Question: Any ex-newbies out there?

Borzzza

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Searching through the forum I quite often see posts of people just thinking to start engraving, asking advise which tools/books/vices/scopes/gravers to start with... it should be interesting if you guys could write a little feedback based on your experience about what you bought eventually and used for a while - what was a good buy, and what was a waste of money (and time)? Do you still continue engraving or you dropped (if so - why?)

Any tips you would give to yourself at the beginning if you had that chance?

Thanks in advance))
 

Borzzza

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"Any ex-newbies out there?"

We all are. :cool:

Exactly!
Do you remember that feeling when you first got interested in engraving, trying to figure out where even to start.... gravers - omg they have so many shapes, which is for what? Which shall I buy first? And they have sizes? And I'll have to sharpen them by angles - how? And all those handles - they come in different shapes, which is good? Which length? And if the gravers come in various shapes will they fit inside? How to know difference in vices if you never saw one in reality - which size? Weight? And so on and on))))

After you start engraving all these questions are so obvious, but before you start is's something you should make decision about (and invest money) just by books or - thanks God - now we have internet and this forum.
I see here mainly very beginners (like myself) who ask more or less same questions or on the other hand amasing works of professionals; few asking advice on design, which I find really helping! but rarely feedback of what was a mistake, which could have been easily avoided from the beginning.

Sorry for long post, hope I was able to explain my interest)))
 

monk

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i'm an ex newbie. crap ! we all are ! it was fun when i didn't know what i was doing.
 

T.G.III

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it was fun when i didn't know what i was doing.

After a bit more than ten years it's still fun, most likely due to this right here ^^^^^ It's still a hobby as I've never taken a class, that would have been the single best investment I could have made.
 

JackJellies

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Not really an ex-newbie. More like perpetual newbie.

Once I figured out how to sharpen, and then bought templates I was able to make some progress. Loving it! Books and vids all valuable. Someday may squeeze time in for a class.
 

mitch

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on a more serious note, Borzzza, pretty much this exact same question comes up several times a year. somebody is looking to get into engraving and wants to be spoonfed a universal checklist and syllabus. everything you're looking for has already been covered repeatedly and already exists somewhere on this site. it might not be in the perfect "Step A; Step B; Step C; with Tools XYZ..." you've envisioned, but it's there. use the "Site Search" button right under the big red "Cafe" at the upper left of this page. probably something in the "Tips Archive", too.

one reason you're probably not getting more specific responses is that many of us are kinda tired of people coming on the Cafe professing a desire to become an engraver, but they cannot be bothered with the simplest effort of digging up the basic info on their own. "Hey, all you experienced engravers! Take time out of YOUR busy lives to tell me the exact best way to get started, so I don't have to take time out of MY busy life to do it myself!" if you don't have the patience, etc., to ferret out this easily available information, which is THE EASIEST PART OF LEARNING TO ENGRAVE, BY FAR, you don't have what it takes to become an engraver.

my advice to you is the same i give everybody in your situation: invest the time and money in a basic class at GRS. they have the beginner drill down to a science. you will learn if engraving is really your thing, without learning anything wrong in the process.
 

WSammut

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I started maybe 3 years ago and would consider myself an advanced beginning to lower intermediate. One of the best things I think you can do is find someone local who knows what they’re doing and willing to meet up once in a while. It’s great how helpful all the masters are online but it’s trally benificial to sit down with someone for an hour or two. I’m fortunate enough to live within 15 minutes of two master engravers and will buy they breakfast from time to time and bring my sketchbook and ideas.
Take some beginner GRS classes if you don’t have anyone around. I signed up for my first this year.
Learn proper drawing before you try cutting much. A good design with poor cutting will go further then a poor design with good cutting. And don’t just draw an entire design right away. Take it in steps. First learn how to draw a proper backbone. Only once you can do that move to learning how to fit a backbone in a space. Draw random shapes and figure out how to fill them nicely. Only once you have learned that move to how to draw proper leaf elements. Only after you have learned that move to how to shade them. If you go for the whole thing all at once it’ll be harder to tell where you went wrong and what to correct. Then your ready for cutting
 

Borzzza

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Joined
Dec 19, 2017
Messages
115
Location
Baku, Azerbaijan
on a more serious note, Borzzza, pretty much this exact same question comes up several times a year. somebody is looking to get into engraving and wants to be spoonfed a universal checklist and syllabus. everything you're looking for has already been covered repeatedly and already exists somewhere on this site. it might not be in the perfect "Step A; Step B; Step C; with Tools XYZ..." you've envisioned, but it's there. use the "Site Search" button right under the big red "Cafe" at the upper left of this page. probably something in the "Tips Archive", too.

one reason you're probably not getting more specific responses is that many of us are kinda tired of people coming on the Cafe professing a desire to become an engraver, but they cannot be bothered with the simplest effort of digging up the basic info on their own. "Hey, all you experienced engravers! Take time out of YOUR busy lives to tell me the exact best way to get started, so I don't have to take time out of MY busy life to do it myself!" if you don't have the patience, etc., to ferret out this easily available information, which is THE EASIEST PART OF LEARNING TO ENGRAVE, BY FAR, you don't have what it takes to become an engraver.

my advice to you is the same i give everybody in your situation: invest the time and money in a basic class at GRS. they have the beginner drill down to a science. you will learn if engraving is really your thing, without learning anything wrong in the process.

