Brian Marshall
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
The origins of our modern day graver sharpening apparatus...
From the "Why?" thread, posted earlier:
I pulled this post from an obscure position in a thread on a different subject entirely - one that had wandered in this direction.
Most newbies and quite a large percentage of experienced engravers may not know some of this stuff, so it might be a good idea for it to have its own thread out where it is visible?
Ceramic laps, in fact all of the laps that we use - were originally "stolen" from the lapidary trade. I used them myself for faceting and polishing gemstone materials in one of my earlier incarnations.
Lapidaries used (and still do use) powdered diamond and dozens of other abrasives and polishes on ceramic, phenolic, copper, and iron laps. Long before "powered hones" for engravers existed.
Iron laps have been used to polish diamonds a century or two before I was born.
None of these laps were ever "designed" with metal removal or polishing in mind... we simply use them because they work well enough to get the job done.
If you go look at lapidary faceting equipment - https://www.google.com/search?q=lap..._AUoAmoVChMImNLfna38xwIVRqOICh3TGQKj&dpr=0.95
You will see that hand engravers "power hones" greatly resemble them, and that our sharpening "fixtures" - as well as "templates" - were ALL derived from them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_fmqWBBUdk Dr. Wykoff made his faceting templates 25-30 years ago... ?
Those were copied from Brazilian templates far older... and there are examples of templates two centuries old in India and Asia.
Not much of what we use is "new", "invented for" or "developed for" hand engravers.
They are just tools that already existed, now put to a different use.... and sometimes given fancier names. And, of course, higher prices...
The "newest" round graver blanks, previously known as drill bit blanks - are a recent example.
Brian
From the "Why?" thread, posted earlier:
I pulled this post from an obscure position in a thread on a different subject entirely - one that had wandered in this direction.
Most newbies and quite a large percentage of experienced engravers may not know some of this stuff, so it might be a good idea for it to have its own thread out where it is visible?
Ceramic laps, in fact all of the laps that we use - were originally "stolen" from the lapidary trade. I used them myself for faceting and polishing gemstone materials in one of my earlier incarnations.
Lapidaries used (and still do use) powdered diamond and dozens of other abrasives and polishes on ceramic, phenolic, copper, and iron laps. Long before "powered hones" for engravers existed.
Iron laps have been used to polish diamonds a century or two before I was born.
None of these laps were ever "designed" with metal removal or polishing in mind... we simply use them because they work well enough to get the job done.
If you go look at lapidary faceting equipment - https://www.google.com/search?q=lap..._AUoAmoVChMImNLfna38xwIVRqOICh3TGQKj&dpr=0.95
You will see that hand engravers "power hones" greatly resemble them, and that our sharpening "fixtures" - as well as "templates" - were ALL derived from them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_fmqWBBUdk Dr. Wykoff made his faceting templates 25-30 years ago... ?
Those were copied from Brazilian templates far older... and there are examples of templates two centuries old in India and Asia.
Not much of what we use is "new", "invented for" or "developed for" hand engravers.
They are just tools that already existed, now put to a different use.... and sometimes given fancier names. And, of course, higher prices...
The "newest" round graver blanks, previously known as drill bit blanks - are a recent example.
Brian
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