For Beginning Engravers : Holding the Practice Plate

[blacksmith_wills]

View attachment 20708 View attachment 20708 Let me start by saying I’m a rank beginner. I learned this method of holding practice plates at the NMLRA Gunsmith Seminar held in June 2012 in Bowling Green, KY.

Yes, you can buy a vise and a turntable, a great solution. But it’s expensive, and not really an absolute requirement when you are learning.

Mark Silver taught the class and this is only one of the many things we learned from him. He is a very talented muzzle loading rifle builder and engraver. He teaches hammer and chisel and one of the items that we used in the class was a stack of three 2x4’s , about 9†long stacked on top of one another and clamped in a bench vise. We attached our practice plates to the top 2X4 with double back carpet tape. The 2X4’s were also held together with the same tape. If you try this, make sure the 2X4’s are flat. Our practice plates were 3†x 8†brass. You simply reposition the block in the vise to make things a little easier.

The stack of blocks got everything up high enough that you could stand up a little straighter while engraving. Helps the fatigue in your back a lot!

The 2x4’s worked very well, but for smaller practice plates I modified Mark’s idea and use a 3†X 3†X 5†block of steel. It’s not critical, use what you can find, just make sure its flat on one side. Either grind or machine it flat. I bet you can find something that’s already flat if you look around. Ignore the little divots, that was from a previous project.

One the bottom of the block I used the double back tape to secure medium density foam to the bottom. This keeps the block from sliding on the bench. Anything you can do to keep the block from sliding but still be able to turn it will work.

You can use any heavy block for this. DO NOT USE A LEAD BLOCK. You will be touching it a lot and getting lead on your fingers. You will get lead all over your tools and everything you touch. Lead poisoning is not pleasant, and can be deadly if you get enough. It’s just not worth it, use steel or some other non-toxic metal.


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Here’s the plate I cut, not the best I have done, I was in the process of learning to use my new Dual-Angle Sharpening fixture. I am usually a little better than this. I wasn’t really concentrating on the cutting like I should have been. This was a piece of scrap I was using. It’s pretty beat up.

Here's a pdf with descriptions.

View attachment practice_plate_block.pdf


There ya go! Hope this helps some of the beginners without a vise get started cutting.

Regards,

Matt