Hammer & chisel startup kit

[Sam]

For those wanting to learn the traditional way or for those with a really tight budget, this will get you in the game very inexpensively. This does not include a vise, magnifier, etc.

Ngraver No. 3 steel Belgium style chisel handle $7.00
Or suitable wooden handle.

GRS chasing hammer $42.95
Patterned after my hammer which was patterned after Lynton McKenzie’s. There are other suitable chasing hammers out there. This one suits me well.

Two GRS GlenSteel square graver blanks $28
One will be a chisel and the other will be used as a guide for sharpening per my video on hammer & chisel engraving. You might find less expensive HSS blanks, but these work very well.

Eze-Lap Fine Grit (600) diamond hone - Red Handle $5.95
For quickly freehand sharpening the face of gravers.

Spyderco Double Stuff Pocket Stone 303MF $30
Double-sided coarse/fine ceramic stone. Use the white side for heeling gravers with the guide. The brown (coarse) side can be used for smoothing the face after sharpening on the Eze-Lap diamond hone (if necessary).

Total approximate cost: $114

 

[Roger Bleile]

I can just imagine someone preparing to write the following in response to the above post: "But Sam, I don't really want to spend so much money until I know for sure if I will really like engraving. Do you think I can get by with a rock and a concrete nail to start with?"

 

[Sam]

Yep, there's always the rock and concrete nail! Sorry I overlooked that!

 

[Marrinan]

A while back Joseph the engraver posted his bare bones set up, big smooth round river rock for a vice, deep sea fishing hooks for graver blanks and a smaller river rock for a hammer. hot glue to mount his work. That's basic.

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

Although it's possible to get by with rudimentary caveman tools... getting by cheap has a lot of downfalls. Making do with inexpensive and inadequate tools only makes everything more difficult in my opinion. It's more likely that it will be so difficult that a person will give up and quit. Buying high quality tools that work and make life easier is probably the best way to go. Of course, with just about everything in this world there are those with a champagne appetite on a beer pocket book.

There is a lot of very good used equipment available here in the Buy & Sell and on eBay if a person keeps looking.

 

[Sam]

Of course engraving tools don't matter much unless some proficiency is developed with this tool.

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

View attachment 33073

Of course engraving tools don't matter much unless some proficiency is developed with this tool.

Here are enough pre-sharpened pencils to get up to 30 engravers started for only $5.93!: Dixon Ticonderoga Pre-Sharpened with Erasers Pencils, #2, Yellow, Box of 30 (13830)

 

[monk]

roger: you better keep your nails. the imported nails now available, won't even cut pewter without frequent trips to the sharpening bench.

 

[KCSteve]

As mentioned, when Joseph got tempted back into engraving he started with the literal nail and a rock. But he also 'started' with decades of experience that let him sharpen that nail and know how to use that rock.

Our lovely modern tools don't take the place of talent and skill, they just make the mechanics of engraving so much easier. You can still do a bad job sharpening with modern systems (but it's actually easier to get it right). And boy can you do bad work with a pneumatic graver!

Unfortunately it takes at least some money to get into engraving, with one exception: if you happen to have good access to a very skilled engraver who will sharpen your nail and guide you in using that rock than you can start for next to nothing. Otherwise you're going to have to shell out at least some money. The more money you put in, the quicker you can get to getting a nice, clean line.

But if you don't know what to do with that line you're just wasting your money.

As expensive as they are, classes really are the best startup investment. Most people come out with a good idea of what they want to do and what they need to do it with. Some come out with the realization that engraving just isn't the thing for them. Either way they wind up saving money over just buying gear at random.

 

[Belprime]

If you can't get good concrete nails, try Ramset nails used in a Ramset gun.

 

[D Fulwood]

I'm a beginner but I can tell you to go by Sam's advice. I tried to save a few bucks by buying a so-called "Chasing Hammer" sold on many web sites. When I made the three hammers from the Lynton McKinsey handouts that Sam put in the Tips Section I discovered my cheap hammer was way too heavy. It's OK for heavy duty background removal but not for cutting lines, especially bad for fine shading lines. The cheap one was too agrressive as it is twice the weight of Sam's hammer.

 

[fatih]

Hi , i cant find chisel for engrave in Turkey can you guys know anyother alternative for that ?

 

[Lonestarr]

I look at it the way Doc Martin does, if you buy cheap you get cheap..... Buying nice quality tools is a good investment. Good engraving tools hold their value close to new, unless the person selling is a "I don't want er any more" or does not know the true value....

 

[Roger Bleile]

Hi , i cant find chisel for engrave in Turkey can you guys know anyother alternative for that ?

fatih,

In years past some engravers made very good gravers from industrial hack saw blades. Also, small triangular files can be shaped into gravers. Several older American engravers made gravers from files years ago when they were beginning. I believe that Lindsay and GRS will ship their engraving products to any country. Gravers are so small that the shipping cost should be very little.

 

[fatih]

i'll check Lindsay and GRS thanks Roger.

 

[Sam]

This company in Istanbul manufactures gravers.

GMT gravers

 

[sinan]

I am happy with GMT gravers I use knife and onglette for bulino and 2,35 mm blanks for my airgraver.

http://www.gmttool.com/hand_gravers.html

 

[Sam]

Fatih: If you can't find any email me your address. I have some extra gravers I can send you.