No matter what anybody tells you , there is no easy way to cut a nick and dot border. I usually takes a lot of practice to get good at it. Many of the ways you have been told are shortcut ways to try and accomplish it. I am a master engraver in the engravers guild and it took me a long time to get it down to a acceptable level and be able to do it consistently. I tried every way that has been mentioned. The biggest obstacle I discovered was this. It is not possible to cut a real nice clean nick with a low heel angle on the graver. Almost everybody can make the first part of the cut with no trouble. Coming back out of the cut or the second half is where the hard part is.
This is the proper graver geometry. You need a flat graver. The heel angle should be 25 degrees. The width is important because it is used as a visual gauge to estimate the height of each nick. The graver should be just a tiny bit wider than the height of the nicks you want to cut. for steel the face angle should be 45 to 60 degrees. The harder the steel the more face angle you need to maintain the sharp edge. For most muzzle loaders 45 degrees is good.
The first thing you cut is the border line. The nicks are cut by holding your flat chisel at an angle, with the outside edge tilted up and towards you. With the bottom corner of the flat in the precut border line. Dive into the cut making a cut that looks like half of a teepee. Now --- stop and look at the cut just a moment. Notice that the back half of the chip sticking up . There is a crease or a fold on the opposite side of the cut. This fold line or crease almost forms a perfect triangle with the front edge of the first half of the cut. As you continue to make the second part of the cut or the second half of the teepee. You lower the handle of the graver and at the same time you roll the graver top toward you and the edge of the cut follows that fold line right back out of the metal to make the second half of the teepee.
This is hard to explain without seeing it done and it takes some practice to get it down. When you do you will be able to cut them backwards upside down and in both directions.
Good clean nick and dot borders are one of the most difficult thing to learn. When I look at someone's engraving and I see a real good clean nick and dot border I know the person has what it takes to be a professional engraver.
I regret that I cannot show you this in person. It is almost impossible for me to describe without illustrations.
