Daniels/Osborne Knives

[Doc Mark]

Tim,

Great job, especially the gold work! It suddenly occurred to me, that although I know the basic mechanics of inlay work, I don't know how you inlay gold and relieve the background right up next to the gold (as on your leaves). Do you just plan for it in advance by cutting the inlay hole extra deep, or keep the background removal a bit more shallow near the gold margin? It really makes the gold design "pop" when the black background is directly adjacent to the gold. What's the best technique?

Mark

 

[Dmitriy Pavlov]

This is fantastic. Thank you for sowing.

 

[Tim Adlam]

Wonderful piece Brian!

Quote... "...Although if I had priced it where I now think it should be I probably would'nt have gotten the job, he would have gone with a more recognizable name. Kind of a catch 22 there."

Yep, it's like the old saying..."You can't get the job without the Union card, and you can't join the Union without having the job!
Don't worry, your work stands up extremely well, and will certainly get the recognition it deserves.

Andrew, I agree on striking a balance somewhere...In my case, production and restoration work maintain a cash-flow.
Fill-in jobs allow for diversity and some fun stuff, but there's always "pressure" for the self-employed.
My ultimate goal is to have more fun time with less pressure!

Mark, This is the my approach regarding the inlays and engraving.

First, I outline the pattern with a square graver.

The areas that occupy the gold [24k wire in this case] are excavated, and the necessary anchor points or burs are laid in.
[The inlay cavity and the background areas are about the same depth]

I hammer in the gold [24 - 30 gauge dia. wire], flush it off to the surface, and bring the metal as near to original finish as possible.
Hammer in may not be the right term here...I ease it in by pushing with a burnisher or a brass punch in my hand piece,
or tap it with a lightweight hammer and punch. Just get it anchored until the whole cavity is filled.
Then I use a large aluminum punch with a chasing hammer to "set" the whole works.
If I need to move the gold around, I iron it with my brass handpiece punch.
Not over-working the gold in the first attempt at setting allows some leeway later before it becomes work-hardened.

The outline done in the first step gives me a guide towards restoring the pattern, so I re-cut that.

I take out the background, allowing for a safe margin next to the gold and the fine scroll stems.

With the background stippling done, I go in with a 98 degree square graver and shave the pattern to the final stage.

Next is shading, border lining, and the final clean up/tweeking until I feel..."That's enough".

Once I'm pretty sure I'm done with it, and ready to go to the other side I photograph it.
This allows me to load it up to my picture file and study it.
You'd be surprised what subtle mistakes can be uncovered this way.
If so, I make the necessary correction(s).
I flip the photo to reverse image, print a large color or black/white copy and use that as a visual guide when doing the opposite panel.

I Hope this answers your question.

Tim