Help, please: i can't even get a graver together =(

absol

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Mar 20, 2009
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hi! im totally new to here and engraving. i have been making stuff out of silver for a little while now, and i wanted to at least have some gravers to be able to learn pave settings and try my hand at engraving, but i can't even figure out how to assemble the gravers. do i need to heat the graver before attempting to shorten it? i tried heating up the graver to burn it into the handle as i was instructed in one book but that didn't come out tight at all so i just drilled a guide hole and jammed it in, but i can't seem to break off the extra length. is moremore force the answer or am i missing some secret steps?



thanks for looking!
absol
 

monk

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welcome to the forum. i donn't know what sort of tool collection you may have at your disposal. if you heat these tools without knowing exactly what you're doing, you may possibly ruin the temper in the front , or cutting end- a bad thing. i'd advise predrilling the handle somewhat. then lock your graver blank in vise grip pliers, situate the two in a pan of water so that the front half of the graver blank is submerged in the water. heat the graver tang to a brite red, and force the wood handle straight down onto the tang. allow a couple minutes in the water for the heat to dissipate. if need be, remove graver, re drill a bit more and repeat till the graver seats to your satisfaction. i have a truckload of wood handles you can have. e-mail me jayismonk450@gmail.com or 724-328-4951.
 

Dave London

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Absol
I would take Monk up on his offer. As to shorting the gravers, most you can break by clamping in a vise or vice grips and then striking the part that is exposed to snap off the graver. Beware flying metal, how ever gravers are expensive I use adjustable handles, I f you go for the breaking off method adjustable jaw wrench covered with a rag to snap off the unwanted part.
 

Powderhorn

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Save those broken off pieces of graver, as you can silver solder drill rod to the back of them, and still have a usable graver. Also using this method, you can gain a lot of clearance on your handle/handpiece end, for getting around obstructions.

Also the way I mount my hand gravers, is to, drill a 3/32 hole in the handle, then clamp the graver in a vice, and drive the handle on. Make sure that you use a smooth jaw vise, or cut a couple of pieces of aluminum angle to make smooth jaws for your vise.
 
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absol

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Mar 20, 2009
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thanks!

Wow, thanks for the quick replies. I got lots of extra handles so I'm ok there, i realized it was my tools. I work real small on a wobbly table with a mini vise, i realized i couldn't break of the extra graver lengths cuz the set up i had holding the graver moved like crazy when the force was perpendicular to the table. Now I just have a lot of sharpening on my hands, I'll definitely be frequenting this forum in the future!

absol
 

Ron Smith

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Absol,

There have been a lot of good tips given, but I have some thoughts if you are trying to learn on your own.

I bought handles in three lengths. short medium and long. I start out with a long blade in the short handle. When I grind it down after much use, I move it to the medium handle. Next step as it gets too short, I move it to the longest handle.

Breaking off a tool has been pretty well explained, but if you are using carbon steel, you can do this all without damaging the temper, but I found that often the tools don't always come tempered exactly right anyway. I always did the tempering myself.

If you are using high speed steel blanks you have to use them as they come, temper wise, or know the exact heat treating techniques according to the type of steel.

I would drill a hole deep into the short handle for a long blade, a less deep hole in the middle size handle, and a shallower hole in the long handle. You can get a lot of milage out of the blank doing it this way.

Tempering a carbon tool is rather tricky, so I would suggest getting high speed steel gravers. If you choose to use carbon steel, you will need to learn the correct tempering process, and it takes some practice.

The trick is to get the right temper that is tough and not too brittle, or too soft.

Not knowing the particulars of the tools that you have, it is hard to give you guidance.

If you are engraving totally by hand, this information is necessary. if you are using carbide, all you have to do is sharpen it correctly and the blanks are generally shorter than the old style tools (liners and such), and mostly limited to square gravers, but you can do a mountain of general work with a square blank, depending on how you sharpen the tools. you mentioned wanting to do silver and in that case you might be anting a flat graver unless you intend n doing other styles of scrolls.

I am not sure if this will help or not. Sharpening has a need to get the point geometry correct for a specific task, and it is hard to learn by trial and error. I would suggest reading the tool sharpening tips and/or taking a basic class. You could also maybe find an engraver close by that could get you started right. You can waste an awful lot of time trying to figure it out yourself. That is the way I did it, but there was no one to help in my learning years.

Taking a class would save you many hours and years learning basic stuff.

Ron S
 

david bain

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Absol,I tried learning by myself and while dong so, learned a lot of bad habits.Ron's advice of taking a class will speed up your learning experence.
 

absol

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Mar 20, 2009
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I think I will stay away from heating any of my tools for now.

Right now I have the 'gem setting graver kit' from riogrande and some sharpening stones.

I have taken lots of classes and I agree a class would help a lot but I moved away from where I knew all the art studios and schools. Right now I'm in Baltimore, if any one knows of any classes here I would definitely investigate them. I took a continuing education jewelry class from a local art school in Baltimore recently and was pretty disappointed.

I have several jewelry books which have been helping collect the tools and stuff to try to pave set some stones which is the first thing I really want to be able to do with a graver.

My tools are basically capable of dealing with silver and not bigger than an 1 or in any direction, so I dont have anything heavy duty. My fanciest tool is a flex shaft.

absol
 
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