Bulino Engraved 1882 Morgan Silver Dollar

[Ron Jr.]

Recently complete bulino engraving of a cougar and a beautiful woman inside a yin yang symbol (read what you'd like into it ) I've done this image before but like it so much I decided to revisit it. Hope you enjoy.

I don't get on here as much as I'd like and have decided to try and contribute more for 2016. I don't know squat about scroll engraving but if anyone has any questions or is seeking any advice about scrimshaw or dot bulino engraving I'm more than happy to try and help. When your trying to learn there's no such thing as a stupid question.

 

[D Fulwood]

I love all your work Ron Jr. I thought I was a decent scrimshander 'till I viewed your website. I'm trying to do some Bulino but I can't figure out what graver geometry to use for the dots. I do OK with fine line scenes on metal but I can't seem to get the dots method right on it. On horn, antler, tauga nuts and such I just stab it with a three sided point scribe (which I learned don't work on metal). My dots with a square, a knife, and the onglet gravers all end up reflecting too much light back out, making it appear as a photo negative.

 

[Ron Jr.]

Thanks D Fulwood, Without seeing an example of your work it sounds like your bulino dots may be too big. I use a Phil Coogan template but I honestly think graver geometry isn’t the golden key to good bulino. I think your graver needs to be sharp, sharp, sharp! Your trying to create a teeny tiny extremely small cut. I personally had no luck holding the graver in my fist in a traditional method, I couldn't control it very well. I took one of my scrimshaw scribes, put my graver into it then added a leverage brace (the aluminum triangle) and hold it more like a pencil. Dot bulino definitely has a sweet spot in the light for best viewing, it will look like a photo negative when viewed from some angles. Oh and if you think a scrim takes a long time to complete look at the example pic of the woman’s face I took under my scope at 20x, done on a buffalo nickel, scale is mm, horrendous surface prep! As you can see, a lot more/smaller dots compared to scrim. So be patient and try and keep your dots as small as possible. Hope this helps.

 

[D Fulwood]

Thanks RJ. I'm going to turn me a handle like yours and give it a try. I'll keep you posted on my progress using smaller dots.

Donnie

 

[monk]

a perfect transition between the cat and woman. absolute top shelf work !

 

[Omar Haltam]

very nice Ron, great detail
and I like the tool you have fabricated , will have to try
thanks

 

[Jim Disbrow]

Absolutely beautiful work. Cats and Women. 5000 years ago they were both worshiped. Cats haven't forgotten.

Thanks for sharing.

Jim Disbrow