Chasing Hammer/Chiseling (Engraving) Techniques

I suspect the answers to my questions are not a function of what type of tool I engrave with but centers around general technique. I'm practicing to engrave now on a 4041 steel plate (first attempt was on Aluminum) using a chisel and chasing hammer. This is what I have discovered so far in my trials. Please let me know if I'm off the mark or have better techniques to try...

1) Practice plate should be mounted flat on my engraving vise and kept horizontal while engraving. Initially, I was moving the plate around on the vise at different (steep) angles creating inconsistent lines.

2) It appears that chiseling at a 45 degree angle is optimal.

3) When I cut a radius my body needs to be perpendicular to the chisel as I'm cutting the arc.

4) I believe the reason why my lines are not consistent in width is that I'm going deeper sometimes in my cut. Not sure how to keep the line (chisel) at a consistent depth.

5) It's best to engrave the entire outline of the art work first and then go back for deeper cuts and detail.

6) A 90 degree chisel is best for straight/straiter cuts while my 123 degree chisel is best at engraving a tight radius.

7) It's best to use light consistent chasing hammer taps.

8) Sometimes the sides of the engraved line appear wider than other lines. I think I may be twisting the chisel slightly as I'm cutting to give me these "flair outs"... sorry best descriptor I could think of.

Other than that... so far so good!

Thanks!

1911maker,You'll find engraving with hammer & chisel alot easier if with your vice is mounted to a pedestal were you can walk around and cut scrolls in one pass with out stopping,also I find by stand over the work my scrolls come out without any elbows or flat areas works with power assist.Hope this well help. J.J.

no attempt at jerkitude here, but get a pile of practice plates and find your own best way of doing things. i think if everybody chimed in here, you would be back to square one. no 2 people skin a cat the same way. generally h&c work is more easily done while standing as jj mentioned. this doesn't mean that you will find it the best way.

If your practice plate is thin enough to allow any bounce or give, it needs to be solidly backed to hold it very firm. Otherwise cutting (and point survival) is not as easily done. Flat is nice, but when you advance to round barrels and such you will find all kinds of body English necessary to cutting your design.

When I started H&C back in the late '60s standing WAS the norm. I had a cheap Sears machinist's vise mounted on pillar bearings on the side of a 55 gal. drum anchored with rocks and a plywood top. I found that basically locking up my left arm and wrist (holding the chisel) and making all moves with my body gave me the smoothest and most easily controlled cut. It really had a mystic to it, something I find missing with the pneumatic tool. That being said, I would not give up the pneumatic hammer!! And yes, I am getting "long in the tooth" as some would say.