More graver control when hand pushing gravers without a heel [photo]

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

I recently bought the 3 bended GRS inside ring lettering gravers.
It is not my first attempt on inside ring lettering, but sure now I want to master it now. That because there is more and more demand on “hand writingâ€￾ lettering inside wedding bands
I shortened these 3 bended gravers and started testing them at different face angles both on soft precious metals as on Ti.
I came to the conclusion I have much more graver control when hand pushing a graver without a heel.
These GRS gravers work great when hand pushing too, but my graver I show here is basically also a bended graver.

I will show photos of my inside ring lettering.

arnaud

 

[mrthe]

Arnaud thank you for the info, i will try too,what angle do you use to sharp it? I can't understand very well from the photo

 

[rod]

I agree, Arnaud,

Having the privilege of attending one of Martin Strolz' week long masterclasses, where he supplied each member with a very full project book, many tools all made by himself, or prescribed as to their tool shapes, I was immediately impressed by how the 'no heel' gravers would cut using hand push.

"Lift angle" is not the same as "heel" angle, where the heel is a short, superimposed increase of the lift angle. Both approaches deliver superb results in the hands of a master, and I think it has been mentioned more than once, most European masters do not use "heel".

It is valuable for me to explore both geometries, and at my present skill level, I favour no heel for push graving, and heeled geometry for flare cutting, especially on tight turns.

Rod

 

[mrthe]

Rod you are right here in Spain the 99% engravers just sharp the frontal face of the graver and sharp the two bottom side of of the V angle in the red stone lifting the graver one or two millimeters respect to the plane of the stone to give A mirror polish, no heel.

 

[billrice@charter.net]

Arnaud
looking forward to seeing your photos. As I am also very interested in lettering and always truing to improve.

 

[monk]

the recent interest in longer heels has made me switch, rather than fight, i recently managed a perfect heel on a #54 round graver. to my surprise, works way easier, and the cuts are much cleaner in appearance. more xperimensts for me on the heel thingy.

 

[rod]

Monk,

When is comes to putting a heel on a round graver, my preference is to finish it with its 40 or 45 degree front face, and first with no heel. Actually, for rounds, and if you are cutting, let's say, bright cut on precious metals, I simply start with a round HHS drill blank or carbide round tool bit, like GRS C Max round, mount it in your 1/8" or 1/32" shaft size 20,000rpm handpiece, if you have one, and with the round blank revolving, diamond lap its surface using a ceramic lap wheel or cast iron diamond loaded lap wheel.

The next step needs diamond lapping paste, several vials of differing grit size are available at a reasonable price from, for example, Gesswein. Load a clean polishing mop, say 3-5 inch dia. with a smear of the diamond paste on the rim of a tight-sewn linen mop, try to spread it around the rim, not too much.

Start up your polishing bench motor, and aggressively polish the sharpened end of this graver, on its circumference, right at the cutting edge.

Inspect the (now blunt) cutting edge often, and you will see that you are putting a very nice rounded heel on the edge, mirror smooth and even around the tool. Stop when you think the heel looks right to you, better still, try testing its cutting properties and go from small heel to larger.

But wait ! You have blunted the cutting edge with this aggressive diamond paste buffing, and it wont cut, it will just skid? True, but no problem, as you simply renew the front face on your graver lap, restoring the angle once more...40 or 45 degrees, inspecting or finger nail testing till you once more have a crisp edge, while retaining the polished rounded heel.

Takes more time to write that to do.

This type of rounded heel mirror-polished graver will give mirror finishes, if that is what you are after.

