masking when shot blasting flare cuts

rod

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First, thank you Diane, Ron, Roger, Carl, Lee and others who have encouraged us to have a try at what we appear to be calling 'flare' cuts.

I know that Ron dark-etches his flare cuts on steel, and gets contrast by having a bright surface.

While trying some copper practice in preparation for flare cutting silver baroque flute keys, which are about two inches tall, I experimented with a quickly sketched design (don't look too close) using the following procedure:

Cut the design with your own tool preference...round heeled flat or uniform heel 120 degree, etc.

Apply a generous coating of super glue to the whole piece, making sure the glue has gone into the bright cuts. Wait until the glue hardens.

Water sand with, say 400 grit wet and dry, until the glue is completely off the main surface. The glue remains in the ditches of the bright cuts. If you wish, take the surface finish down further to about 1200 grit wet and dry.

Although we can pride ourselves in having almost no edge bur with V graver geometry, when using a flat, there always is at least a little edge bur on the deep side of the cut. Upon sanding down, as above, the edge bur is taken off completely, yet the crisp corners retained, as the super glue filling in the cuts prevents the sanding from its usual degrade of crispness.

Now sandblast with alum oxide and/or glass bead to your matt finish of preference. The super glue will mask the bright cuts, as it is a very hard fill.

Soak the piece in acetone for an hour or two, or if you are in a hurry, wipe it as you soak, until the super glue dissolves, and leaves the piece clean. If you are wiping and do not want to breath acetone, just do it outdoors, or in a clear plastic bag, to contain acetone flumes.

The resulting contrast is pretty good, and there is no trace of edge bur when you run your finger over the surface.

More flare cut practice is on the menu for me, but I am encouraged by the speed of this procedure.

Rod
 

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Roger Bleile

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Rod,

Very clever process! I would think that such scroll on the keys will be a crowning glory to your baroque flutes.

See you next week.

Roger
 

Doc Mark

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Looks great! I've always liked the contrast between bead blasting and flare-cut or bright-cut work. But, here comes the perhaps stupid question. If you don't have any burs to worry about, why not just bead blast first, then do your flare cuts? If you made a slip or any error you could then use the glue and sand down the background and then bead blast again. Just curious. Would'nt it be faster?

Mark
 

eastslope

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The acetone fumes are what keep me engraving. Otherwise I would have go back to glueing carpet.:just kidding: I think I might give it a try when I get a chance. Your engraving looks terrific also. Thanks for posting, Seth
 

rod

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Thank you, colleagues!

Mark...quite true, if you are working with a uniform heel square graver, edge bur can be almost nil, so just blast and cut, but if you are cutting wider flare with a flat graver, there is a tendency to get some bur on the deep side of the cut, and the above temporary glue fill will give a very crisp definition from bright to matt. The flute key is touched by the little finger thousands of time per concerto, and tactical quality is appreciated by the player.

best

Rod
 

delder

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flare cutting

Another twist on cutting through a textured surface. I was pleased to find how durable a cold blue finish could be on copper. I'm also using a coat of everbrite on the wearable side to retard the inevitable copper oxide .
 

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rod

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Now that is real pretty, Delder!

Love it! I am not a gun engraver, so is cold blue finish normally applied to steel, and where do I get some? As Andrew says, that's another one to put in the tips back pocket!

Thanks!

Rod
 

delder

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I've tried different brands. The one I settled on is Birchwood Casey super Blue. I sandblast the surface first to give to chemical something to grab onto.Dicks sporting goods has it or you can purchase it online.
 

Ron Smith

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Wow Rod,

Very nice!!

I think that is a very appropriate style for your flute parts. Looks great and I bet the musicians love it.

Bravo for coming up with another use for it. It will fit about anywhere I think, not to mention, it is fun stuff.

Rock on!!


Ron S
 

Kevin P.

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"Although we can pride ourselves in having almost no edge bur with V graver geometry, when using a flat, there always is at least a little edge bur on the deep side of the cut. Upon sanding down, as above, the edge bur is taken off completely, yet the crisp corners retained, as the super glue filling in the cuts prevents the sanding from its usual degrade of crispness."

Rod, may I add a footnote to your technique. If the wet/dry paper (or other material) is cemented to a hard, flat piece of wood or another rigid surface there is less chance of deforming the edges where the burs lie. With care perhaps the epoxy wouldn't be necessary?
Kevin P.
Kevin P.
 

rod

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Yes, Kevin, I do agree,

I always have a backing, if fine sanding, as you suggest, however, the main idea was that the superglue is to mask the bright cut if you are bead blasting after cutting. As already pointed out by Mark, one can simply bead blast and then engrave. The glue thing is very fast, and if you are using a flat graver, sanding the glue off the top surface gives the extra benefit of a crisp look after blasting and glue dissolve.

Rod
 
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bronc

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Thanks for sharing a great idea with us Rod. Really nice job on the engraving.
:thumbs up:
Stewart
 

John B.

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Sorry to be so late to the party, Rod.
That is another very clever innovation from The Canny Scot.
Thank you very much for the handy hint.
See ya in a few days, aye.
 

rod

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Thank you, all!

John B, if you are driving to Reno over the Donner Pass, a heck of a storm wil brew up next week as a jet stream and el nina collide and maybe 10 inches of rain turning to snow at 5000 feet. The worse may be over by Friday, but keep an eye open for this.

I will play music in Auburn on Thursday just short of the Sierras, and if the road looks bad I will take the gambler's bus from there to Reno, at a good price, and let the bus driver do the difficult stuff. Katherine P will do that, the bus stops near her ranch, and she let me know about this service.

Let's all arrive safely!

Rod
 
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