I'd like to say thank you for all the kind remarks both here and in PM's. I do appreciate it!.
Metalshaper asked about the tools I use to do the details on the figures.
A couple of pics I hope show it better than I can describe.
There is one tool that actually does all of the work,,the other is a burnisher to highlight areas within the shading,,or if you get it too dark and want to lighten it up a bit.
The chisel point tool is 1/8" diameter drill rod and I've put it into a steel 'handle' for ease of handling.
I shape it out quickly on a 'diamond' sharpening plate sold for knife sharpening mostly (about 4" x 1.5"). Very handy for graver sharpening as the steel construction keeps flats,,flat.
I use it dry and have yet to wear it out after 25 years. I have worn oil stones out in the past sharpening gravers.
I switched to a power hone sharpener in the early 90's when I had to start using carbide gravers for Model 21's. They do a nice job but you can get along w/o one.
The burnisher is also just drill rod but a little larger in diameter. Ground to a convenient shape and polished. I put a brass handle on that one. Makes it easier to find on the crowded bench,,but it probably happened 'cause I just had a handy piece of brass around.
Both are hardened and then drawn back to 'straw' color. The tiny diameter makes the annealing part easy to do with a cigarette lighter and it doesn't get away from you as easily as a torch would.
If you work just on gold, silver, copper etc,,no heat treat necessary.
Tools with the hammer to give an idea of size.
Some pics of the point end of the chisel. Nothing fancy. Kind of like a wood chisel. It must be sharp.
This could use a bit of straightening of the edge, but not being the fussy type, I'd use it as is as long as it was sharp. Results count, especially when making a living at it.
One thing I dislike is to spend my time being a professional tool sharpener. Get the right tool (steel) for the job, sharpen correctly and go to work.
A blunt tool will not make clean cuts as it it tapped into the surface. You want to angle the cuts into the work slightly. That
will create a dark thin line as well as produce a tiny burr that will throw a shadow increasing the tone/color.
Using the extreme edge(s) or points of the tool creates dots not unlike Bullino work.
Altering the angle, position & depth and then adding multiple layers of cross hatching can produce the results shown.
The tool is very fast to use and rotating it in the fingers as it is tapped with the hammer makes for even greater flow of line.
The burnisher is simply that but very tiny at the point. It can be used to soften an area of dark color or even add a bright high light to an
edge of detail.
Since the process never really removes material (unless you way over do it), you can shade, detail, then fix up an area , reshade it, darken, lighten
as you want during the process.
The tendency is to over do it. Use the light, untouched areas to advantage.
If everything is shaded even just a little,,then the dark areas have to be even darker to look correct.
The graver point two views are what I generally use for all the work. Again nothing fancy here. A very small heel to keep it from digging in on the curves. This one could use a touch up sharpening, though I sometimes blunt the tip when cutting some of the tougher steels. Always on a carbide bit.
This is a HSS bit and you can see it's magnitized itself as they will do. Annoying as it picks up filings on the tip. A trip through the electric soldering gun loop cures that in a hurry.
Just about everything pictured in the other post was cut with this point . Main cuts, shading (unless I used a liner in a couple of instances), borders, lettering, etc. All the same point.
A few of my old tools. 4oz Craftsman BallPeen hammer. 'Belgian' style steel handles. They curl around at the tip from the repeated hammering as you can see.
Some got shortened in the process over the years. Alot of miles on those!
...and the ever popular bowling ball vise. Mine I made 30 years ago. A $2 ball from a garage sale (no choice of color!),,some scrap steel in 1" sq and 1/4" thickness plate allowed for a building a somewhat crude but usable vise for me.
The jaws started as a single piece of 3" sq steel scrap with that angle cut already milled off one side.
I hacksawed it into 2 pieces for the jaws. One is clamped in place by the bolt in it and a wedge plate in the track. The other is moveable on the 1/2-20thrd spindle.
A small hand crank allows tightening and loosening the jaw. I can move the one further out to give greater capacity, but I don't think I've ever moved it in all the time I've used it.
I milled the verticle grooves into the face of the one jaw once I had a mill several years later. The jaws don't line up perfectly,,it's not a work of art,,but it's been my engravers and gunsmiths vise for 3 decades.
I hollowed out the ball after sawing off the top (just above 1/2 way). Nasty stuff to chisel out of there, then I filled it with automotive body epoxy and lead shot to both anchor the metal plate & parts and to give it as much weight as possible. The round steel plate underneath the vise itself and on top of the cut off ball was a cast steel(?) weight/plate from the bottom of an old floor lamp. Make do with what you have at the time.
At just a tad under 50#, it works really well.
I had been using a Magna Bloc (30#?) till then, but even that I found as too light for my use especially when doing barrels (overhang) and heavy relief work.
Tool and vise vibration is the first thing to avoid and it's amazing how those tiny hammers and chisels can move a large vise around.
Hope these pics help.