A further refinement that a certain FEGA President recommended, and I agree with him:

When you are at the handpiece lapping stage, at the start, with the graver blank running fast in the handpiece, and using a more aggressive lap wheel...maybe 280grit going down to 600, 1200, then ceramic, you can quickly form the last 1/4 inch or so into a 'bullet nose' shape. Why, because when you grind your face angle, the face will start small and quickly get bigger as it intersects with the bullet end of the blank. Stop and try the tool often, as in just one tool, you are creating an ever increase round diameter as the front face grind mades bigger and bigger radii on the end. Do not bother with the heel at this stage, just use it heel-less and allow yourself to choose how wide a round cut you want. Once you choose, then go through the above diamond mop lap to form the heel, after which renew the front face just a little to restore the cutting edge.

There are probably a huge number of engravers who know this alternative approach, whether they use it or not, but maybe some who do not know this, and it is worth a try.

best

Rod

 

[Sam]

This is all very interesting. What you guys are referring to as "no heel" I've always referred to as a long heel. Instead of my normal 1/4mm EasyGraver heel I just kept the graver on the lap longer and increased it to 3mm or so, hence the name "long heel".

 

[Haraga.com]

Bingo Sam.

 

[Lee]

I have a request- please bring gravers to the show. I have a lot to learn and show and tell may help the slow ones (me).

 

[rod]

I am all for the easiest and most rational description, Sam, and bow to your huge experience, so maybe just semantics. In my own, short experience, I was thinking of 'no heel' or long heel, as the 'lift' angle, upon which a very short steeper 'heel' was superimposed.
The simplest description works for me, and dump complicated descriptions.

Thanks

Rod

 

[Southern Custom]

Good luck with the inside ring engraving Arnaud. Please update us with what works for you. I've played with learning it for 20 years off and on and never was satisfied with my efforts. Not that I ever really put all that much effort into it. I piddle around with a set of curved gravers given to me years ago and every time I revisit this I am even more impressed by the guys that do it well. I suppose you reap what you sow. Maybe it's time to start planting some more seeds. The no heel idea is intriguing.
Have Fun!
Layne

 

[Sam]

I am all for the easiest and most rational description, Sam, and bow to your huge experience, so maybe just semantics. In my own, short experience, I was thinking of 'no heel' or long heel, as the 'lift' angle, upon which a very short steeper 'heel' was superimposed.
The simplest description works for me, and dump complicated descriptions.

Thanks

Rod

It doesn't make any difference what ya call it, and Martin Strolz refers to it as a "belly" in his excellent 2007 post in the Tips Archive on SQUARE GRAVER SHAPES. For me it was definitely worth reading again as Martin's goes into great detail about his graver shapes.

I remember Don Glaser telling me that engraver Bill Sinclair in the UK used a long, thin graver with no heel. He'd polish the bottom faces of the (square) graver which gave it a bit of lift (similar to what you did on the round graver, Rod), but it didn't have a sharp, faceted heel like many of us use. His graver was very thin and springy and its slight flex enabled him to snap the chip out very smartly at the end of his cuts.

 

[Phil Coggan]

I remember Don Glaser telling me that engraver Bill Sinclair in the UK used a long, thin graver with no heel. He'd polish the bottom faces of the (square) graver which gave it a bit of lift (similar to what you did on the round graver, Rod), but it didn't have a sharp, faceted heel like many of us use. His graver was very thin and springy and its slight flex enabled him to snap the chip out very smartly at the end of his cuts.

It's called a wet-up.

Phil

 

[take-down]

Thats interesting Sam because thats how I enjoyed the first pleasure of push control
Holding the graver way back and springing it into the cut then poping it out & this was taught to me by an English engraver
Cheers

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Let me resume some graver terminology on geometry.
The lift facets, Like Rod calls it “lift angle” so these facets aren’t a real heel, so let’s call them “lift facets”
The face, everyone understands
The heel can be parallel or not
The graver shape,(single point, onglette, flat, round, liner)
The graver angle, 90°, 105°, 120° etc.


