Scorpers

silverchip

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according to what is being presented in this thread,a scorper is nothing more than a push graver and can be modified to suite the need at hand.I was under the impression that a scorper was a tool designed for a specific task,usually to make a specific cut in lettering?
 

James Miller

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according to what is being presented in this thread,a scorper is nothing more than a push graver and can be modified to suite the need at hand.I was under the impression that a scorper was a tool designed for a specific task,usually to make a specific cut in lettering?

My grandfather was an engraver and he only used gravers as his cutting tools, the scorper is a tool used by goldsmiths, silversmiths and jewellers, predominantly for carving shapes, cleaning castings, texturing surfaces, facetting metals, bright cutting around settings and cutting joint bearers on boxes or any other hinged piece that has a tube joint. The scorper is a hand chisel. I have also used them for carving ivory. I was taught to use a graver for lettering and line cutting, but a scorper for carving and cleaning up cast metals.
James Miller
Here is my first attempt at ivory carving with scorpers, carved in 1964 when I was just three years into my 6 year apprenticeship.
 

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Marcus Hunt

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Okay, here's the thing, although we are all engravers we work on various types of materials and gravers that work well in one medium won't in another. Now what I'm talking about is gravers for soft metals such as copper, silver and gold won't work on steel (or at least not very well). If you look at a copper plate push graver it's set very low and long with next to no heel and often it's not even ground back to give it spring or to help with sharpening. If you tried to use a graver like this on a gun you'd get nowhere. So where is this leading?

Well, you can buy ready made scorpers but in actual fact they are primarily what you guys in the US call "flats". Half rounds were called something like spitzstick or bullstick (sorry I can't remember which but I'll check on that). Stuff that works on precious metals won't always work well on steel. The scorper used for gun engraving is made from a square graver just like any other.

So why bother making one when we have flat gravers already? If you cut directly into metal with a flat you'll find, to some extent, the sides of the cut aren't smooth but slightly raised. This doesn't matter if you are using the flat to shave and smooth the metal after the initial cut on something like a seal ring say, but when you're lettering you have one cut and you don't want the wide uprights looking ragged.

The thing with the old fashioned scorper made from square stock is it a) gives the excess metal somewhere to flow, thus creating a smooth sided cut, and b) the actual flat can be adjusted because the 60º sides keep the bottom parallel no matter how wide or narrow you want the cut. Any variation from 60º will mean the sides aren't parallel and on the first resharpen you'll have a narrower tool. The flat must be parallel, this is imperative.
 
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connor

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hi steve, it looks just the same with lindsay graver point, i think you can tap the top of three side with a small template like 90degree template or 96 or120 , i think they are the same, for the bottom ,it depend on the degree of"v",also you can use small template you have, but from the picture, i think you should give a bigger lift angle than 2degree which the small template give i think,you can put pieces of pager under the template, and then tap the bottom(flat side) ,dont know the lift angle, but i think you can use the small template side for tap the top,it is about 10degree ,then give the heel you like.just guess from the picture.
 

Gemsetterchris

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As James said there are gravers & scorpers. Just a name.

Gravers generally square shaped & maybe liners.

Flats, onglette (spitztick), halfround, oval (bullstick) or whatever are scorpers and come in various widths.

Oval (bullstick) rarely used thesedays, were originally sharpened by facing the side of the tool :confused: ... well it was used to open up holes for bead set stones as elecric drills were unavailable ( yes i did it that way at college).

There is no lift anywhere on the flats, the "pointy" end is the tang that needs shortening & ends up in the wooden handle.

Mostly flats are used without any heel in the jewellery trade (at least until recently). i only just started using a heel after 20yrs :big grin:

If you stick your other than square graver or liner in a wooden handle you can call it a scorper, if its in your airgraver its just a tool.
 
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Kevin P.

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James given your backround I accept your as the last word. It's nice to see the badge and what you did with a half round scorper. You guys over there have a longer tradition.

Andrew, that's what I thought; but there's lots of inconsistencies in the use of the terms lift & heel on this forum. Before anyone mentions I know, consistency is the hobgloblin of . . . .
Kevin
 

rod

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Thank you to all the posters on this interesting and valuable thread, a mix of old world and new world nomenclature confusion, yet intermingled with valuable insights, some stunning carving examples from James together with his distinctions between engraving and carving approaches, and in particular, Marcus' good description of the use of side angle on a flat ( scorper) to minimize edge bur and assist in tracking.

I do hope the thread will continue, and that some other colleagues, like Mike Dubber, will weigh in. Check out some of Mike's photos of his bright cut bracelets posted on the Lindsay Forum, and also demonstrated at FEGA 2009 seminars. Using a flat with about a 20 degree rounded back heel, he achieves some of the sweetest side by side bright flat cuts on silver. He does not put the side chamfer on his flat graver, yet no sign of edge bur?

Thank you all!

