I have a future project of a silver cross pendant coming up, and am contemplating outlining it with gold wire inlay. At this point, I don't have sufficient money put aside to purchase the atomic microscope I'd need to inlay that .001" gold wire. Am I missing something. I have a piece of .001" gold wire somewhere, for watch circuit work, and you can barely see the thing with even a loupe. I think I'd opt for something a tad heavier, say, at least nearing .010". I have a microscope, but not any cataracts. . .at least, for now. Has anyone ever used .001" gold wire?
I have done some small letters with .003" or .004" bits of gold cut from wire flattened to that thickness. The lines were cut with a square graver, undercuts hand pushed in with a very small chisel and the wire pressed in with a burnishing tool. Not much power needed in such small work so very light hand pushing and pressing works well for me. Cannot see much use for anything smaller than that.
when i did this ring i used 24k 16 gauge. I had to go back and really deepen the inlay channels, would 20 ga have been better? thanks for your help about to place a gold order!?!?
If you plan to do much inlay I would suggest you need a draw plate, preferably a carbide insert style, so you can experiment on what size fits what ever width and depth of cavity your tools cut. I order .020" wire and then draw to what ever size I need, .016 for raised inlayed animals and smaller sizes for lines of various width. I only rarely use wire of .020" but do occasionally so that is what I order.
Along the same line of questioning, I have a client with a Browning bl-22 he wants a fox on one side and a raccoon on the other. How thick should the inlays be, second does anyone have a good picture of theses animals from the browning automatic's done by Angelo Bee. I have a basic pic but not a detailed one! Thank you in advance!!! Randy J (Randolfengraving)
Why copy another engravers animals? There is an abundance of animal pictures you can get online. Work from an actual photo not another persons engravings or drawings. We all interpret as we draw or engrave so why copy another persons viewpoints and style. Make it your own. It doesn't take that much more effort.