MT
I learned to brightcut silver from leftover scrap steel, grs practice plates, and 16 gauge copper from rio grande. You can get a metal shop to cut it into practice plates with a shear, and it would only take them about 5 minutes to do it if they are slow.
 

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