Rod
 
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James Miller

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The use of a scorper

I searched through my collection of photos and found this old photo of Don Spratling,who worked at the bench next to me when I was an apprentice back in the mid 1960s. This photo shows Don using a scorper to bright cut facets on the surface of a silver casting of a KCB star body, he is facetting the domes on the casting surface to appear and shine like facetted stones. In those days we made insignia the UK via Garrard the Crown Jewellers, this casting was part of an order called KCB, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, quite a mouthful.
After sharpening the scorpers, for bright cutting I polish the cutting face of each scorper. I do this by rubbing the long lower cutting flat face on a sheet of 000 emory paper supported on a flat steel. I rub the scorper's cutting face at right angles to the cutting edge until I get a mirror flat surface, then each cut is highly polished, when finished we used to soft brush the facetted star faces using a soft bristle hand brush and french chalk as an abrasive, the finished facetted sections shined like diamonds. Much better than the photo I have shown, this star was not one of ours and has been mop polished, which has taken away the sharpness of the facetting.
The photos show Don Spratling using a scorper and the finished effect on a KCB star.
James Miller
 

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Marcus Hunt

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Rod, I've taken a look at the bright cut bracelets of Mikes and very nice they are too. However, the cut that's used is different to the one I'm describing. I think Sam uses a flat for his script lettering (please correct me if I'm wrong Sam) and gets beautiful results as well. There is nothing wrong with a flat graver per se, and I use them for certain jobs too.

From what I can make out with this bright cut style, the graver is tilted so the leading corner becomes the lead point and the flat surface acts like a heel. When it comes to a straight forward parallel line using the straight across heel, there is a certain amount of edge bur from a standard flat. I was taught to use the minimum amount of sanding after cutting because sanding can destroy engraving. When lettering I rarely, if ever, sand after cutting so not having any edge bur to my letters is important. The traditional scorper made from square stock seems to avoid the need to sand or polish.
 

Roger Bleile

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Here are some of the definitions from the glossary:

HEEL – That portion of a graver that is below the face and is ground into the tool to provide additional lift for hand clearance and promote better steering control. Heels are usually ground to provide between 10 and 20 degrees of lift depending on the object being engraved and the type of hand piece in which the graver is mounted.

SCAUPER – British engraver’s term for a flat chisel or graver.
In the various reference materials I used for the glossary I found that the British references seemed to call it a "scauper." Apparently, British craftsmen also use "scorper" today. Scauper may be an archaic use of the word in the UK.

SCORPER – Archaic American engraver’s term for a flat chisel or graver.
Today American engravers rarely ever use this word however many of my pre-WWII reference materials (especially in the jewelry trade) use "scorper" to describe a flat graver. Apparently, British engravers also use "scorper" today.

FLAT GRAVER – The flat graver is one of the two most common graver shapes used by hand engravers, the other being the square graver. The flat graver is shaped similar to a wood chisel. It is used extensively in western bright cut engraving as well as in flare cut engraving. The flat graver is also used for chiseling out background. Flat gravers are produced by a number of manufacturers in standard, numbered widths from #36 to #49.

This has been an interesting thread and may necessitate some changes in the glossary. The main goal of the glossary is to clear up questions like this so that artisans and patrons in Europe and America can understand one another.

CRB
 

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James Miller

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Another trade user of scorpers are enamellers. They cut out recesses on metals to be enamelled. This technique is called Champlevé enamelling and looks marvelous when done by a master enameler. One of our Champlevé specialists here in the UK is Fred Rich, you can see his work here; http://www.fredrichenameldesign.com
James Miller
 

Kevin P.

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James, in your post 'the use of a scorper' would I be correct in assuming that your 'scorper' it's what we 'yanks' call a flat?

"we used to soft brush the facetted star faces using a soft bristle hand brush and french chalk as an abrasive," It doesn't seem that the chalk would have any effect on the metal if one uses a soft bristle.?

One other question, do put a heel on your half round gravers?

Thanks for your patience.
Kevin P,
 

Sam

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Marcus: Thanks for your explanation. It makes sense that this scorper graver will produce a flat cut with nicely dressed sides as opposed to a conventional flat graver. I'm also thinking that the same results will be gotten by sharpening an angle on the corners of a flat graver as opposed to the way it comes 'out of the box'. When I get time I'll test this and see how it behaves. Interesting thread for sure.
 

Jim Sackett

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My scorper!

Back in the early '60s when I was apprenticing at the Steel & Copper Plate engraving house we used a scorper to remove engraving. 'Say a salesman got a promotion and we had to change the title on his business card.'

With the scorper we would remove the old title, turn the plate over tap the service up even and re engrave the new title. My scorper is 6 inches long it has a triangular blade 5/16" x 2 1/2" sharp on three sides.

Jim Sackett

scorper1.JPG

scorper2.JPG
 

tundratrekers@mtaonline.n

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scorpers ar also used in woodworking,but it is usually used on the pull stoke.Long handle,with for example,a triangular blade,used with more of a scraping action.Also those deeply curved draw knives,used to dish the seat of a chair,to match your seat.God Bless,Mike
 

Roger Bleile

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I think that Jim Sackett's example of a scorper brings up a point to understand. While I have always referred to Jim's scorper as a scraper, I am sure that in the place he was employed they called it a scorper. One does not forget things like that.

In studying engraving terminology I have found that sometimes a particular shop, plant, or even foreman uses a term that is not universally known or accepted outside. This makes standardization of terminology even more difficult but I have been trying anyway.

As an example, many years ago I was head engraver at an award manufacturing company. We did lots of die work there. In that plant we made dies and hubs, the hub being the male counterpart to a die. Later on I heard other die makers refer to a hob meaning the same as a hub. I finally came to understand that it is known as a hub in the jewelry and award plants and a hob in industrial and coinage plants.

Relative to my earlier post, have any of you British trained engravers heard or read the word scauper used to mean the same thing as a scorper?

CRB
 
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