Engraving question for GraverTom?

Yvsa

Yvsa

Joined
May 18, 1999
Messages
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Tom if you can would you please show us some pix of the tools used for engraving?

Also just how hard are the engraving tools themselves?
I'd think they would have to be pretty hard to engrave some of the harder steels or are they engraved and then hardened?
And how are they sharpened and how often do they need it?

Methinks that engraving steel and carving leather has many similar aspects and I know they share many similar patterns.
I'd really like to know how the veining, camo and shading is done on the steels surface if you could do a brief explanation.;) :D :cool:
 
OK,

I will try and do a photo essay of sorts when i do some cutting this weekend.

Talk to you soon,

Tom
 
gravertom said:
OK,

I will try and do a photo essay of sorts when i do some cutting this weekend.

Talk to you soon,

Tom
Click to expand...

Wado equa Dami!!!! = Thank you very much Tom!!!!:thumbup: ;) :D
Very much looking forward to it!!!! :cool:
 
I had the guard of my alley cat engraved by a lady a couple of years ago. She did a beautiful job. I asked her to do the flats of the blade as well, but when she started and hit the D2 steel that was it! Too damned hard was the basic communication.

I'll be interested in seeing this overview as well.

Thanks,

Norm
 
Here are two pics; The first is a collection of the main tools I use; a chasing hammer, tool holders, tool bits, and a pnuematic hand piece. The gray colored tool bits are carbide/cobalt steel. very hard, but will not hold up against hardened knife blades very well. If the khukuris were not zone heat treated, they might be next to impossible to cut, or they would have to be cut before hardening. The shinier flat tool bits are high speed tool steel. Sometimes I grind my own out of M2. I tried engraving D2 once, and it was too hard even before the heat treat! (then again, it may have been O1, my memory is not good!)The guns I work on during the day are all annealed before i get them, if the parts were hardened in the first place. Some modern guns are pretty hard, even though not heat treated per se. Rugers and taurus, esp. instainless, are notorious for this.

The second pic shows my sharpening set up. two diamond stones, and a fixture. It is possible to do the sharpening freehand, (that is how i was taught) but the fixture helps with the sometimes very precise angles required. The carbide won't be touched by regular stones, so diamond is the only way to go.

This will unfold as i have the chance the next week or so. The stuff i am engraving at home won't provide a good opportunity to deal with all the questions asked so far, so i may take some pics Monday when i get back to work.

talk to you all later!

Tom


engravingtools.jpg



sharpeningfixture.jpg
 
Sorry that this is going slow...

here are two more pics, showing the faces, or front views, of two tool bits. The diamond shaped one is called a square or 90 degree tool. The other is called a flat. The flat has a heel on the bottom that goes the whole width of the tool. The square has a heel on either side of the point. The heel is shallow or deep depending on how deep a cut you want to make. The tool will cut the metal at a consistent depth as long as it is held at the same angle that the heel is. The heel and face must make an angle less than 90 degrees for the tool to cut. The heel serves to transfer the force horizontally. Without a heel, the tool will just dig in. Also, if you cut deeper than the heel, it will just dive deeper and deeper.

Talk to you all later!

Tom


squaretoolfront.jpg


flattoolfront.jpg
 
Hmmm, many similarities to using a metal lathe, including the shapes of the tooling.
 
Thanks Tom. Don't worry about how much time it takes I'm really interested.:thumbup: :D
 
Aardvark,

you are right. Some engravers used to.srtill do use kathe bits for gravers. The only drawback is 1/4 inch stock is kind of big. The mettalurgy works very well though.

My first week of gunsmithing school was spent grinding lathe bits by day, and then tiny gravers by night. I almost gave up, because it was all new to me, and those tiny gravers seemd impossible after sweating all day over the engles on those lathe bits. If the night time engraving instructor hadn't had mercy on me, and sharpened a tool so i could get some cutting in, i may have quit! I'm glad it worked out...

As Jim Rome says, "good night now!"

(yes, i am am a sports talk radio junkie.!)

Tom
 
I third, fourth, fifth or sixth the thanks, Tom. I was rather curious also.

Do you hold the tool with the wooden handle and blade tip like a pencil?


munk
 
back to our story...

I have been working on a US Firearms mfg single action army revolver.

It is getting "A" coverage, approx. 1/4 of the gun, but this is a bit more detailed than normal.

The main tendrils, or spirals, were cut with the air graver under the microscope (10x)for accuracy. The shade lines were also. The heavier cuts forming the leaves were done with the hammer and chisel, using an optivisor(3.5X) for speed and character of cut. i am trying different combinations of techniques to get the quickest and cleanest results, based on the project budget.

The stippling was done with the hammer and a domed punch.

First pic-

The outline of the design.

USFASAAleftsidemaincuts.jpg


Second pic-

other side showing stippling and shading.

USFASAArightsidestippleandshading.jpg


Third pic-

Close up of loading gate.

Loadinggatecloseup.jpg


Fourth pic-

Close up of shade lines.

Rightsideshadinggetail.jpg


Take care,

Tom
 
DAYUM!!!!!!! Tom that is beautiful!!!!:thumbup: :cool: :D I see now where the shading lines take the place of the shaders on leatherwork.
Are the stippled areas shown now completed or is there more you have to do to them?
I had never thought just how complicated it must be to carve over the curved areas like the loading gate. That must be pure hell to keep things in perspective!!!! :eek:
Have you ever engraved a knife or is that yet to come?;)
 
Wow... and thanks for taking the time to show us a work in progress.

Imagine a siru with that! Just awesome.
 
Tom,
Really good work. Somebody's gonna end up with one fine six-shooter. :D
Hey, how's Timothy doing? I've not been following the forum too closely so I hope everything is OK.
 
Thanks for all the kind words.

The stippling is finished. That form of stipling is the lowest grade of background treatment. Finer stippling looks better, but takes way more time to do. The background relieved would make it even better, but adds even more time. Lots of fine parallel lines is a classy treatment, typical of English work, but wouldn't look right on this piece.

Tim is OK. i don't remember what i have said lately...

he spent a week in the hospital back in early Nov. mild pnuemonia. he is still congested again. We have new meds for him.

he got dehydrated over thanksgiving. 6 hour stay in hospital in NJ for IV.

he is over 13 lbs now, and developing very well. Closer to "normal" milestones of development than before. (he must get his normal stuff from his Mother!:D )

More to post later. back to the bench at home now! ( whip craking, chains rattling, the bench troll descends the stairs to his dank abode...)

Tom
 
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