Looking for thoughts on making deeper cuts / carving

[somber crow]

Hello,

Looking for some advice. I am a blacksmith, and have been starting to add some more complex shaping to pieces, but am having some trouble making things look clean + not take forever to do.

Some quick background though. Currently I am using self-made Japanese style inlay/carving chisels, mainly for sheet inlay (20g) and wire inlay (16g-18g). It works well enough, but it's hard to get good accuracy with sharp turns and clean edges. I am 90% self taught though, and the process is slow even after doing it for years.

Lately I've been really into making more "carved" style surfaces of items to create more dimension to something otherwise flat. Either simple transitions to ones with more elegance and shape. With my current tools though, things always tend to look very rough unless I can get a file or something in there for cleanup, with concave curve interiors being especially hard. I like a slightly more rustic look, so I don't need perfection, but I still am seeking a better solution. I think what I've been working on as of late are pieces with the goal of almost looking more like wood carvings than engraved steel.

Anyways, does anyone here have any experience or thoughts on a better approach for this kind of thing? Would I be better off investing a few hundred in GRS hand graver tools, or should I jump straight to something pneumatic? I have some money set aside, but would rather not go the wrong direction. And if so, I'd appreciate any suggestions on styles. I'm usually working in annealed tool steels of some sort, so power is important. I do have a foredom powergraver as well, and I've found it's sort of useless with this sort of thing.

Thanks for reading

 

[SamW]

It might help to see some photos of what work you are talking about.

 

[somber crow]

I won't be in the studio for a day or two, so to offer something, here would be a sample mock up of the kind of things I'd be looking to accomplish. I imagine some things I'd aim to have a 90 degree wall on the edges, and others smoothed out, but I'm less concerned about that nuance currently. If the piece allowed it I could remove some material with larger chisels + flex shaft work, but refining the bottom surface and interior edges is where my problem lies.

 

[monk]

i can only guess about how deeply u want 2 "chisel" into stuff. much of the "depth" u see on fotos here is very misleading. the depth is a mere illusion. the depth being maybe just a few thousandths deep. texturing background with contrasting color creates this illusion. it would help ( at least for me" if u could describe the depth u seek in actual numbers.

 

[somber crow]

Well that's sort of the thing, the illusion of depth that you get from engraving certainly does it's job in that context, I am just searching around to see if a pneumatic graver of some sort is a worthwhile investment in creating actual depth. So like if I wanted a surface to be recessed around an 1/8" deeper than the base layer.

This photo isn't of my work, but I do think it illustrates what I'm trying to do

 

[monk]

if i were to try this, i would invest in a quality rotary tool. these tools can go as deeply as needed. the final detailing could be done with gravers air assist or manually. the rotary tool can be fitted with "fg" style dental burs as well as a variety of commercially available fg burs. the "fg" stands for friction grip. i'd advise against the cheap rotary tools. the shafts wobble, the rpm is slow, and few of the cheapies are reversible.. being able to change direction on these tools is a very important feature. a plus is your dentist. u can get a fist full of perfectly useable burs from yer next dental exam.

 

[Rockingkj]

Maybe not what you’re looking for but die sinkers chisels are similar to carving tools for wood. I have fiddled around a bit with some and can remove a fair bit of steel quickly. Shapes are a lot like gravers on steroids. Hand hammer driven.

 

[somber crow]

Got it, will be looking more in these directions. Already making some new chasing tools to see if that can help do clean up, no reason I can't look into making some die sinker style chisels too