Author Topic: Engraving 101....help  (Read 10451 times)

DFHicks

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Re: Engraving 101....help
« Reply #25 on: February 06, 2016, 06:33:50 PM »
Smart Flix has the entire McKenzie set for rent @ $25.00.  I believe you can keep them for two weeks.  They are currently back ordered which probably shouldn't be a surprise.  I bought the first in the series and it is well worth the money.  Wallace Gusler's engraving video is also available on Smart Flix.
These are good resources but for the average person the Lindsey template setup is invaluable.  It has made it possible for me to do fairly decent entry level engraving.  So to me it is well worth the cost.  Good luck.
Greg

Offline jerrywh

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Re: Engraving 101....help
« Reply #26 on: February 06, 2016, 09:25:01 PM »
There is a lot of good advice here but it can be confusing when you get too much. I suggest you only learn how to sharpen two gravers, A 90 degree or square graver and a flat graver. Start with the flat graver because it is the simplest. If you learn from professionals you will save yourself a lot of problems later on.
  This is advice for some of the others. Depth control is mostly caused by the heel being too long.
 A graver pivots on its heel not just left to right but also vertically. The longer the heel is the more it magnifies the errors your hand makes. Take a pencil and put your finger in the middle of it for a pivot point. When you move one end the other end pivots on the middle where your finger is. If you move the pivot point near the end, then when you move the long end the short end will not move much. This is how a graver works. So the shorter the heel is the less it magnifies your mistakes.
   There is one limiting factor to a short heel.  If you go deep enough to where the graver is in the metal past the pivot point of the heel you cannot come out of the cut.
When I teach engraving I usually spend the first day just on graver geometry.  Advanced graver geometry is a lot more complicated.  Most of you will never get that far into engraving.
PS
It’s not enough to know how to sharpen a graver,  It is important to know why it has to be that way.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2016, 09:32:33 PM by jerrywh »
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Boompa

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Re: Engraving 101....help
« Reply #27 on: February 06, 2016, 10:57:28 PM »
  I'm soaking up all the advice I can and hopefully it will all make sense down the road. The extent of my engraving experience prior has been putting my last name on a wrench with a Dremel tool, (does that count?).  ::) I don't know of any source locally where a guy could get hands-on instruction, that would be nice.  Thanks for all your help getting me started.

Offline jerrywh

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Re: Engraving 101....help
« Reply #28 on: February 07, 2016, 12:07:08 AM »
Boompa.
  I might know a engravers close to you if I knew where you lived.
Nobody is always correct, Not even me.

Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Engraving 101....help
« Reply #29 on: February 07, 2016, 03:11:12 AM »
  I've found the MacKenzie videos, a little pricey,($84), but these are likely worth it I've ordered the beginner video.  I took 3-4 of the gravers and filed a small heel on them at it has made a world of difference.  At least now I can follow a drawn line well enough to write my initials.  I'm a relative newcomer to building LRs but one thing I really enjoy is that there is always something to learn, always areas to make progress in. 
That's nothin'. I took one of his classes at WKU for $400 plus room and board, mileage etc.
NEW WEBSITE! www.mikebrooksflintlocks.com
Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

Boompa

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Re: Engraving 101....help
« Reply #30 on: February 07, 2016, 06:26:25 AM »
$84 or $400 is cheap if it halfway makes an engraver out me. ;D

Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Engraving 101....help
« Reply #31 on: February 07, 2016, 03:14:42 PM »
$84 or $400 is cheap if it halfway makes an engraver out me. ;D
I agree. I complain, but it was money well spent.
NEW WEBSITE! www.mikebrooksflintlocks.com
Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?