First engraving

Daniel Houwer · Sep 3, 2007

After some try's.
This is just an exercise on an old loupe at work.
The A was there before I started working there 8 years ago.
Together with the book of James B. Meek and my own idea's I started engraving and hoped for the best.
This is the result. I did not polish the loupe before engraving mainly because the thing is chroomplated.
I'm still having problems controling my depth with the 120degree engraver. Working on it all.
I promessed to post an engraving for you to laugh at, here it is.

Billzach · Sep 3, 2007

Daniel
While everything is not so,so, you are doing what it takes to be a engraver and that is to pratice..If I was to show my first carved coins to the forum, They would be on the floor rolling with laugher..

cowboy_silversmith · Sep 3, 2007

Daniel, I am sure once you begin to develop more control your engraving will become more fluid and stylized.
It is a nice layout. Keep drawing and practicing, that's what I tell myself too.

Best regards,
Greg Pauline

Tira · Sep 3, 2007

Daniel, Engraving through chrome is very difficult. It forms a very hard surface and as soon as you penetrate it the underlying metal is usually not so hard. At that point the graver wants to dig to China and gets away from you quickly. That may be one of the reasons you were having control problems with the depth of the graver.

Thanks for posting your first project. We have all had that "first project" experience and have learned from there. Keep practicing and you'll be surprised how your engraving will grow.

Andrew Biggs · Sep 3, 2007

Hi Daniel

Rome wasn't built in a day and engraving skills arn't developed overnight. Keep drawing and practicing and when you are sick to death of that............draw and practice some more!!!

May I suggest getting some square practice plates from GRS. They also sell small projects like key fobs etc. They are very cheap and an ideal metal to start working on as they are provided with the beginner in mind.

Try and develop a bit of tool control before trying a bit harder projects like the loupe.

In saying that..............well done and keep at it.

Cheers
Andrew

Dave P · Sep 3, 2007

Not bad, Daniel. Not bad at all. I'm probably going against the tide with this recommendation, but try using a 90 degree graver for a while. They really are a lot easier to control both the depth and width. The only real drawback is you can't roll it over and go into a bright cut and back as easily, but at least for a while, that shouldn't be your objective anyway.

You can also practice on anything metal. Ron Cover uses fender washers I believe for his beginning students. I've engraved on just about anything I could find. Bolts, exhaust pipe, scrap steel and aluminum from motorcycle builds and car frames, Mom's old pots and pans (be careful with that one, though), copper pipe, bronze boat props, you name it. It's good training for later as you'll be able to tell what a metal is going to cut like in the first millimeter. You'll also be used to holding and cutting odd shapes and cross-sections. Very handy skills. These things also make neat gifts. Monogrammed bottle caps used to be a big thing around my house.

Just keep on drawing and cutting. That's the only way to improve.

Dave

Tira · Sep 3, 2007

Zernike, "Dig to China" is slang for digging a very deep hole. It probably comes from the idea that if you dig a deep enough hole on this side of the Earth (assuming that you could) you would eventually pop out on the other side of the Earth in China. It does not mean anything bad about China - just that the hole would be very deep.

In this case, once you pierce the chrome and hit the softer metal, the graver will have a tendency to get away from you and bury itself deep in the metal which will cause the cut to be uneven.

FL-Flinter · Sep 3, 2007

Daniel, that ain't nuttin to laugh at, you want a laugh, look for the post I put up my first attempt, now that's good for a laugh! LOL

My physical condition will never allow me to have the control necessary to obtain quality of the level seen by the pro's here but that doesn't stop me from continuously trying to improve. One thing you can be assured of, in this forum you'll get good sound advice from the master's who go out of their way to help and I can't thank everyone enough for that.

Mark

monk · Sep 3, 2007

an engraving, even though many of us say this, really is nothing to chuckle over. your engraving is the result of a serious batch of time spent studying, drawing, and so on. pattern transfer, metal cutting, graver sharpening, creating a workbench of sorts. a couple dozen different things all go into creating the design that you have put on the loupe. the important thing is, you decided to take the chance that you could do it, and you did ! your next will be a tad better. doing this is risky, as this effort can fail. but- success will only come to those who are willing to fail. those souls who fear failure never embrace success ! never. none here will laugh, as they know the arena you have entered admits very few. and here you are ! congratulations.
continue the practice.

noud peters · Sep 4, 2007

Hallo Daniel

Helemaal niet slecht hoor, je hebt er zin in. Gebruik je de gravermax met de microscoop?
www.zilvermaan.com is ook super.

Groetjes Noud Peters

Ron Smith · Sep 4, 2007

Hi Daniel, Tara is correct.........You are trying to work one of the most difficult situations in the engraving world. Chrome is super hard and varies with products and the thinkness it is deposited, often the hardest around the edges of a piece. Also one product will engrave so so, and the next won't engrave at all. Be care ful when trying to find material to cut on. You are harming your practice sessions and fighting against impossible odds. Take practice cuts in out of the way places to find out the materials and platings, but chrome has a dixtinct shine and color to it. Some materials were just not meant to be done by hand tools. I have even had the chrome peel off where it did not adhere well to the base metal. Be careful my friend, I have a few old wounds from trying to cut that stuff. You might also be surprised at the improvement in your work on suitable material.

Ron S

Daniel Houwer · Sep 4, 2007

Thanks for your kind remarks!
Have to say that I've been weelding engravers for the last 15 years though that might not show

I've been setting stones with engravers for a long time now, and only since a few month's I'v got a microscope and gravemax in front of my nose. This is at my work and allas not yet in my own (goldsmith's) workshop.
The last month I've decided to have at least Half an hours fun per day with it.
So only recently the first figurative engravings are being done by yours truely.
This is an example of what I used to do with push engravers.
http://www.zilvermaan.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=107

Thanks again for your kind remarks!

Daniel

First engraving

Daniel Houwer

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Billzach

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cowboy_silversmith

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Tira

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Andrew Biggs

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Dave P

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Tira

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FL-Flinter

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monk

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noud peters

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Ron Smith

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Daniel Houwer

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