engraving ball vise?

[bama]

Great Mark. I am sure that as you progress in engraving you will enjoy the vice and get to think how did I ever get along without it. I have a bowling ball vise that is collecting dust since I got my engraving ball. I still use it from time to time but I much prefer the GRS vice.

[Chris Treichel]

Here is another shot of how the pitch bowl works well with irregular parts for a pistol. I am cleaning up a side plate and monster head.  Both irregular objects which could be marred or difficult to hold. The pitch holds it whithout any movement and you can bang arround and scrape as much as you want. To get it out all you have to do us use a blunt tool (screw driver) just next to the item and hit the pitch which will shatter and release the object. Any pitch left on the object can be wiped off with denatured alcohol.

To place an object you need to just think of how big the item is, heat the pitch with a torch or heat gun and using cold metal tools move the heated pitch into a mound. Once it is the right hight heat the metal object and put it in place and use a cold metal object (like a hammer head) to push the pitch arround it.

Pitch mixture is called matsuyani and is made of mixing 1 Kg finely ground fire clay or Plaster of Paris, 750 grams of Pine Rosin, 50 ml of vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon of charcoal powder. That recipie is from Ford Hallam.

You can get steel hemispheres for about $40 or so and the above mixture will cost you about $30-50. So its also much cheaper than a jewlers ball vise which run about $300.

The rope donut is nothing more than three turns of 1/2 inch manila sewn together and bound with stout cloth and with a bit of beeswax smeared on the top to give it just a bit of stickyness.

You can turn your bowl and tilt it however you like.

[Acer Saccharum]

That is the handiest setup for hammer and chisel. Or for repousse, chasing, etc.

This is hammered silver, pounded up from the back, supported by pitch. Then flipped frontwise toward me, again supported by pitch, and chased with small roundfaced punches. Every so often, take the silver out of the pitch, and anneal it so it doesn't crack.

Make your own thumbpieces? Entry pipe skirts?

[jerrywh]

That is the handiest setup for hammer and chisel. Or for repousse, chasing, etc.

This is hammered silver, pounded up from the back, supported by pitch. Then flipped frontwise toward me, again supported by pitch, and chased with small roundfaced punches. Every so often, take the silver out of the pitch, and anneal it so it doesn't crack.

Make your own thumbpieces? Entry pipe skirts?


  Tom. 
   That is a great piece of work. How thick is the silver?

[Acer Saccharum]

Thanks, Jerry. It's about .025 FINE silver. But you can use Sterling, too. The whole piece is about 2" tall. 

If you want to give it some mass and support, you could flow 95/5 plumber's solder on the back.

This is Medusa, about the same thickness, but sterling. I'm working this into a pendant.

[Jim Kibler]

Marvelous, Tom.  I love the Medusa.  The face is great and I love the slight quartering away view.

[Jim Kibler]

As to the original post, I prefer to have the part firmly held in a solid vise when doing hammer and chisel work.  My vise protrudes slightly from the bench, so I can walk around it.  I have a ball vise but never use if for hammer and chisel work.  Look at photos of the big Belgian engraving shops.  You'll see good sized solid vises positioned to engrave in a standing position.

Jim

[Bob Roller]

Thanks, Jerry. It's about .025 FINE silver. But you can use Sterling, too. The whole piece is about 2" tall. 

If you want to give it some mass and support, you could flow 95/5 plumber's solder on the back.

This is Medusa, about the same thickness, but sterling. I'm working this into a pendant.

That one looks like an ad for a barber college.

Bob Roller

[jerrywh]

    That is fantastic work. You have to have a perfect eye for three dimensions to do that especially from the back side. Not many people can visualize that way. It is like cutting a coin die. 

[Mark Elliott]

As to the original post, I prefer to have the part firmly held in a solid vise when doing hammer and chisel work.  My vise protrudes slightly from the bench, so I can walk around it.  I have a ball vise but never use if for hammer and chisel work.  Look at photos of the big Belgian engraving shops.  You'll see good sized solid vises positioned to engrave in a standing position.

Jim

I think that I would prefer to have the work in a more solid setup also.  The thing is that I have significant physical disabilities and standing for any length of time is just out for me.  I don't have the strength or the fine motor control in either my hands or legs.  I need to find ways that work for my abilities.   Nothing is going to be perfect.   I am well aware that I am going to struggle just to produce acceptable carving or engraving because of issues with strength, fine motor control and eyesight that are beyond my control. I am similarly limited in what I am physically able to build for myself.     So,  I settle for less than optimal in order to keep working and doing something.    

I should also note that I engrave "backward" most of the time.   Instead of holding the chisel in my left hand and the hammer in my right and working from the right to the left; I hold the chisel in my right hand, the hammer in my left hand, and work back to front.   I can see what I am doing and control the chisel better that way.   However,  I do switch back and forth as a work around to  my lack of mobility.    I imagine this will cause a problem if I switch to an air graver,  but what is another problem to solve.  

By the way,  that is exceptionally good work Tom.   You are quite a talented and skilled artist. 

[jerrywh]

 Mark.
  I also have a very bad back from working on concrete for over 60 years and I use to be a runner.  I will be 80 in a few months and my days of standing over a vise are about over.
  A lot of people point to the fact that the Belgians use plain vises and stand to engrave.  
They only do that because they can't afford the good stuff or are too cheap to buy it. I don't think many of them will be doing that when they are 80. If you ever see them notice that they are not very old and none of them are fat. They get paid a very modest amount probably by the piece. One of the  very best Belgian engravers is Alain Lovenberg. I don't think he engraves that way now.  He uses hand push gravers and power assist but probably uses some hammer and chisel still.
 A lot of engravers don't know that you can turn down a gravermach to about 1 or two strokes per second and it acts just like a hammer and chisel. I do this a lot when I am sculpting stuff. It will give you unbelievable control.

[Ed Wenger]

That's a great tip, Jerry, thanks!  Didn't know that about the graver arch....



            Ed

[kutter]

I sit to engrave except for bbls. Then I take the same ball vise I made (bowling ball w/ home-made vise in it) and set it in a stand up set up.

Engraving bbls is a pain in the back. The only reason I do them standing is because they clunk against the wall and all the other stuff on my engraving bench if I try to do them there.

My bowling ball vise is a hollowed ball,,a little more than 1/2 a ball. Cut in half and Chiseled out the innerds (wasn't fun), but my intentions were to lock the home-made heavy vise I made for the top to the bottom with epoxy and a filler of lead shot for added weight. It works well and the thing weighs around 45#.
It sits in a  shallow hex-shaped box so it contacts 3 sides for stability. A triangle box would be too narrow on the platform I have. The whole thing is on a 'potters wheel' kick wheel thing. Nothing special,,wooden bearings, and piece of chain link fence post for the shaft. As long as it turns smoothly w/o chatter..it only goes about 1rpm after all!

I started w/a little Victor jewelers engravers vise on loan to me back in the early 70's. Then I bought a GRS Magna Block. That worked OK several years but still needed something sturdier. Then I made the above in the early 90's and have used it ever since.  I gave&shipped the Magna Block to another engraver just starting,,never got as much as a thank you in return. Hope it breaks your foot.