rod
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
First, thank you Diane, Ron, Roger, Carl, Lee and others who have encouraged us to have a try at what we appear to be calling 'flare' cuts.
I know that Ron dark-etches his flare cuts on steel, and gets contrast by having a bright surface.
While trying some copper practice in preparation for flare cutting silver baroque flute keys, which are about two inches tall, I experimented with a quickly sketched design (don't look too close) using the following procedure:
Cut the design with your own tool preference...round heeled flat or uniform heel 120 degree, etc.
Apply a generous coating of super glue to the whole piece, making sure the glue has gone into the bright cuts. Wait until the glue hardens.
Water sand with, say 400 grit wet and dry, until the glue is completely off the main surface. The glue remains in the ditches of the bright cuts. If you wish, take the surface finish down further to about 1200 grit wet and dry.
Although we can pride ourselves in having almost no edge bur with V graver geometry, when using a flat, there always is at least a little edge bur on the deep side of the cut. Upon sanding down, as above, the edge bur is taken off completely, yet the crisp corners retained, as the super glue filling in the cuts prevents the sanding from its usual degrade of crispness.
Now sandblast with alum oxide and/or glass bead to your matt finish of preference. The super glue will mask the bright cuts, as it is a very hard fill.
Soak the piece in acetone for an hour or two, or if you are in a hurry, wipe it as you soak, until the super glue dissolves, and leaves the piece clean. If you are wiping and do not want to breath acetone, just do it outdoors, or in a clear plastic bag, to contain acetone flumes.
The resulting contrast is pretty good, and there is no trace of edge bur when you run your finger over the surface.
More flare cut practice is on the menu for me, but I am encouraged by the speed of this procedure.
Rod
I know that Ron dark-etches his flare cuts on steel, and gets contrast by having a bright surface.
While trying some copper practice in preparation for flare cutting silver baroque flute keys, which are about two inches tall, I experimented with a quickly sketched design (don't look too close) using the following procedure:
Cut the design with your own tool preference...round heeled flat or uniform heel 120 degree, etc.
Apply a generous coating of super glue to the whole piece, making sure the glue has gone into the bright cuts. Wait until the glue hardens.
Water sand with, say 400 grit wet and dry, until the glue is completely off the main surface. The glue remains in the ditches of the bright cuts. If you wish, take the surface finish down further to about 1200 grit wet and dry.
Although we can pride ourselves in having almost no edge bur with V graver geometry, when using a flat, there always is at least a little edge bur on the deep side of the cut. Upon sanding down, as above, the edge bur is taken off completely, yet the crisp corners retained, as the super glue filling in the cuts prevents the sanding from its usual degrade of crispness.
Now sandblast with alum oxide and/or glass bead to your matt finish of preference. The super glue will mask the bright cuts, as it is a very hard fill.
Soak the piece in acetone for an hour or two, or if you are in a hurry, wipe it as you soak, until the super glue dissolves, and leaves the piece clean. If you are wiping and do not want to breath acetone, just do it outdoors, or in a clear plastic bag, to contain acetone flumes.
The resulting contrast is pretty good, and there is no trace of edge bur when you run your finger over the surface.
More flare cut practice is on the menu for me, but I am encouraged by the speed of this procedure.
Rod
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