Have you worked with fine silver? What has your experience been?

[HammerTitanGuy]

Hello,

I am working exclusively with fine silver. It is quite soft. I am currently using hand push engravers and fine lines are easy to cut. Actually it is so soft that even an xacto can leave shiny marks. One problem is that the graver keeps slipping and that messes up the entire pattern.

How has your experience been in working with fine silver? Would hand push be enough or do you need pneumatic gravers? Im not doing any deep cuts.

Thanks for your time.

 

[jswanswan]

Hand push is plenty. However, my experience is that with pneumatic, if you simply guide the graver and don't push at all, it controls the slips. Go easy on the power and believe me it takes discipline to not push!

 

[monk]

practice will eliminate the problem. it's simply a matter of maintaining control thruout the cut. if you can find some junk pewter, say at a yard sale that would be good for practice. the stuff is very soft.

 

[tdelewis]

Copper is another good material to use for practice. I think you can find some Youtube videos that show hand push engraving. That may be helpful. Sometimes it is not so much as pushing with the hand as it is turning the vice under the graver. A heel that is well polished is also helpful.

 

[FuriousJulius]

Fine silver is really soft, even sterling which is considerably harder can be challenging to engrave. Going back to some mild steel always feels like a dream. Pneumatic might allow you to focus on controlling the graver more than pushing it but hand push is a good skill to have regardless.

 

[HammerTitanGuy]

Hand push is plenty. However, my experience is that with pneumatic, if you simply guide the graver and don't push at all, it controls the slips. Go easy on the power and believe me it takes discipline to not push!

Thank you sir

practice will eliminate the problem. it's simply a matter of maintaining control thruout the cut. if you can find some junk pewter, say at a yard sale that would be good for practice. the stuff is very soft.

Thank you, I will try on some scrap stuff. Will melt and reuse the plate.

Copper is another good material to use for practice. I think you can find some Youtube videos that show hand push engraving. That may be helpful. Sometimes it is not so much as pushing with the hand as it is turning the vice under the graver. A heel that is well polished is also helpful.

Thank you. A polished heel is challenging to get for sure...but I am learning and experimenting

Fine silver is really soft, even sterling which is considerably harder can be challenging to engrave. Going back to some mild steel always feels like a dream. Pneumatic might allow you to focus on controlling the graver more than pushing it but hand push is a good skill to have regardless.

Thank you, I like hand push but with precision work, one slippage spoils the entire pattern. Shall keep trying.

 

[Chujybear]

I don’t think you really want power assist on fine silver.. lighten up on your cuts, make multiple passes, you should see the slippage dwindle away