round carbide sharpening lesson

oakleave

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Jun 5, 2013
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hello engraver friends,
When I needed some gravers blanks I was browsing the internet for alternatives for my Lindsay palm control. I found some round carbide blanks 3/32 x 3 inch long for under $5. But the problem was how can I index them to use in my Lindsay template? When I was sheduling an engraving lessone with engraving instructor JJ Roberts from Virginia I asked him and he said bring some blanks when you come next time. Today I went for my lesson. We went to a hardware store to buy 3/32 square brass tubing, Stock Nr. 8150 from K&S engineering. After we went back to JJ's Studio we took a round blank, cut it in the middle and than ground one on end that it would fit inside the squere brass tube. It worked very well and the squere fit perfect in the sharpening template. Than we sharpened the blank and tested it. I worked very well.
Happy engraving wishes you Bernie
 

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monk

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this idea works very well. it was first introduced to the forum by john baraclaugh quite some time ago also works nicely for making miniature tools utilizing fg (.062") dental burs. these are just a few of the many i've made.
 

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JackJellies

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Excellent idea. I recently bought some of the 3 inch blanks. Was going to grind a flat for indexing tomorrow. Will also now try some this way. Is friction fit adequate or does it improve things to epoxy the carbide blank? Also, should the "tang" be longish? Am wondering if the hollow brass has any bounce to it or if it will act like a single piece in transferring impact?

In any case, cool idea.
 

JJ Roberts

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John Barraclough gave me one of these graver's and everyone at the Blade show in Atlanta five years ago that's were I got the idea,I show all my student how make them. J.J.
 

monk

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friction wont do it. with any kind of use, the graver may begin backing farther back into the brass tube. i never thought about using epoxy. a good grade might work. be advised-- some of those "5 minute" epoxies are more like 5 days, or more for a solid cure. when doing repairs on carved wood signs, i used to use some of the so-called 5 minute brands. seriously, some brands took over a week to cure.
 

Sandy

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When I was making these neat little gravers I crimped the base and glued them in place with super glue. Worked slick and easy and relatively messless. Now I buy GRS blank QC holders and drill them to the size I need.

Sandy
 

Scottyd

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May 21, 2010
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Colorado Springs, CO
I usually work on small stuff so I got tired of grinding down a 3/32 graver. I use a similar method as mentioned numerous times on the forum. I use 3/32 square brass tubing and use 1/16" drill blanks. I use a 1 1/2" or 1 3/4" piece of brass tubing. I cut a 3" drill blank in half and fill up the rest of the 3/32 square brass with 1/16 welding rod to make the graver about 2 3/8" or 2 1/2" long. I rough up the drill rod and welding rod, clean them and the brass tubing good with alcohol and super glue it together. If you ever want to take them apart just use a lighter to heat them up a little and they come apart easily. Thanks to Dave London for passing on the super glue trick. I have also used the GRS 1.8mm round C-Max 2" long blank gravers. I cut them in 1/2 and force them into the brass tubing and fill up the rest of the tubing with welding rod and super glue them together. The C-Max seems to be a better carbide than the C2 carbide drill blanks. I get my 1/16" drill blanks from WT Hutchinson. They have M2, M42 and Carbide and some super alloys (don't waste you time on these). Their prices are reasonable and they take small orders. An added bonus to using the brass tubing is you can engrave the type of material (M2, M42, C-Max etc) and the graver configuration on one of the sides of the tubing for identification. Sorry for the long post.
Scott
 
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JackJellies

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I like the idea of trying some 1/16 too. I got the blanks from the source Carlos posted after I watched his video. Today I silver soldered some 1 1/2 inch carbide into the brass square stock. Sharpened a few and they worked great. Letting them cool slowly was fine and they seem to cut super.

I started with hard silver solder, but then I tried some bronze/copper hard solder and it seemed to work even better. As the carbide turned red the bronze solder seemed to wet the carbide really well. I got it from Rio though I don't know what is in the solder alloy. Melted about like medium silver solder.

Nice tips! Thanks.
 

Jesse.beckham

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Just a hard key stock works good too, hard silver soldered on. Rig up a simple jig to hold each piece square, and just butt them together. Good flux and solder. That's how I was shown a couple months ago. And has worked great for me.


Jesse Beckham
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Wichita Falls, Texas
 

dlilazteca

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I like the idea of trying some 1/16 too. I got the blanks from the source Carlos posted after I watched his video. Today I silver soldered some 1 1/2 inch carbide into the brass square stock. Sharpened a few and they worked great. Letting them cool slowly was fine and they seem to cut super.

I started with hard silver solder, but then I tried some bronze/copper hard solder and it seemed to work even better. As the carbide turned red the bronze solder seemed to wet the carbide really well. I got it from Rio though I don't know what is in the solder alloy. Melted about like medium silver solder.

Nice tips! Thanks.

Glad the blanks worked out, there great that's all I use for cutting now, I'm cutting this 1911 as we speak with the same blanks, both sides done, sharpened only twice, no lie.



Carlos De La O III
 

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