Scorpers
- Thread starter KCSteve
- Start date
Rod, the Britisher thing was a bad joke. I, myself am very fond of accents. My father was born in Shropshire and all words ending in 'a' were pronounced as though the word ended in 'er' as tuber instead of tuba.
My mother was born in Mayo west Eire she had a brogue as opposed to those in Dublin who spoke with an 'accent'.
Did you know that in the last quarter of the nineteenth century 30% of people living in France did not speak French. These were people born there, not immigrants. If an official from Paris went to central France that official had to take along an interpreter.
I was in Provence just a couple of years ago in Uzes where a woman of a 'certain' age spoke with a strong 'langue d'oc' accent.
There are still regional accents in France. Vive l'differance!
Rod, did you know there's vegetarian haggis?
Kevin
My mother was born in Mayo west Eire she had a brogue as opposed to those in Dublin who spoke with an 'accent'.
Did you know that in the last quarter of the nineteenth century 30% of people living in France did not speak French. These were people born there, not immigrants. If an official from Paris went to central France that official had to take along an interpreter.
I was in Provence just a couple of years ago in Uzes where a woman of a 'certain' age spoke with a strong 'langue d'oc' accent.
There are still regional accents in France. Vive l'differance!
Rod, did you know there's vegetarian haggis?
Kevin
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rod
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Nice posts, Kevin and Marcus, and informative!
We are off topic, yet it is interesting...my fault.
Kevin if you are bound for Reno next January, we will have to toss a coin to see who orders the whiskey, Irish or Scots? You are so right about la belle France, I am off to Bordeaux on Tuesday to walk and canoe the Dordogne. Walked about 300 km in Brittany last time, those folk are not too fond of Paris, and actually are fond of us Celts, as they consider themselves full members of the diaspora. Guess we are all clans people after all, and there are many clans.
Now, where were we with scorpers?
best!
Rod
We are off topic, yet it is interesting...my fault.
Kevin if you are bound for Reno next January, we will have to toss a coin to see who orders the whiskey, Irish or Scots? You are so right about la belle France, I am off to Bordeaux on Tuesday to walk and canoe the Dordogne. Walked about 300 km in Brittany last time, those folk are not too fond of Paris, and actually are fond of us Celts, as they consider themselves full members of the diaspora. Guess we are all clans people after all, and there are many clans.
Now, where were we with scorpers?
best!
Rod
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rod
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
You're on, Kevin!
and we can also toast 'me sainted father', who was born in Dublin, en passant. My granny was a Dublin Donovan, who sensibly went back from Glasgow to her mother when time came to give birth, then later returned to Glasgow.
When offered a dram of home brewed poitin in Ireland, gasping from the rawness of the brew, I asked, "Don't you lot age this stuff?". "Oh, yes", says himself, "I swear to you, we always let it cool."
Remind me, have we some Irish engravers posting on the forum? We should have. I have come upon some fine engraved snuff boxes in Dublin, a city with a good tradition in working silver, and well heeled Anglo-Irish gentry living nearby, within "the pale", also don't forget the 17th century ecclesiastical silver displayed in the old Dublin barracks, down by the Liffy, not to mention the spectacular treasures in the National Museum.
Oops, I am off topic again, sorry...
best
Rod
and we can also toast 'me sainted father', who was born in Dublin, en passant. My granny was a Dublin Donovan, who sensibly went back from Glasgow to her mother when time came to give birth, then later returned to Glasgow.
When offered a dram of home brewed poitin in Ireland, gasping from the rawness of the brew, I asked, "Don't you lot age this stuff?". "Oh, yes", says himself, "I swear to you, we always let it cool."
Remind me, have we some Irish engravers posting on the forum? We should have. I have come upon some fine engraved snuff boxes in Dublin, a city with a good tradition in working silver, and well heeled Anglo-Irish gentry living nearby, within "the pale", also don't forget the 17th century ecclesiastical silver displayed in the old Dublin barracks, down by the Liffy, not to mention the spectacular treasures in the National Museum.
Oops, I am off topic again, sorry...
best
Rod
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Rod- When I first visited the old country in a small village north of Galway, where my mother's family came from. I went to the local pub and told them briefly why I was there. They sent for the oldest man in the village. In due time he arrived and asked not for my name but my mother's.
"Tis a wise child who knows his own father."
We're all celts just with regional variations even to the west of France.
