How do I make a Wriggler?

[docone]

I have searched and I could not find how to make one.
I did write Mike Brooks and he told me to use 1/8" square graver stock, but not how to make the Wriggler part.
Oh by the by.
Some of the engraving I have seen here is fantastic! My idea of excellent art.
I got some work to do to catch up that is for sure.

[kutter]

A flat faced engraving chisel (like a wood chisel face only make the angle steeper/stronger for metal engraving) with or without a heal on it.
If you put a heal on the edge, make it small. You're not using the tool like any other engraving tool, so you can really get away w/o one, especially on brass and soft steel.

The 'wriggle' cut comes from walking the tool across the surface of the metal. The tool edge never leaves the surface as you walk it from side to side along the path you want it to take to make the line or curve.

Tip your hand up and the zig-zag wriggle effect is very closed up,,lay you hand back down towards the metal surface as you rock the graver back and forth across the surface and the wriggle pattern opens up.

Keep the tool sharp and be aware that even with this simple engraving cut, the tool can skip out especially when cutting the more open pattern (and speeding things up of course!)

Alter the size of the face of the chisel and you have different size wriggle cut lines.
Use a 'liner tool' and it gives another effect (plus it's handy for a matted effect if done in full coverage at 90degrees to each other),,use a round nose point in an already cut line and another effect is created.

There are times when the gold or silver line inlay is gently wriggle cut. It presents the bright facets of the cut inlay but you have to be careful doing it and trust your inlay work to be strong and correct.

[docone]

So, the Wriggler does not have a center grind out.
If I read that correctly, the 1/8 stock is merely ground to angle, probably 45* on both sides and then walked about.
I had always thought, each leg of the Wriggle, had the other as a center point for the other side to Wriggle.
I am a diamond setter just getting into engraving. On my favourite format.

[kutter]

Just make a 'flat' graver. Your choice as to the width of the tool.
If you had an 1/8" piece of square stock that is 3 or 4 inches long,,and cut one end to a 45degree angle and mounted a small graver handle on the other,,you have a 'wriggle tool.
(Putting a heal on the edge is optional as I posted above)

Place the tool down onto the metal and pick up one side by rocking your wrist slightly. Now 'walk' the tool forward by rotating the wrist so as to place the side that's up in the air, back down onto the metal,,and picking up the other side. Do this in a continuous back and forth wrist rocking motion as you move the tool forward. Watch where you want the tool to go,,zig zags will follow..
 

You are alternating stabbing in the extreme edges of the tool face and at the same time forcing it forward (gently!) The resulting pattern is the zig-zag cut of the flat edge of the graver face being forced into the metal as you go along.

Since the tool is always (hopefully!) in contact with the surface it has little chance of skipping out of the cut, but it can happen.

[docone]

Thanks for the advice!
I am anxiously awaiting doing it. My pitch pot is itching.
Mike tried to explain it, but I have a feeling he did not know I was severely overcomplicating it.
I am amassing tools for doing building. I just got my 3/32 graver to do inletting work. I drill, chisel slowly, and now I can get in real close.
Thanks for the help.
This is my favourite forum.

[Acer Saccharum]

I can PDF this to you, just PM me with your REGULAR email.

[kutter]

I took a couple of quick pics. Hope it tells the story better than I can type it.

#1..This is a well used flat I use for the wriggle recut on Parker V grades and some FN's. I taper the sides a little, that allows me to quickly increase (by sharpening back),,or decrease (by adding taper to the sides) to match the old cuts in the guns I'm recutting.
Not needed if you're just making up a tool for your own cut.
Kind of stubby! but it fits my slightly deformed fingers better. What ever feels best in your hands.

#2..Close up of the side of the point. It's hand sharpened, so it ain't pretty, but you get the idea. I sharpened this one to a steeper angle after the rough sharpening, that's why there's 2 angles on top. A small heal on this tool as cutting over old work can be tough on the tools.

#3..Last is a quick wriggle cut with the same tool to the top of my battered engraving vise. I cut it, then backed the tool up and placed it in the starting
position and picked up on the one edge to show how it goes along while cutting what you see.
Cutting is very fast once you get the swing of it. Holding the tool in my right hand and camera in the left wasn't. Sorry for the not so great pic but I think it'll give you a better idea f the process.

[docone]

Ask and Ye shall recieve.
You guys are awsome! A picture is indeed worth a thousand words.
Thanks

[Hungry Horse]

 O.K. the cheap, and dirty, way is to make it out of a broken, or worn out chainsaw file. A section of file, ground to shape, and a wooden drawer knob, with a  little epoxy, and you're there. Don't grind off the teeth, or whats left of them, from the outside of the file, it gives the epoxy something to grip. Most of my gravers are made from chainsaw files.

                            Hungry Horse

[docone]

I purchase gravers for my stone setting, but for hand engraving, I do also use files.
I made a good graver out of a square file. Just big enough to hang onto.
After sharpening, I retemper after hardening. Being as my shop is in a fleamarket, I have access to a lot of goodies from time to time.

