Drawing patterns on brass

[VP]

I am curious to hear what everyone uses to draw their engraving patterns on brass. I have tried various pens, pencils, etc and I am not really fond of anything particular method yet. It is hard for me to get a precise line to follow with a hand engraver which in part is due to my artistic ability and part due to the drawing utensil. My second question is their a better method of transferring a pattern from a picture other than free handing it on to the part to be engraved?

Van

[Ed Wenger]

Van,

There's a number of ways you can transfer patterns onto brass.  One way is to copy an image onto a piece of transparency stock (like for an over-head), coat the metal with some acatone, let dry, then rub the image onto the metal.  If you're not familiar with it, google "The Engravers Forum", and search for transfer methods, they have great stuff.

Most of the time I use a mechanical pen.  I'm not sure of the size off the top of my head, but think it's around .02.  The smaller, the better.  Just like carving, I think it's really important to have fine, definitive lines to engrave from.  Hope that helps....

        Ed

[Captchee]

  Like Ed I use a transfer method  and then a fine line to touch up if needed .
Also  like ed said , there are many ways to transfer .
 This is dependant though on what type of printer you have .
 
 The reason I  bring up  printers is that its much easier to  draw and then let the  computer mirror the image then it is to draw it  in reverse .

 For a printer I picked up an older Brother printer  off of Craig’s list for 25.00 .
 Since it uses toner , it transfers well .
 So what I do is  make my drawing .  Mirror it  on the PC then print it .
 I then lightly  coat the part with Dammar varnish .  When its  just  about dry to the touch , I position the   design and lightly  burnish it .
  Then I take the part and under cold water  slowly and lightly remove the paper by rubbing it .
 The design is then left on the part .
 
Another way I use  is to print on baking paper . The toner then transfers very easily to the dammar varnish with light burnishing. You also don’t need to  rub the paper away . Just lift it off  .

 If im drawing right to the part . I first color the part using an off color sharpie .  I like yellow .
 Then I come back and draw  the design with a  #2 pencil. Then darken with a fine point .

 You can also do the same thing with India white  or engravers white 

 but again as Ed stated . there are alot of diffrent ways to do this .  it just takes time to find one that works for you

[VP]

Thanks for the reply. I will investigate your suggestions and see what I can make work for me. Anything is better than what I am doing now. Engraving is tough enough without having some fine lines to follow.

Van