That's where your writing skills come from.
Kevin
"Tis a wise child who knows his own father."
We're all celts just with regional variations even to the west of France.
That's where your writing skills come from.
Kevin
Steve, it would be a great favor if you could do a rough sketch as to where you placed those various angles. I can't quite get my head around this scorper thing.
What baffles me (in this particular case) is Marcus' statement:
"The 60º sides make the flat parallel whatever the width. "
Thanks in advance.
Kevin P.
What baffles me (in this particular case) is Marcus' statement:
"The 60º sides make the flat parallel whatever the width. "
Thanks in advance.
Kevin P.
Marcus Hunt
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Hi Kevin, I'm going way for the weekend so don't have time to photograph or draw it but I'll do so on Monday for you. But to make a scorper from square you:
1) take a graver blank and set the face to whatever you prefer. I use about 50º.
2) Now make a heel as you usually would using 15º lift and 60º sides.
3) Next, on the bottom of the graver put a flat at whatever lift you want, I use 15º.
The sides of the graver will look like a long heel. If you just touch the bottom of the graver to the hone you'll get a narrow flat. The more you hone the wider the flat. The 60º sides mean that however little or much you take off the flat it will always be parallel. If you use a different geometry on the sides the flat will be wider at one end than the other. I hope this helps clarify things a bit.
1) take a graver blank and set the face to whatever you prefer. I use about 50º.
2) Now make a heel as you usually would using 15º lift and 60º sides.
3) Next, on the bottom of the graver put a flat at whatever lift you want, I use 15º.
The sides of the graver will look like a long heel. If you just touch the bottom of the graver to the hone you'll get a narrow flat. The more you hone the wider the flat. The 60º sides mean that however little or much you take off the flat it will always be parallel. If you use a different geometry on the sides the flat will be wider at one end than the other. I hope this helps clarify things a bit.
KCSteve
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Thanks Marcus!
Your explanation that the 60 degree sides are essentially monstrous heels means that when I touch up the one I made it'll come out much better.
Your explanation that the 60 degree sides are essentially monstrous heels means that when I touch up the one I made it'll come out much better.
KCSteve
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
I redid mine with that tip. I did have my 60 degree facets on wrong before. I think they're on right now.
Little bugger still works great, right or wrong.
Little bugger still works great, right or wrong.
dlilazteca
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
I made one a few days ago for a lettering job I was doing, and I just couldn't feel the love for it. I made it from a square graver. I don't see an advantage over a flat graver, and for me it was kind of hard seeing the edges when starting the cut. It was probably just me...I will give it another chance.
well, at least now i know i have a real collection of scorpers.
Chujybear
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
In wood, the only things I ever heard called scorpers worked kind of like hook knives, in that they were drawn in towards the body. They basically had little edged loops on their ends and could shave wood from practically perpendicular to the wood surface.
From all the responses, Scorp seems to be more of an action than any tool.
From all the responses, Scorp seems to be more of an action than any tool.
FANCYGUN
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
What I have done for a similar tool is rework a flat graver. Basically what you are trying to do is eliminate the drag of the outside bottom of the graver as you do sharpish curves. So I took a regular flat bottom graver the width of what I want my cuts to be and reshaped the bottom to a 90 degree. You can give it a little lift if you want to but this is not a heel just a reshape. Now you have a flat graver with a 90 degree point on the bottom. I sharpen the face angle as usual and then I add my flat bottom heel as usual. I make the heel long enough to reach the left and right side corners. So what I essentially have is a flat graver with the area behind the heel at a 90 degree angle to clear the corners.
I also rework flat gravers for my bulino work as I like the shape of the blades better to hold in my fingers being rectangular instead of a smaller sguare point. The cutting tips are the same
I also rework flat gravers for my bulino work as I like the shape of the blades better to hold in my fingers being rectangular instead of a smaller sguare point. The cutting tips are the same
Steve L S
Member
In wood engraving (not the woodcut technique) ie the engraving of end grain wood or resin substitutes one of the burins is the scorper, it is also called the scample - a round bottom graver. TN Lawrence in the UK, a very old supplier of gravers for relief and intaglio list a round bottom and also a square scorper in their catalogue but no picture.
Steve
Gemsetterchris
Elite Cafe Member
Scorper & Burin are the same thing.
Doesn't matter what shape or geometry the tool has.
Doesn't matter what shape or geometry the tool has.
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