[kutter]

1/8" or 3/32" lathe bits cost a few bucks a piece.
I've found them to be the easiest to make engraving tools.
Yes you can make a tool out of anything from a piece of car spring to an old file, and they can do great work. .
But you've nothing to prove in doing so,,you are trying to learn the engraving trade.
Don't handicap yourself both in time spent and possible tool quality.
I've made many more than I'd like to think about in the first few years. HSS pre-shaped gravers are OK too but just don't hold up very well on the modern HT'd steels.

Unless you just plain enjoy grinding, shaping, heat treating and such &  perhaps are making only a couple of tools,,I'd use the small lathe bits or something close to them. All sorts of different alloys to choose from.

When I showed  my prized hand made gravers to a  pretty fair engraver by the name of McKenzie when I was just starting ,,his first words were to"Toss these points out. You want to be a professional engraver,,not a professional tool sharpener".
He could see the problems ahead in dealing with the tools,,time I could better spend learning all the other aspects of 'the trade' as he called it.

The flat/wriggle tool in the pics is a 1/8" Cobalt tool bit. I buy the 2 1/2" lengths,,they work out well for both hammer and graver tools.  A couple of packets will last a full timer a long time.
If you get in to carbide bits, you'll need diamond sharpening hones and the like. Not really necessary for most work as seen here unless you enjoy cutting through case hardened surfaces. That's not a good way to do the work anyway though some think it is acceptable.

The handle on the one pictured is a piece of dowel and the furrel is a piece of cartridge brass.
Take care to shape the handle, it makes a lot of difference in your cutting as fatigue and muscle strain set in from an uncomfortable grip.
If you're doing more than just wriggle cutting an initial or two, perhaps your name on a bbl,,,long days at the engravers bench can take a toll on the body. Take every advantage you can.

Pretty fancy graver for me. Doesn't take long to make up. At todays price the bits are about $3. No heat treating or grinding necessary except for what angle you want.
Been using that one for a long time.
Just some thoughts,,
Good luck to you in your pursuits.    

[Captchee]

As far as cheap way  to make one  .
 I make a wiggler is from the tang of a used up triangle file  .
 I also do not  relieve the heal  any . Simply put , I just  hone a taper   . Then I set it to a  small push graver handle
The reason is that your not removing any material  by cutting .
All your doing is pressing in a pattern by rocking the  graver back and forth .

start by setting the wiggler at your  desired angle on the  practice plate .
 press down  and maintain the pressure to the graver .
 then rock one edge of the wiggler  forward , press down .
 now rock the  opposing corner of the graver forward the same distance . press down .
 keep repeating .
What you want to do is simply walk the wiggler around the border area  by keeping one corner always in contact .
 its a very simple and easy tool to make

as i stated , this is nothing more then the tang from a file , set to a handle .
 i would post a photo of what it does , but it would show nothing diffrent then what Kutter showed in his photo

[FL-Flintlock]

I purchase gravers for my stone setting, but for hand engraving, I do also use files.
I made a good graver out of a square file. Just big enough to hang onto.
After sharpening, I retemper after hardening. Being as my shop is in a fleamarket, I have access to a lot of goodies from time to time.

And they work well too. 

Email me your snailmail address and I'll send you a couple of those screwdriver/tool blanks we talked about.
Mark

[David R. Pennington]

lay a worm on a hot rock.

[docone]

Ok, another question.
What are points for?
So far, I have been grinding a flat on the tip, makeing an angled angle. I have not been able to recreate the angle as the graver is round. I can also use a standard graver rather than the point.
Any ideas?

[Acer Saccharum]

Square shank gravers go a long way to recreate the tip angles when you use a sharpening fixture.
This system uses a template, and a chuck for SQUARE tool shanks. The SQUARE is what enables you to relocate the cutter in the fixture same way, time after time. ROund shanks are a nightmare.

Lindsay Template system: http://www.airgraver.com/images/200710123172C.jpg

Lindsay site: http://www.airgraver.com/sharpening.htm
If you order one of these systems, be sure to specify for 1/8 tool bits. Template collet for 3/32 size is what is normally supplied.

[docone]

Tom, this is what I am referring to.
http://www.stuller.com/products/36-2595/?groupId=18329
I got a bunch of them, large and small. I did not want to sharpen them untill I knew what they were for.
Are they just a precise burnisher?

[Acer Saccharum]

Looks like hardened steel points for any use you want to put them to. I think they'd be too light for hammer/chisel work, but they might make OK hand push gravers. But wicked hard to resharpen repeatably, because of the round shanks.

They look better suited to punches.

[Captchee]

stipple points are for stippling backgrounds or doing balino work
 bead raisers and prong pushers are seen allot in jewelry  where a person is setting stones .
 The points are also used for displacing metal  for  relief type engraving