Sorry perhaps I didn't put my question correctly, my bad! I did spend months on this forum before making my choice to start with a GRS class, which I took two weeks ago in St. Petersbourgh, Russia, even before making any big investments.
As you mentioned search button helped me a lot, and I'm still spending couple of hours each day reading, finding something new every time!
My point was not to ask for fast answers, it was more a try to get to know people who started engraving as a hobby not so long ago, to share some common mistakes between us.
I truly understand professional engravers don't have enough free time to chat on the same topics again and again, that's why my question was more to beginners but not total newbier)))

Thanks for taking time to reply to my post!
 

Borzzza

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2017
Messages
115
Location
Baku, Azerbaijan
I started maybe 3 years ago and would consider myself an advanced beginning to lower intermediate. One of the best things I think you can do is find someone local who knows what they’re doing and willing to meet up once in a while. It’s great how helpful all the masters are online but it’s trally benificial to sit down with someone for an hour or two. I’m fortunate enough to live within 15 minutes of two master engravers and will buy they breakfast from time to time and bring my sketchbook and ideas.
Take some beginner GRS classes if you don’t have anyone around. I signed up for my first this year.
Learn proper drawing before you try cutting much. A good design with poor cutting will go further then a poor design with good cutting. And don’t just draw an entire design right away. Take it in steps. First learn how to draw a proper backbone. Only once you can do that move to learning how to fit a backbone in a space. Draw random shapes and figure out how to fill them nicely. Only once you have learned that move to how to draw proper leaf elements. Only after you have learned that move to how to shade them. If you go for the whole thing all at once it’ll be harder to tell where you went wrong and what to correct. Then your ready for cutting í*½í¸‰

Really good advise, I also figured out that I will be able to cut only what I'm able to draw.. now practicing drawing letters)) will come to scrolls slowly slowly, I am planning to buy Sam's video before starting.
Unfortunately no professional engravers in my city (I'm from Baku, Azerbaijan), but I took a GRS class for beginners, planning to take one more at the end of this year.
 

Bismuth

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Joined
Jan 16, 2018
Messages
15
How "good" you need to be, how fast?

If you want to be a professional engraver, then you need to make serious investments = Get proper education, apprenticeship,all the courses you can, whatnot. Buy the best tools. Take it as serious as starting any other business.

On hobbyist level. Then you can take it easy and have fun, learn by trial and error, watch videos, read books... If you are gonna cut for your own pleasure , then it is you who will set the standrds and expectations, decide what is good or bad (if there is such thing in arts). In business it is the customer who decides.

You don't need to be Michelin star cook to make tasty meals for yourself, friends and family, but opening a restaurant is a different story.
 

Borzzza

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2017
Messages
115
Location
Baku, Azerbaijan
How "good" you need to be, how fast?

If you want to be a professional engraver, then you need to make serious investments = Get proper education, apprenticeship,all the courses you can, whatnot. Buy the best tools. Take it as serious as starting any other business.

On hobbyist level. Then you can take it easy and have fun, learn by trial and error, watch videos, read books... If you are gonna cut for your own pleasure , then it is you who will set the standrds and expectations, decide what is good or bad (if there is such thing in arts). In business it is the customer who decides.

You don't need to be Michelin star cook to make tasty meals for yourself, friends and family, but opening a restaurant is a different story.


I agree, hobbyist level can be whatever low or high, it's just for own pleasure... but I found push hand engraving so much more difficult to learn comparing to power-assisted, one would need to spend plenty of time practicing before even coming close to enjoying the process of cutting beautifully and creating designs. And one can loose interest on the way easily.
At the end the goal is to bring your idea to metal, not the process of learning how to.

Engraving it attracting mostly people who have some passion for it, and I guess if they at one point find this hobby paying their bills they would consider making it a main job, so such hobby/profession dividing may be not forever.

Well, it's my personal point of view, but my time (even if it's dedicated to hobby) also costs money, and I prefer to spend some money now on good tools and courses to make this long way of learning very basics a bit shorter, to have after even more time to learn and learn and learn more))))))

As my husband said - relax, you still have around 30+ years in front of you before you even get retired, it's enough to get professional in any job you want...
 

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