Heel help on Onglette

[Southern Custom]

I'm in the middle of cutting a fairly deep relief job on a stainless slide. This means tight spaces and sticky metal. I haven't used an Onglette or Spitzer for a long time now but it seemed like the right tool for the job yesterday when I needed to make another pass to clean up walls.
I'd like to hear another opinion on heels for the this graver. It's a tool I've only rarely used at the jewelry bench and I never really experimented with different heels for it.
Thanks guys!
Layne

 

[dlilazteca]

Layne

Sent pm

Carlos De La O III

 

[monk]

i can never keep onglettes sharp. iv'e even plunged them into a potato for several hours. i cant seem to get them to work. so, i don't use them. i guess if i were to modify this graver, i might change my mind.

 

[JJ Roberts]

Layne,I use the onglette mainly when engraving bird and animals,my heel or clearance angle is 12 degrees.If you engrave borders with the onglette with H&C the sides of the graver must be perfect or the chisel will drift off course.Hope this helps. J.J.

 

[Southern Custom]

Thanks J.J. I have experienced the wandering onglette. I don't use it to cut borders, only to trim in tight spots and detail work. I use a round to do stand alone borders and I use a 116 parallel to cut the initial border for relief work. I can track the 116 dead straight as long as I'm cutting up to a line. I don't recommend it for a single line border because of depth control of course.
I'll play with some heels and see what works.
Layne

 

[Karl Stubenvoll]

Remember the Cirelli grind---it really helps

http://www.engraverscafe.com/showth...el-on-an-onglette-with-the-dual-angle-fixture

 

[monk]

yes try 3 or 4 different heels. you're sure to find one that works just the way you like.

 

[unclejohn]

Great post, today I bought my first c max #0 onglet for undercutting and am getting ready to try and put a heal on it. All I have to go on is James Meeks book which shows some good photos and detailed instruction on sharpening it. Hope to try it tomorrow.

 

[monk]

the book by james b meeks is a great intro to the art of engraving, as it's title would indicate. if the book seems to have a negative, for most newbies, it would be the section on sharpening. you're better off skipping over that chapter in the book, and looking at the tips and videos on the subject. spend a little time, learn a whole lot.