Help, please: Coin carving question

[Ryan138]

Fairly new but here is my latest carving. My question is what do you guys use to clean up the background (work marks) such as those around the front of my face. Looking to find a way to blend the coin better. I've been told to try out ceramic finishing stones but just wanted to hear from the group.

 

[monk]

you can use burnishers, very fine abrasive sticks, tooth picks, lotsa things. do a bit of experimenting. decide what works best for you and go with that. chris decamillis sell such abrasives. check out his site.

 

[bildio]

you can use burnishers, very fine abrasive sticks, tooth picks, lotsa things. do a bit of experimenting. decide what works best for you and go with that. chris decamillis sell such abrasives. check out his site.

See finishing stones and holders at Finishing Stones, bottom of web page.

 

[Ghrrum]

This guy's setup.

 

[gtsport]

Start with a radiused heel flat graver. I push from the rim towards the bust gently to shave just a little at a time and use overlapping pushes to keep it smooth until all the lines are gone and you have small waves instead of gouges. then move on to stones.

 

[Ghrrum]

Found the other video I wanted to reference for you

 

[bildio]

Here's a series of seven videos mrthe hobo nickels.

 

[Ryan138]

Thanks for all your suggestions guys. Today is my birthday (24) so as soon as the day settles I will look into everything.

 

[John B.]

Happy birthday Ryan, enjoy this one and many more.

 

[Eric Olson]

You could also use a liner to make a florentine-type of texture for background areas. Also you could use a hammer and small punch to planish the background areas smoother but with a little texture. Getting the background back to smooth is not very easy.

 

[Dave London]

There is a tutorial on the Steve Lindsay site, done by Steve Ellsworth. Coin carving for fun and profit, I think is the thread title

 

[monk]

i also use tiny scrapers that i use to pull, rather than push. fewer disasters that way. just a few of my hobo tools. most are repurposed dental instruments. cut to size and sharpened to suit the way i work. be friend a dentist !

 

[John B.]

i also use tiny scrapers that i use to pull, rather than push. fewer disasters that way.

I make mine out of modified Allan wrenches. Grind the short end to shape and pull them back.

 

[SamW]

Ditto pulling scrapers. I find the face edge of gravers work well for very light scraping which will flatten an area with patience, even large areas (with larger graver faces).

 

[JOEYS CARVED ART]

I stipple a lot of my backgrounds, it blends lines and uneven surfaces well, it also is good for holding color if you decide to blacken or color the background

 

[SamW]

To clarify my comment, I use knife gravers, mostly #1 for the scrapping as you get a good straight edge to work with, the length of the face edge can be easily changed by changing the face angle or grinding off metal on the graver back.

 

[papart1]

pics John please?

 

[Ryan138]

Ive been using the flat to take away scratches and using some ceramic stones to clean it up. This is my progress since first starting this post.