My new "engraving tools"!

I've had to sell a few things, and do some "horse trading", but I have what I think I need. This should keep me busy FOREVER! I'm not even going to attempt to engrave anything for a few months. Wish me luck!

engraving tools

I wish all this information,internet and books where around when I started 40 years ago,you picked the right books for a good start.Good Luck. J.J.

You made the best choices you could possibly make.

But.... I would guess you are gonna need at least a few more erasers?


Brian

You should have tracing paper and a cheap light box so you can easily keep the good stuff and continue from there. Fred

You can cobble together a light box fairly simply.


Start hangin' around 2nd hand stores until you find one of those "deep" picture frames or "deep" wall mounted frames for tsotchkes. 10" x 12" or bigger...

If it has glass already in it - see if you can get it sandblasted? Or simply tape a piece of tracing paper or vellum underneath the glass to act as the diffuser.

Otherwise you can pay for white transclucent plexiglas or you may get lucky and find a piece of glass already sandblasted on one side?

Some of the hanging commercial cieling lighting has plastic sheet that can be cut to fit under the glass.

There are many choices for the actual lighting source - nowadays you are not so much limited to the old flourescent tubes - though they still work fine.

Again, a 2nd hand store may have sumthin' you can re-purpose.


While light boxes aren't an absolute MUST since the advent of computers and scanner/printers - they are definitely very handy and in certain situations quicker than scanning and tweaking your design/drawing in a program.

As are a good collection of geometric templates. Circles, ovals, triangles, hearts, etc.

My wife has been teaching Illustrator for 15 years now.

She was always on me to use it more often, but there are times when the old methods are far far quicker.


Here's an example: I use an oval space on some of the money clips I engrave - where initials or a monogram will go. My wifes method would be to get up and go to the computer, pull up the program, do whatever to get the correct shape of the oval, size it, send it to the printer and then position and transfer it.

I never bother to get up from the bench. Just reach over to my left for the correct set of plastic oval templates, draw or scribe it and cut it. Done.


Brian

you can use a window in your home to transfer to tracing paper / acetate too.

Great choices! Don't forget to add a pocket size drawing pad so you can doodle while you're waiting.

And you will engrave - some things just have to be cut. Plus some things, like shading, are just a lot easier to do with a graver than a pencil.

Don't forget to date your drawings and engravings so you can see your progress.

And I'll end with something that took me a surprisingly long time to learn:
In engraving, as in life, it's not the lines we cut that matter but the shapes we leave behind.

Throw a LED pucklight in a clear storage container.

Hey there Hillbilly007! Where did you find the books shown here? It looks like I need to purchase those and about three of Mr. Alfano's DVD's. The one on sharpening gravers is on my list for sure. Have you had a chance to do any practice drawing yet?

kuzcokelly said:

Hey there Hillbilly007! Where did you find the books shown here? It looks like I need to purchase those and about three of Mr. Alfano's DVD's. The one on sharpening gravers is on my list for sure. Have you had a chance to do any practice drawing yet?

Click to expand...

I listed the links below:
http://leegriffithsengraving.com/instructional materials.htm

http://www.grstools.com/books/layout-design-and-drawing/022-843-H.html

http://www.engraving-videos.com/images/dvd_catalog/dvd_info_drawing_scrolls.html

Excellent..thank you. I had found Ron Smith's book on Amazon but it was $175!

order it straight from him

Saludos,
Carlos

GRS sell it for $74.95 here

FEGA sell it for the same price here

Cheers
Andrew