Reese and Graham, sound like you both have found some engraving mates in NZ.
Having a support network is very important to learning in this solo trade.
You might find out when Andrew is doing an in-country GRS demo and introduce yourselves.
Cheers, and best to both of you on your engraving journey.
Paul.
Try using the small diameter cast iron frying pan from Harbor Freight.
Cut the handle off and drill and bush a center hole and it can rotate on a power hone or even a slow turning small drill press with a mandrel.
Hello Monk.
Sorry about that. Bet you know your own birthday :)
But if you check the "members" button where it shows the members number of posts, likes and points it showed both you and Sam had the same birthday yesterday.
Maybe I am miss-reading it or the listing is wrong.
Reece, Andrew Biggs lives in Christchurch, NZ and is a world class engraver.
He also demonstrates engraving for GRS Company in NZ, AU and other countries.
You might enjoy meeting Andrew.
He is also the Editor of the Firearms Engravers Guild publication.
Best wishes on your engraving journey.
Happy birthday to our hosts, Sam Alfano and our forum moderator Monk.
Thank you for making this happy meeting place for us all.
Hope you both enjoy some wonderful birthday treats today and always.
From this Ex-Brit friend and fan of yours........I love it.
You have put your own stamp on it and given the scroll much more definition.
And your flower bouquet and screw heads are really outstanding.
Great advise from gclaker.
Draw out a hard copy of your total space to scale.
Use a quarter or half inch to the foot scale.
Then use fade-out graph tracing paper over that to plan your options.
Much easier to move things around.
Also, your first scroll originating from the flower is smaller than your second scroll.
That is a no-no.
As in nature, scrolls should generally decline in size as they grow from one another.
They can maintain the same size sometimes, but not grow bigger
Looks pretty good for early work and will smooth out with more study and experience.
Just study some of the great scroll artists for the subtle refinements.
Keep on drawing and posting, you are on the right track
Hello Paps, sorry for the late reply.
My copper cutting gravers are usually 45 face, 15 heel, 90 degree geometry.
Or the same thing on a 110 or 120 for bright cut.
Must say, I don't cut a lot of copper though.
Hello Jeremy,
Many years ago I used surgical loupes, Neitz Binocular brand.
Thought I would "move up" from my Optivisors and have more freedom from my scopes.
Trouble I found was keeping my head steady enough and the loupes focused while engraving.
I would advise a trial before you invest in...
Jeremy, well done on a tough exercise. Good work.
Couple of thing that might help. Nit picking only.
Bottom lines have problems and are not parallel with the bottom of the plate or border.
No easy fix for this one if staying with your original premise.
The second picture shows some shading line...