beginner engraver

Hello ALL forum members,im 21 year old artisan woodworker and machinist.
I got very interested in engraving few months ago ,i love working with hands and thats one of the reasons i got into engraving.
Unfortunately here in Austria i can find very limited information about engraving,even answers to very simple questions like explaning gravers and their purpose.
Can i do hammer and chisel engraving with hand-push engraver or i need chisel.?
its also suprisingly hard to find information on internet too.but I found few videos in youtube and Mr Alfano had few good videos where he explained a lot but still many important things are missing. Im happy i found this forum and i really hope i can fill my missing holes with information i can find here .
i would appreciate if somebody could send me few links.
Also i bought my first engravers -they costed almost nothing so i took them.but i really dont know for what purpose most of them are for.
Thank You!

You have some world class engravers in Austria and I'm sure that some might put you on the right track.
One who is a renowned teacher is Martin Strolz.
You should be able to contact him with an internet search.
Best wishes on your engraving journey.
John B.

PS.Most of the graver tools you are showing are designed for push or palm engraving.
I would advise against hitting them with a steel hammer.
You might try some tapping with a small wooden mallet on some soft metal such as copper but be careful to not split the handles or driving the graver tang through them.
Best.
John.B.

welcome. most gravers you show there may be difficult to use on steel. some may, some might not. all will work nicely on brass, silver, and copper. i suggest you stop spending money until you get a grasp on what engraving requires. use the search bar on this forum. you will want to concentrate on llearning to draw. tool sharpening, pattern transfer, fixturing work pieces, design concepts, workholding, and a whole bunch of other "stuff". with the internet, theres tons of videos some short, some long. but there's so much on the net, i don't understand your difficulty finding what you seek. i wish you luck in this adventure !

@monk. -i agree about vasting money. But thanks to machining school im good at drawing .theese gravers in my opinion is even more then i need for start . You may not understand my struggle of finding information but personaly i know that thers plenty of information out there on the internet but i just cannot find simple things. Like purposes for different graver shapes .how to hold graver etc etc-simple basics.
Local engravers are too busy to even answer my emails about classes ,so its really hard to find somebody to show me this art where i live.
But thats not a reason to give up. The more i discover about engraving the more im starting to appreciate engravers work ,art,traditions and im really motivated to start .even without help from the others.
Thank You for advice!
@John B -thank you i will try to tap them with chasing hammer wery lightly.

I have just what you need I sent you a PM

Rstripnieks said:

@monk. -i agree about vasting money. But thanks to machining school im good at drawing .theese gravers in my opinion is even more then i need for start . You may not understand my struggle of finding information but personaly i know that thers plenty of information out there on the internet but i just cannot find simple things. Like purposes for different graver shapes .how to hold graver etc etc-simple basics.
Local engravers are too busy to even answer my emails about classes ,so its really hard to find somebody to show me this art where i live.
But thats not a reason to give up. The more i discover about engraving the more im starting to appreciate engravers work ,art,traditions and im really motivated to start .even without help from the others.
Thank You for advice!
@John B -thank you i will try to tap them with chasing hammer wery lightly.

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probably more than half our members started way before the internet. there was no information "out there". many have gotten their intro by way of the book, "the art of engraving". it was written by james b. meeks. the beauty of the book-- it showed many of the disciplines required to become proficient at the engraving art.
that you're a machinist, will solve many problems that will crop up. if you can configure a sharpener for the tools you've bought, you'll find that almost all of those tools can be re-purposed to a suitable geometry. many, if not all, are likely ok to use the way they are. they would likely have to be sharpened a bit.
this is important, as practicing with a dull or broken point, well, as a toolman, you know where that will lead !
as for specific geometries on the various graver styles--- there's no cut and dry answer. it all depends on what you want to cut. go to the tip section with a notebook. remember as a beginner, you don't need dozens of gravers with heaps of different geometric configurations. get a simple geometry and go with that. in time you will develop your own personal methods based on how you like to work. if you wish to learn this art overnight, frustration and failure await you.

@Monk - you are absolutely right ! too many tools will just take me away from basic. as a machinist i have Access to all high precision measuring,grinding etc etc tools.so i can reset my tool geometry but i have to find out what geometries for what tools .also i have acess to any kind of material to practice,brass,bronze,copper,steel etc etc.

Check the tips achieve for links to lots of engraving and tools as well as materials. Fred Marrinan

I would make 2 suggestions.
1 - Go through the posts on this site, either with search, or by just browsing. There is a world of information stored here that you can not find anywhere else.
2 - Get the book "The Art of Engraving" by James B. Meek. There is a ton of information there to help a person get started.

Don't worry so much with what each grave you have is for. You will do most of your cutting with one or two geometries of a engraver. Others are used to help you with hard to reach places, or special type of applications. I noticed in you photo you have a burnisher, and a scraper. In the beginning, you will use the burnisher more often, to repair a mistake, than you use the scraper.

I would suggest just starting your journey with a 90 degree V graver. This will get you started. And after you learn the basics, then branch out and try different geometries.

Mike