I bought some plates from a sheet metal shop and some from GRS. Believe me, there is a difference. The GRS plates cut much smoother. Cheap stuff is never very good IMHO. I don't work for GRS either.
Some of the best engravers in the world don't use any heal at all. But I know this for sure. You can't cut a small curve with a long heal but you can cut any line with a short one. Most of the heels on my gravers are neatly imperceptible. They are rarely longer than .015 and mostly shorter.
In the last year I have lost 3 things in the shop. I have cleaned and sterilized the shop from top to bottom at least 4 times and they are nowhere to be found. One of them was pretty large and I don't even drink.
In the photo below, How do you think the breach was formed? Was this a silver soldered on overlay and then sculped or was it sculpted down from the barrel forging without an overlay? I would like some feedback from Sam Alfano, Mike Dubber or Sam welch as well as others please.
From my experience whatever method will give you the most solid backing is best. At times I even solder stuff to a steel plate with low temp solder. That is not always necessary. Sometimes I just use carpet tape.
It is sad that so many of the old-timers have passed on. They had so much knowledge to teach us. What impresses me the most about John Rohner was his service in the marine corp and in the battle of Saipan. I had friends that fought in the pacific and believe me when I say few people know what...
With copper it depends to a large degree on the size of the inlay. Copper will take teeth if the mother material is hard enough for the teeth to stand up but it usually isn't. The option to use for a copper inlay much larger than 3/16' in diameter is to do it in sections and alternate depths...