@Paolo, the graver for inside ring lettering or concave parts like a spoon I’m showing here has 25° “lift facets” The length of these “lift facets ”don’t matter that much, the longer you make them, the more narrow your graver will be. While cutting it doesn’t matter whether your graver is tapered or not. The face I use always is 50°, no matter what angle the lift facets are. The graver angle is about 100° - 110°. No heel!
For all other engraving, I use : 100° - 110° graver angle
Lift facets 10° length between 5mm and 30mm
Face 50°
Heel, not totally parallel but almost at 20°
I found out both a regular heel or parallel heel has their advantages, especially when dealing with drag, so the short almost parallel heel makes it possible to cut deeper.
As I do a lot of Ti engraving, I found out that this geometry makes a strong point that won’t break so easily.

@Rod, thanks for the terminology “lift angle” yes Martin showed me his graver some years ago and looks quite like mine. The difference like you said with mine is that he mostly does hand pushing with no heel.
@Bill, I will
@Layne, Yes I will show my inside lettering. Thing is that when hand pushing, the graver not only moves forward, you can also cut at an angle. So the short line on the letter t I do it with the same and only one graver.
arnaud

 

[John P. Anderson]

Rod's explanation best describes how my gravers are sharpened. My work tends to be lightly sculpted. They have a pronounced "lift" and the "heel" varies from none to long depending on what I'm cutting. If I'm cutting in the initial design and want lots of "bite" to avoid slips I want no heel or just a hint. If I'm cleaning things up or using the tool to level background or finish sculpt I like lots of heel giving me a "slippery" graver. Polished tools have less bite and slip easier.

My two main tools, the narrow V and the flat, are really about 6-8 tools depending on the heel and state of polish. Lift and face tend to stay the same. Or, do have it backwards?

John

 

[Sam]

I like the terminology "lift angle". It seems to be a good description. I will mention this in the demo video I've about finished.

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

Here is a video I made a few years ago that explains the basics of sharpening . In it I try to use some standard terminology including the "lift" to make it easier to understand. This video was done for the beginner to try to clear up some of the confusion about sharpening http://www.engraversstudio.com/apps/videos/videos/show/12204393-sharpening-overview

The graver grind that Martin shows is what is used by all the Europeans that I have seen engrave. It is the same grind as the bulino tool. The bottom geometry varies depending on the use and the lift varies depending on the user.

I sharpen all my gravers this way. when I decide to use a heel then I use a low lift angle first about 5 to 7 degrees this narrows the tool nicely and makes it like a pointer pointing the way. It also makes it easier to see where you are going. Then I add the heel at 20 degrees. I more times than not use no heel but rather the European style sharpening because it's faster to resharpen because all that is necessary is to regrind the face angle and your off and running. I agree that it's easier to hand push without a heel. I have looked at many old gravers the jewelers have laying around from the old days. I never see a heel they instead have a lift. These were not gravers used for stone setting. They usually weren't narrowed as well.

Drag is not an issue if you keep your wrist from dropping. In fact I have demonstrated on many occasions the cutting of a circle about 2mm in diameter and very deep with no rag by keeping the wrist locked and not letting it drop.

My intention here is not to tell people how to sharpen their tools. Everyone has a way they like and if it's working well should continue. No sense in reinventing the wheel. My intention then is to give people more tools or alternative methods in their arsenal of techniques.

Sharpening is the kind of thing that should become second nature. we don't need to spend so much time on it once we understand the principals. The time would be better spent cutting and drawing . This is the reason I don't care for templates as a way to learn because once you understand what and why we do what we do for sharpening then you can customize how you sharpen a tool for any given situation.

In the beginning it is difficult to grasp but it's worth the struggle because in the end you will have an easier time overall.

Chris

 

[monk]

thanks rod, chris, and the rest of you, as well. my first attempt at a round heel was with a totally new method; i took a 4" dia diamond disk from harbor freight (about 8 bucks) on my drill press. i now wish i had done this earlier for roughing gravers. i'm guessing the grit is about 200. i finished off with a 600 followed by 1k on the power hone. the result- bright as i need, with greatly improved cutting control, and no side wall gashes. so this old dog has learned a new trick, thanks to you all.