I second this whole heartedly, Scalese did a knock out job showing the cuts and the theory behind them. Brightcut looked impossibly complicated but she breaks it down beautifully.
In the book engraving historic firearms, the author mentions having a student who was having issues with the hammer. He ended up using either a bit of steel round stock, or flat plate, one or the other as a makeshift hammer I misremember. Having never done HNC I can offer no other advice.
Either the Lindsey or the GRS tools will serve you in good stead. I purchased my tooling first before I knew what I was doing and have had time to regret that decision.
Grs training center has been on my have to do list for ages, I purchased Diane Scalese western bright cut video and I've...
If you dont already, you should absolutely start a YouTube channel, I for one and I'm sure many many others would love to watch over your shoulder so to speak.
That's just nuts....
My apologies I couldn't resist....
All bad puns aside, I love this. Very classy looking. The gold band with the brushed steel is striking.
Truly enjoyed watching this come together. To often it's easy to see a completed piece and fail to grasp the careful work and planning that went into its creation.
Light is really the foundation of photography. A properly lit photo with simple equipment can look better than a picture taken with a top shelf dslr and improper setting and poor lighting.
Etsy has a how to section with decent advice, I include it below...
The link Mr Bleile posted is a great help to new engravers such as myself, it gives you a visual example of the styles and terms used in discussion. I referred back to it constantly after I found it.