Aaron Nelson
Member
I've just joined this group, but have used the 'Sam Alfano's Tip & Tricks for Hand Engravers' and thought I'd share this. I just finished scorching my fingers discovering a new method (for me) for transferring designs onto some copper I am engraving. I have done heat transfers onto wood before, using laser prints/photocopies using an clothing iron. As you can imagine, this transfered the dry ink onto the iron, and from there onto my wife's clothes.
But the clothing iron technique hadn't worked for me with metal. So I put the 6" round copper sheet onto a hot plate at about medium and then burnished the design on with a smooth piece of wood, while awkwardly holding it down with another short piece of dowel. The paper starts to stick as it gets hot. The heat is easier to control this way, rather than using a torch, which I tried.
It was a much cleaner transfer than I've been able to manage with a Chartpak 'blend' pen, which often makes the ink bleed. Less toxic in my shop also. It may have scratched a little on the back side from the hot plate element, so maybe I'll lay some spare copper sheet down first.
Hope this randomly unsolicited technique is of interest to someone out there.
But the clothing iron technique hadn't worked for me with metal. So I put the 6" round copper sheet onto a hot plate at about medium and then burnished the design on with a smooth piece of wood, while awkwardly holding it down with another short piece of dowel. The paper starts to stick as it gets hot. The heat is easier to control this way, rather than using a torch, which I tried.
It was a much cleaner transfer than I've been able to manage with a Chartpak 'blend' pen, which often makes the ink bleed. Less toxic in my shop also. It may have scratched a little on the back side from the hot plate element, so maybe I'll lay some spare copper sheet down first.
Hope this randomly unsolicited technique is of interest to someone out there.