I need some advice (invest)

Hi everyone!

I want a council through their experiences.

I am a person of limited financial means, I do hand-engraved with a chisel, not I have a ball vise, I have no machine to record. I engraving sterling silver blades on a wooden stick. I have no ball vise.

I want to learn and improve the art of engraving, which for me is a vocation.

I have saved money to invest in the art of engraving. Hence my indecision where to invest that money, only money enough to buy one. So ... My question to you is:

"I invest my money in buying the Foredom PowerGraver? Or invest my money in buying a ball vise?

Thank you very much for your advice!

Sincerely,
Diego Alejandro
(Omega)

I vote ball vise. It is a tool that is practical no matter what type of power or non power engraving that you do.

and by all accounts, the tool mentioned should be named the Underpowered Graver. I would much more recommend that you get a Ngraver instead. if you wanted the flexshaft style system. But get the ball vise first.

Hello Diego,


If I had that particular limited choice - I would recommend the vise.

The PowerGraver is not the best choice when you begin to use power assisted tools. (Unless, of course it's very economicaly priced or even free)

We have had one available for students to test drive, and over the past 12 years I cannot remember anyone who actually made comparisons in the classroom buying one.

In my opinion it is not really well designed for our work, and you are talking about a "vocation" - in which case there are far more durable and ergonomic tools available on the market these days.

Later on - try to find one of the old workhorses, the GraverMax. They come up used on Ebay or here on the forum every once in while. Well worth the money for a beginner and many extremely talented engravers still use them daily to earn a living.



Brian Marshall
SJAS
Stockton, CA USA 95209
209-477-0550
instructor@jewelryartschool.com
http://jewelryartschool.com/

I vote vise! Though,i dont know if a ball is the best for hammer & chisel.God Bless,mike

i must agree with the others. based solely on my personal experiences ( many not so good ), i would buy the vise first. as scott mentioned, regardless of the tools used to engrave, a good, solid vise is needed. good luck.

Vise! Forget power/air assisted engraving if you're on a tight budget. Unless you can hold the work piece securely and revolve it smoothly you're going to find life very difficult and it will be exacerbated if you try to use power tools. In fact air assisted tools need a firm resistance (and no vibration) from the work piece or they won't cut. Good luck!

Buy an engraver's ball vice. Power is much over rated. You can run out of electricity, and you can deplete an air tank, but hand power is constant.

No brainer...get a good vice. You'll never out grow it. Most of us have more than one even.