Cutting out gold animals

[Dave London]

I have been useing a jeweler saw, but even with a 10/0 blade it is kind of a PITA.
After a synapse finally fired I grabbed a pair of cuticle scissors, much easier and faster:whoo[1]:
MTC. YMMV:cheers2[1]:

 

[Brian Marshall]

The blade you use should have 2 teeth in the metal when compared to the thickness of the material you cut.

24K is just naturally gummy stuff. Try a lubricant? I just use plain ordinary paraffin or beeswax - depending.

Paying extra for the blue dyed stuff is a personal thing.

Xacto blades and other sharp instruments will also cut 24K... unless it's very thick.


Brian

 

[John B.]

Dave, a thing for you to try.
Draw, trace or transfer you animal to your gold or silver sheet.
Stick your gold or silver to a section of wood tongue depressor with two sided tape.
Cut to the outside of your outline with an onglette or graver of your choice.
You will find that the saw follows the engraving groove like a train on rails, cutting the wood and metal together.
And the section of tongue depressor makes it easier to manipulate the animal.
Like Brian says two blade teeth in the thickness of the metal.

 

[Dave London]

Thanks Brian and John B

 

[mitch]

i tape my 30g/.010" gold, platinum, or copper sheet down over the inlay cavity, then tap lightly with a punch to make an exact impression of the outline. then i snip it out with a pair of razor sharp Gingher craft scissors (https://www.amazon.com/Gingher-Inch-Craft-Scissors-01-005289/dp/B000I60XVC). for thin, soft metals used in flush inlays, i haven't used a jewelers saw in 25 yrs.

NOTE: do NOT use these on anything but soft, pure, thin metals. the edge will not withstand alloys, etc. :no:

 

[SamW]

I do much as Mitch says except that I use an exacto knife with a rounded tip, place the sheet on a thick piece of aluminum and press down along the outline. But I mostly use .016 wire for inlays, especially animal inlays.

 

[dlilazteca]

Dave, a thing for you to try.
Draw, trace or transfer you animal to your gold or silver sheet.
Stick your gold or silver to a section of wood tongue depressor with two sided tape.
Cut to the outside of your outline with an onglette or graver of your choice.
You will find that the saw follows the engraving groove like a train on rails, cutting the wood and metal together.
And the section of tongue depressor makes it easier to manipulate the animal.
Like Brian says two blade teeth in the thickness of the metal.

Very intresting John, i love how you mention that it will follow the grove, but what has me with a little doubtis the tongue depressor, and the two sided take, how would you remove the gold without bending it or damaging it to unstick it from the tape itself, and could you show me how it would look on the depressor.

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[sam]

I tap the gold over the cutout or transfer the cutout to the gold with transfer wax. I've used bits of clear plastic from CD cases to superglue the gold to for sawing. A little play of a torch flame pops it right off.

Next time I'll try John's idea of outlining with a graver first. That sounds great!

 

[John B.]

Thanks Carlos.
Just drop the cut out into a little puddle of acetone and the inlay will separate the metal and tape from the wood tongue depressor.
This system works whether you have a cavity or not, and whatever the thickness or purity of your precious metal.
It also works if you are sawing out jewelry pieces rather than inlays.
Such as the beautiful earrings recently posted by didyoung.
Give it a try.

 

[fegarex]

Mr. John, your tips and tricks have amazed me for 35 years!! I will give this a try as well.
Thank you for all your contributions to the engraving world.
Rex

 

[jerrywh]

I do it like John B but there is one other little thing. I use thin wood like tongue depressors then I take a small soldering iron and melt a thin coat of wax on the back side of the wood depressor. That keeps the blade lubricated all the time and you don't have to stop and lube the blade when cutting. I also cut some out with a chisel in the hand piece. I have a setup with a tiny foot controlled blower that blows away the sawdust when I'm cutting. I just burn the wood off with a torch on a charcoal block and it gets annealed a the same time.

 

[John B.]

Mr. John, your tips and tricks have amazed me for 35 years!! I will give this a try as well.
Thank you for all your contributions to the engraving world.
Rex

Thank you Mr. Rex. You are too generous old friend. Just low tec. stuff. Happy New Year.

 

[John B.]

I do it like John B but there is one other little thing. I use thin wood like tongue depressors then I take a small soldering iron and melt a thin coat of wax on the back side of the wood depressor. That keeps the blade lubricated all the time and you don't have to stop and lube the blade when cutting. I also cut some out with a chisel in the hand piece. I have a setup with a tiny foot controlled blower that blows away the sawdust when I'm cutting. I just burn the wood off with a torch on a charcoal block and it gets annealed a the same time.

Happy New Year Jerry.
The tongue depressors I buy are birch wood and come pre-treated with a light coat of wax. This lubricates the saw blade as you cut.
For years in the NRA school classes I demoed the wood/metal cut out aided by a blower made from a fish tank aerator.
Easy to make, low noise and cost. Still have it packed away with my school traveling supplies.
Had to demo many different methods of inlay for the students but it doesn't get much use anymore.
Other than demos 95% of my inlays are cold welded wire.

 

[jerrywh]

Happy new years to you also John and everybody else. I think everybody would love to see your fish tank blower John. Where do you get the pre waxed tongue depressors?

 

[John B.]

Happy new years to you also John and everybody else. I think everybody would love to see your fish tank blower John. Where do you get the pre waxed tongue depressors?

Happy New Year Jerry.
My lady friend TJ Is a retired dental hygienist and she gave me a large supply of dental tongue depressors which I am still using.
In a large town I'm sure you can buy them from any dental supply company. Or try EBay or Amazon.
Since TJ has retired that's what I will have to do when my current supply runs out.
My traveling school supplies are in a storage facility and maybe I can dig out the saw dust blower next time I'm there.
Not much to see really. All it is is the cheap fish tank blower with clear plastic tubing and a squashed brass tube home made nozzle.
The nozzle is fixed to a little bigger than normal home made wood saw peg. The saw peg can be held in a vise.
I made the nozzle from a piece of an empty ball point ink cartridge if I remember correctly.

 

[jerrywh]

John. that is a good description of the blower. No need to go to the work of digging it out. Sounds like mine is very similar but I just use a foot control on the blower.

 

[dlilazteca]

Jerry and John, you guys are just so low tech
...I LOVE IT would love to visit your shops!

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[John B.]

John. that is a good description of the blower. No need to go to the work of digging it out. Sounds like mine is very similar but I just use a foot control on the blower.

Your foot control for the blower is a great Idea Jerry.
Folks using the Graver Mach could hook up the blower hose to the auxiliary air outlet on the machine.
Then I think the foot pedal would control the air flow. One of our Graver Mach user can verify this for sure.
Should work unless the handpiece is working on vacuum instead of pressure
I think foot pedal will work for blower control with any of the pneumatic tools if the hose is connected to the outlet where the handpiece hose usually connects.

 

[jerrywh]

John I'm sure your correct because my high speed dental tool comes off of that port and I put a foot control on it. I went from that port to the foot control and then to the high speed roto tool.