Question: Help

[leadfoot]

Ive been dying to have a go at engraving,(to see if its even possible). I suffer from nerve damage predominately in my right hand.Its hyper sensitive ,which is a bit of a bugger .So i thought,hand gravers would be the best place to start.Now i know ( u get what u pay for. ) I payed £ 10.00 for 6 gravers,an £ 4.00 for a sharpner. Yes i am on a " next to nothing " budget . Sorry for all the waffle , its a long winded way of asking , how to use the sharpner correctly.

 

[Kevin Scott]

Your sharpener is not what most engravers use, but can get the job done. Raise - lower the stone to adjust the angle.. Reverse - turn 180 degrees the graver in the holder like you have do the other side.

Looks like you have purchased flats and or round gravers. Among other uses, commonly used for Roman and block lettering. And some people use flats for script lettering also. Usually people start out with square gravers, and do most work with them. But it a good idea to start with the flat and rounds when learning push engraving especially when on a tight budget. Your gravers are easier to sharpen. Just need to make the top and bottom parallel, at the proper angles. You should be able to do it with the fixture you have. With square gravers it is best to buy a more expensive graver holding system.

Now you need sharpening stones, practice plates of copper or mild steel, and some way to hold the plate and turn it when working.
From there you will find out if you can physically do the work, find out if you enjoy doing it, and be willing to invest time and money into it. If so, then buy or make other tools. But with the above, you can start cutting, do nice work, and find out if engraving is for you. Ask for opinions before buying anything else.

This forum is very friendly and helpful to new engravers. Much free info in archives, free videos, etc.

good luck and welcome to the forum.

 

[Marrinan]

Get as many of the instructional books as you can. Many historical works are available for download for free. most have a good deal about sharpening by hand and push style and/or hammer and chisel type engraving. Check out tutorials on use the search function on the forums. Draw, Draw, Draw-Correct Practice, Correct Practice, Correct Practice,-Fred

 

[monk]

the secret to good engraving for a newbie is correct graver geometry. perhaps more important is consistent resharpening. you will be doing "push graving" for awhile. you will learn the "feel" each tool gives when used on a particular material. set your fixture for a face angle of about 45 degrees. this will be a good starting point. when you think your graver face is at that approximate setting, devise a way to measure the exact length your graver protrudes from the face of the holder and lock it in place. the graver you show in the fixture is upside down. you must turn it over to grind the face. the face angle of the gravers shown appear to be nearly 90 degree. way too steep. the pre-ground curve on your gravers is there to reduce the amount of material you need to sharpen. you need only touch up the curve after many sharpenings which will increase the size of the graver face. you will eventually want ( maybe) to grind heels on the bottoms of some of the gravers. check the tip section on this as there are many different heel angles that are used. this all becomes a matter of personal taste and depends, in part, on what tou're trying to engrave. you will need to learn pencil sharpening as well. good drawing must always be a requisite for good engraving. if you want to avoid dvd's and go with a book, there's none better than the "art of engraving", by james b. meek. that book will show a variety of disciplines you will want to master to do well in this artform. best of luck

 

[leadfoot]

Thanks so much, honestly did'nt think anybody would reply. I know ive bought rubbish to start with. If i have left a bad taste in anybodys mouth, over what was bought an " asked " Please forgive me ,was not my intension .The ice'ing on the cake is, chronic pain,= strong MEDS ,= brain freeze when trying to absorb info. My hope being that engraving is , a more Natural , Instinctive , back to basics Art form. Kevin thank you knowing i have tools that i can at " least " get an idea .Fred thank you too , i get im trying to run before i can walk , NEED to do a lot more homework before i get out the gravers. Good job i like a challenge, i am Right handed , so drawing is.... INTERESTING to say the least,as you say draw an practice. Monk thank you also , i am taking your advice on reading " art of engraving " before i do anything else. Once again thanks , for the great advice , i look forward to following much, much more of it.

 

[John P. Anderson]

All the advice is solid. If possible find someone local that can get you started on sharpening. Flats are easy as your mostly going for a 45 degree face. I keep a small block of wood cut at a 45 that I place on my stones as a guide. The heel is pretty subtle and only takes a few strokes.

I'm a big fan of libraries. You can get reference books for a few weeks at time via interlibrary loan from your local library. http://www.worldcat.org

Don't start with steel. Start with copper as it'd a joy to cut.

John