making carving or engraving chisels???

O

ouporblowup

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Feb 6, 2011
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any of you guys ever tried making your own chisels??

id like to do some carving and engraving and was wondering where to find some specs

or if you just create them according to your specific needs

and if i could use 1084 for them?

ooo
 
I made a few wood chisels out of O1. So far they have worked really well. I did not have a print to work from I just made what I needed at the time. Be sure to get the back of the chisel perfectly flat before sharpening the bevel to produce a quality chisel. I don't see any reason why 1084 won't work. If I had to make any over again I would use A2.
 
I have used 1080 for various wood tools with decent results. I like O1 better, but not by much.


-Xander
 
Making my own carving and turning chisels is how I came to knife making. 1084 will be fine, might have to sharpen a bit more often but will still make a nice tool. Most of what you buy will be HSS in turning tools. Not sure what the carving tools would be when bought. I mainly used 01 and 5160. As for specs, I looked at catalogs and online retailers and did my best to copy them. When turning and carving you also will make tools not readily available for specific jobs (you will know when you need to). Look up how to sharpen and flatten planes and it will make you carving chisels much easier to work on. If you are turning look up the different degree bevels and try to match them. I found that I don't use the same profiles as what is readily available, and modified the bevels and angles to suit me and my set-up.

Good luck and have fun.
Daniel Combs
 
I've messed around with making some small gravers from heavy music wire, which is largely 1095. I practiced with them a bit on copper, they worked OK but needed some angle adjustment. I'm interested to see if anyone has good tips for making them to add to this thread.

The ones I made, I just heated the ends with a torch and quenched them in oil. The shaft remained semi-annealed.
 
I would pick A2 for the wood chisels and CPM M4 for the gravers.
 
1095 makes great gravers. It needs to be drawn back slightly from full hardness.
The most commonly used graver style would be square, about 1/8" diameter. Sharpen it so that one of the edges becomes the point. Relieve the bottom edges slightly for clearance (like a lathe bit.)
 
Bill DeShivs said:
1095 makes great gravers. It needs to be drawn back slightly from full hardness.
The most commonly used graver style would be square, about 1/8" diameter. Sharpen it so that one of the edges becomes the point. Relieve the bottom edges slightly for clearance (like a lathe bit.)
Click to expand...

A good graver requires a bit more than that, and though 1095 will work, a cobalt steel works longer. 3/32" square is more commonly used than 1/8", but much depends on the individuals skill, and personal preference.
 
I make wood chisels in 1084, plane blades I use PG O-1, I made a froe out of 5160, I make chasing tools out of W1 drill rod, and gravers out of O-1, metal chisels are whatever blade steel scraps I have in the right shape

-Page
 
What the heck would I know? I just started engraving 35 years ago...
The OP asked about making his own gravers. Certainly cobalt steel holds up better, but I doubt he has any laying around.
 
Bill , give it another 35 years and it will all be clear to you !
I suppose we should differentiate between engraving steel and something soft like brass .Though the best graver will do both.
There is somone making planer blades of A2 , a good choice.
 
For some good information on engraving specs start here and follow the links into the Engraving forum. This site uses a template aproach to get graver angles right
http://www.airgraver.com/sharpening.htm

GRS tools sells sharpening fixtures that they use to get the angles for gravers. With a sharpening fixture you can do any angles you want just need to know what they are.
http://www.grstools.com/tool-sharpening/power-hone/sharpening-fixtures.html


You can also search the engraving forums as well they have a lot of info if you search them.
http://www.handengravingforum.com/
http://www.engraverscafe.com/
 
You can also use good drill bit to make small graver bits. In this picture you will see a drill bit soldered into a piece of brass next to a normal graver bit and hand push graver. The brass fits an air graver or the hand chuck as well.

graver.jpg
 
ooo right on guys sounds like i got some work to do

but definently seems like a dying profession but just looks to damn good

any tips where the easiest place to learn metal engraving??

ooo
 
One of the links of the Lindsay/hand engraving forum pages is to engravers that teach classes. I have taken some classes in the past worth your time to see if you think it is something you want to do before investing in equipment. You can engrave with a hammer and hand chisel at minimum. But you still need a vise and a way to sharpen your steel graver ends wich adds up.
http://www.handengravingclasses.com/
 
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