To you builders who practice the art of engraving.

[Shadowalker164]

I have purchased this book and tools in the hopes of engraving the patch box on my Kentucky long rifle.

Did you find the learning curve difficult? What were your experiences trying to master this art?

 

[rich pierce]

Sharpening is challenging. If you don’t have a sharp graver with correct angles and a heel, all the practice and natural talent in the world does not help at all.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Meek's book is not very helpful. The best book to have is John Schippers "Engraving Historical Firearms" . Meeks book provides nice examples of drawings and letters but is not very useful for learning to engrave. Likewise, none of the gravers you bought will be very useful. Don't try to start engraving trying to hand push the cutter. Use hammer and chisel gravers. You only need 3 gravers to do virtually all engraving found on American long rifles, small and larger square gravers and a small flat. Go to Airgraver.com and search for their hand chisels and get 3 square HSS graver blanks and chisel handles. Then go to their sharpening section and buy the stones and templates for sharpening. I recommend the 90 degree detail template and the flat template. Get a good chasing hammer as well. You need good lighting, magnification and a vise system that can hold the work and preferably spin so you can cut around curves smoothly. This thread will also help.
Some thoughts about learning to engrave

I think Jack Brooks may have a cd on engraving that might help.

dave

 

[Shadowalker164]

Thank you much, I will look into all above
Rich, you aren’t kidding! I think I might need a jeweler’s loupe

 

[rich pierce]

Thank you much, I will look into all above
Rich, you aren’t kidding! I think I might need a jeweler’s loupe

If you get one of the template sharpening systems you can sharpen with your eyes closed and do better than “by eye” with loupes.

 

[Shadowalker164]

Thanks guys I’ve got some shopping to do

 

[Greg_E]

Please come back and tell me what you end up getting and from where, I want to try this at some point. I also need to practice checkering, I have those tools now.

Question for people who are doing this... Should a person practice on steel or brass? Brass is softer but can grab tools (milling machine), does it offer the same issues when hand engraving?

How heavy of a mallet, and should it just be a round design or hammer shaped?

 

[Shadowalker164]

Good questions, I am going to start with the brass, but hope to try steel too. Starting with a brass patch box. Then maybe the lock plate

 

[Greg_E]

I would buy some brass shim or sheet to practice on. This is a little thin for some things, but should be thick enough and cheap enough for practice.

https://www.amazon.com/Percision-Metals-16405-Thickness-Length/dp/B0006MZOBC/ref=sr_1_11

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Use mild steel plates for practice. Mild steel has a consistent density that brass lacks making it easier to engrave. Don't be fooled by the material, that is resolved by knowing how to sharpen your graver and keeping it sharp. If you don't know how to sharpen your gravers you will not be able to engrave. Don't use brass shim. You want metal thick enough to hold well in a vise. I much prefer to engrave mild steel though I work with many different metals.

dave

 

[Greg_E]

That's what I thought about brass, kind of a sticky, gummy material.

 

[Sean E Bug]

I have been trying to learn. hammer and chisel is the way to go for a basic setup. the big thing to learn is drawing and design. find scrap brass and steel to practice on. it is frustrating but it will get easier. also accept that you are beginning and it probably wont look amazing. just don't let that stop you everyone starts at the bottom. practice right and left handed curves, then try straight lines. a good ball vise or other way to hold the piece is very helpful but a bit expensive. I have the economy ball vise from Contenti.com

 

[billraby]

John Schipper's book is the way to go. As mentioned, sharp gravers are essential. The sharpening system by airgraver.com is excellent. It is possible to do amazing work with hammer and chisel. Initial set up cost is very low. Its how engraving has been done for the last 2000 years. Lindsay Airgraver with a ball vise is much easier to use, but rather expensive.

A jeweler's loupe will be useless. They have a working distance of only about an inch. Optivisor or something similar will be a lot better. Working distance is still very short, but it will work. A pair if surgical loupes is the way to go. You get arm length working distance. Problem there is the price. Decent ones start at a few hundred dollars. The really nice one costs thousands.

My experience is that learning to engrave is very easy. You can figure it out in a few hours. Cutting lines in metal is pretty simple. Getting good at it is a whole different story. It all comes down to practice. For every hour that you spend studying how to engrave, spend 5 hours studying engraving design.

 

[dave_person]

I have been trying to learn. hammer and chisel is the way to go for a basic setup. the big thing to learn is drawing and design. find scrap brass and steel to practice on. it is frustrating but it will get easier. also accept that you are beginning and it probably wont look amazing. just don't let that stop you everyone starts at the bottom. practice right and left handed curves, then try straight lines. a good ball vise or other way to hold the piece is very helpful but a bit expensive. I have the economy ball vise from Contenti.com

Sean,
Practice parallel lines and lines that border the edge of the practice plate. Do that far more than any scroll work. It is the fastest way to learn tool control because you are forced to follow something evenly rather than cutting free form on the plate. Also practice parallel lines on curved surfaces.

dave

 

[Kabulrocks]

Interesting thread, I have wondered what it takes to get started in engraving.
At the airgraver site they have two Kentucky rifle kits at the bottom of this page: AirGraver Engraving Sets

 

[Art Caputo]

Out of curiosity, I bought the Kibler starter kit and some wood carving tools. After practice sessions on various pieces of stock, I realized that the investment in time and practice to deliver good results were well beyond my available time, and capabilities. I did however manage to carve a decent thumb notch in my Kibler’s sliding patch-box cover…I’ll leave the more sophisticated work to the seasoned experts.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Yes those sets are good. It was suggested to Lindsay by my good friend Tom Curran also known as Acer Sacchrum on the ALR site. He put those together for his engraving demos at Dixon's gun makers fair.

dave

 

[64Springer]

Hats off to the guys that have what it takes to take a chisel and hammer to a piece of steel or brass.

Intricate engraving is something I've always admired.

Too many other irons in the fire to make myself sit down and learn this skill.

 

[SmileMaker]

Ebay is not a bad place for practice brass plates. Brass Sheet H59 Metal Sheet Square Brass Plate 1mm x 100mmx 150mm | eBay

Or you can get some steel flat bar stock from Home Depot makes affordable practice plates.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Here are some examples of simple 2-line borders. They are excellent practice for learning how to engrave efficiently.

dave