Hello from a real newbie

[blacksmith_wills]

Hi Everyone,

Complete newbie here, I'm all set for a beginners class with Mark Silver this June.

I have a used Gravermach incoming, I'm sure I'll be asking a lot of questions.

I've been involved with metal work most of my life, machining and blacksmithing mostly. And electronics.

I'm ready to try something new!

I have made a couple practice plates, one steel and one brass. As soon as the machine gets here I will have a go at it!

Take care,

Matt

 

[Dulltool]

Welcome Matt,
The Gavermach is a great machine. What part the woods are you in?

 

[monk]

well, for a newbie-- your straight lines are excellent ! i don't own a gravermach, but have been using a gravermeister since the dark ages. also use a lindsay, h&c, as well as pushgraving. the tool i use depends on what kind of mood i'm in, and what i want to acheive. good music is an essential for me to work, as well as being comfortable at the vice. i have developed (through mechanical evolution ), a scope cart containing a height-adjustable ballvise support. led lighting, and a super nifty grs positioning vise. the entire rig is on castors, and i can move it where i want. whatever you do, develop drawing skills and practice as much as you can.

 

[JJ Roberts]

Matt,Welcome to the engravers Cafe,you mention taking a class with Mark Silver, good choice Mark is none for his building of beautiful muzzleloader.Good luck with you engraving. J.J.

 

[Bama]

Mark's class was the first engraving class that I took and he does very well at outlining the basic's. If you did these plates with H&C then you will do well in Mark's class. A straight line with H&C is one of the hardest lines to cut and be consistant. Mark puts a pretty heavy demand on you to learn how to sharpen a square graver and then on drawing. you will not cut a line at least for the first couple of days. That was the hardest part for me. Naturally I wanted to start cutting right away, but Mark made us get the very basic's down before he let us start cutting. Which is what you need, the basic's before cutting, no wonder I had such a hard time to start with. I wanted to cut first, then find out what I was supposed to be doing, what a concept, HA!

Anyway I know you will enjoy his class, he is a great guy and a very talented builder.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

I wanted to cut first, then find out what I was supposed to be doing, what a concept, HA!

Hey Bama.....that's how we all start!!!

Welcome to the cafe Matt and enjoy the ride

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Hi Mat, nice to see that for your first cuts you used a design that was vectorised by me.
At least five more to go.

arnaud

 

[mitch]

Mark is one of the few who can do it all (or at least one of the few who can AND should. we all know of gunmakers & knifemakers who should let someone else do their engraving... )

 

[blacksmith_wills]

Oh my gosh!

Those plates have lines drawn on them. The lines are the toner from the toner transfer.

As far as the design am I not supposed to use those?

Apologies if I did something I shouldn't have.

Best Regards,

Matt