Engraving on triangular wire

[maris]

By far I am not an engraver compared to the amazing work I see here on this site done by others.

I have been engraving lines on the top two sides of a triangular sterling silver wire which is wound up like a coil.

The coil is stretched apart on a wood dowel and rested in my bench pin.

There are many issues with this process that need improvement. The major one is the holding of the coil and that the coil is not very secure since it is an odd shape.

My left thumb has a leather pad on it to make it less painful holding the coil down since it is pressing on the point of the triangular wire. My right index finger gets an imprint of the engraver edge (sore too) since I have to start the cut right at the top of the triangular wire.

There will most likely be many issues that others will discover in my photos of the process. My engraver is very short so I can rest my thumb on the dowel to get some stability of the engraver. Sharpening my engraver is a sad process since I literally just grab my flex shaft with a sandpaper disc and sand the engraver.

Any insights on how you would proceed will be met with open arms because over the last twenty years I have been saying that there must be a better, easier and faster way of doing this.

 

[Dave London]

Hot glue the wire to the dowel,or glue to a flat surface mount in vise before wrapping the wire around the dowel.

 

[Goldjockey]

Dave's suggestion is a good one. Personally, I'd try a triangle wire bench block to secure the wire, since the block itself can be placed in an engraving (or other) vise. Some hot glue to temporarily secure the wire in the bench block seems like it would be a good plan. https://store7572394.ecwid.com/Triangle-Wire-Steel-Stamping-Block-p368063058

 

[AllenClapp]

Try using something that woodcarvers use to protect fingers. I suspect that you don't want to use a full carver's glove, but the protective tape also works well and can be used only on one or two fingers, if desired. Woodcraft.com has it. https://www.woodcraft.com/products/...21f669702d06760016d6,576455e569702d2f2f0013a3

 

[Chujybear]

What are you making in the end? Will these be welded together into rings? Or will it remain a spool?

 

[Crossbolt]

Can the engraving be done before it is coiled?

 

[alfredo gm]

try using thermo-loc you can improvise some kind of grip with it