Interesting graver sharpening phenomenon

[SamW]

Well Andrew, since you are cutting "upside down" the cracks run backwards, closing up instead of opening up...thus no chipped points.

 

[Big-Un]

When putting the final finish on the face, whether 600, 1200 or ceramic polish, which way do you finish it? I always do my final stropping horizontal to the face, just because, in my mind anyway, the fine serrations (stress lines?) will not be vertical to the tip and therefore will be less likely to crack. Maybe I'm thinking too extreme as they may be too fine to matter.

Bill

 

[golden forge]

Ok,ok so after hearing over and over from different engravers, and reading here about how good C-Max gravers are I finally got one to try out, and,,,,,,,, yup I now see what you all have been going on about. And I thank you all for this thread, the finest grit diamond lap I own is a 1200, so I was really happy to read that a mirror finish may not be necessary. I don't have a problem polishing my HSS gravers, but did start to wonder about the C-Max. I haven't cut much steel lately, but I sure know what I will be cutting it with in the future.
Thanks again for the good information sharing that happens here.
David.

 

[Dani Girl]

What is C-Max and will it fit in the lindsay templates?

 

[BLW]

http://www.grstools.com/gravers-burs-and-more/

Cmax are great gravers worth trying one

Brendan

 

[Southern Custom]

Dani,
C-Max gravers come in several shapes but yes, you can get square gravers pre shaped that will fit in the Lindsay fixture. Tungsten Carbide is extremely hard but also much more brittle than high speed steel. It takes a little time learning to use and sharpen them. You will also have to have diamond sharpening stones for both rough shaping and polishing. Shaping them with the Lindsay templates will take a long time without a power hone type system. The only time I use them is on stainless steel and occasionally highly polished for bright cuts on gold.

 

[Pär Björkman]

Absolutely incredible, I engrave almost exclusively on stainless steel Sandviken 12C27 and uses the C-Max with 120 and has always polished with diamond spray. After many years of damning on stainless, I have learned how long I can engrave before I have to sharpen. Now when I try to just grind to 600 including the heel now I can engrave around 3 times as long, unbelievable. I have for 15 years polished my Gravers unnecessarily.

Pär B.

 

[Ron Spokovich]

The explanation of rayf24 is pretty much right on the money, but there is an additional factor that would be practically impossible to measure, and that is HEAT. There is a large increase of surface temperature between using 600 grit and 1,200 grit abrasives, going down into the graver at a micron depth, which is enough to cause a problem. There is a change in the metallurgy, at that portion of the graver, and you can't see it because it's polished. The 600 grit won't raise the temperature to that critical level, even with a water drip using both of the grits mentioned. For example, the chainsaw guys notice an increase in tooth life when they hand file, versus grind with a fixture, as they grind dry. I've noticed this in thousands of knives I've sharpened. I know it sounds far fetched, but this does occur. This phenomena might not happen with all graver materials, but it is unknown if all gravers, old or new, are exactly the same in consistency. You just have to go through the steps, and see what works best.

 

[zzcutter]

I mainly do firearms engraving and have never gone past my 600 grit wheel and use a 50 degree face and have found this to work well for me over the years.

 

[dlilazteca]

Great looking forum Sam!

That's exactly, why I never attempted to polish a graver read Sams post and never looked back.

Saludos,

Carlos

 

[LVVP]

I use a 50 degree face and have found this work for me.