bram ramon
Elite Cafe Member
Bram, you made some good points. And you work and results make them credible. But I believe you went to school full time, and were taught how to do things, and was told when a graver had poor geometry, and how to correct it.
For someone trying to learn engraving on his own, the worst thing is trying to do it with a graver of poor geometry. He does not know if his poor results are because of his technique, tools, or graver geometry. He gets frustrated and gives up.
Using a template or a dual angle holding fixture eliminates that variable. At minimum it is a help to get started. And then later can try hand sharpening after he understands geometry, and how different angles affect graver behavior, if he so desires.
I hand sharpen after roughing out the graver using a Crocker fixture and power hone. Sometimes can do it faster than using a template or my Hamler fixture. But many times not. Hand sharpening for me is much faster if I am only resharpening the face when the graver gets dull or chipped. But still have to very very carefull I did not change the geometry.
Oke you are right
On my school we got a piece of paper with some sketches on heel of 10° face angle 45° That whas it the teacher sharpened one we looked how she did it. And we started sharpening our point if they did not cut we started over. Some still have problems sharpening the graver point but afther a time you create your one graver geometry. And that is the way how you start understanding graver geometry. Wen you use a template the template directs you what to do...