New Kiwi Engraver to the forum

[reece2c]

Kia Ora Hey Guys Just like to introduce myself,
,Im New to the forum and have big passion in Leaning Hand Engraving,
i discovered Hand Engraving 3 years ago and quickly fell in love with the art , Unfortunately no one here down under specialises or teaches hand push air engraving and i also have no one to reach out to for guidance
i haven’t been able to learn how to shape the graver the get a good deep and clean cuts just yet but im still persisting i know i have years of learning ahead but excited,motivated and positive any tips or advice is much appreciated,i feel bad asking for help but im
limited on advice or what correct gravers i should be using , i would love to learn more and one day do a Course in engraving or meet anyone or others in my part of the world also on the same journey

thanks for reading my journey so far

 

[John B.]

Reece, Andrew Biggs lives in Christchurch, NZ and is a world class engraver.
He also demonstrates engraving for GRS Company in NZ, AU and other countries.
You might enjoy meeting Andrew.
He is also the Editor of the Firearms Engravers Guild publication.
Best wishes on your engraving journey.

 

[John B.]

Reece, hold up on buying a Crocker sharpening fixture.
There are other thing that will do a better job for you.

 

[reece2c]

Reece, hold up on buying a Crocker sharpening fixture.
There are other thing that will do a better job for you.

Reece, Andrew Biggs lives in Christchurch, NZ and is a world class engraver.
He also demonstrates engraving for GRS Company in NZ, AU and other countries.
You might enjoy meeting Andrew.
He is also the Editor of the Firearms Engravers Guild publication.
Best wishes on your engraving journey.

thank you for this i appreciate your reply

 

[SamW]

Welcome Reece! Nice to have another Kiwi in our midst. Andrew is very well thought of by our engraving community and if you can get in contact with him he might be able to save you a lot of time on the learning curve. I have no idea what the travel options are between north and south.

What kind of cars are you speaking of? I am an old hot rodder from the 50's...for me it is guns, guitars and old cars. I have a '28 Ford roadster pickup I purchased in '56 and have a '38 and a '55 Studebaker, long term street rod projects. Wish my '38 was a Ute!

 

[reece2c]

Welcome Reece! Nice to have another Kiwi in our midst. Andrew is very well thought of by our engraving community and if you can get in contact with him he might be able to save you a lot of time on the learning curve. I have no idea what the travel options are between north and south.

What kind of cars are you speaking of? I am an old hot rodder from the 50's...for me it is guns, guitars and old cars. I have a '28 Ford roadster pickup I purchased in '56 and have a '38 and a '55 Studebaker, long term street rod projects. Wish my '38 was a Ute!

thanks for the reply sam i appreciate those help from others on the forum i am trying to contact him today through all platforms and would very much appreciate his knowledge and help.. i have a love for Old Mazda Rotarys and have a 1974 mazda Rx2 capella myself and love and chevys and impala lowriders

 

[monk]

welcome. the crocker, at best, is useless for accurate facet restoration. a round blan k, for example, is extremely difficult to register. if one cant register the tool position, the same geometry will evade you. esp as a beginner, the consistent angles always give the same feel to the tool in use. getting to know this feel will make cutting a lot easier.
with your love of drawing, most of your struggling is over. i dont want to spend yer money, but you should seriously consider saving up for a sharpening system. the lindsay is real easy to use, but each geometry requires an additional templte. the grs system is a one-time purchase. the grs allows any geometry to be duplicated quickly. good luck to you.

 

[take-down]

Hi Reece
I have a fair bit of gear but I am taking the slow road to teaching myself with tips from the forums. Waiting till I get more time to get right into it
I knew that if I waited to get all my gear when I slowed down as I retire I wouldn't be able to afford it
I live in Otorohanga which is not far, unfortunately most of my gear is packed away at present as we started moving just before lock down and now just tiding up the old house to sell then build my room at the new place be a couple of months away
Cheers Graham

 

[reece2c]

welcome. the crocker, at best, is useless for accurate facet restoration. a round blan k, for example, is extremely difficult to register. if one cant register the tool position, the same geometry will evade you. esp as a beginner, the consistent angles always give the same feel to the tool in use. getting to know this feel will make cutting a lot easier.
with your love of drawing, most of your struggling is over. i dont want to spend yer money, but you should seriously consider saving up for a sharpening system. the lindsay is real easy to use, but each geometry requires an additional templte. the grs system is a one-time purchase. the grs allows any geometry to be duplicated quickly. good luck to you.

thank you for your advice and reply Monk i have been thinking of saving for a sharpening fixture so i can get good angles and cuts. im glad i took the time to write this thread in hopes to meet others near by and reach out for advice thanks alot mate

 

[John B.]

Reese and Graham, sound like you both have found some engraving mates in NZ.
Having a support network is very important to learning in this solo trade.
You might find out when Andrew is doing an in-country GRS demo and introduce yourselves.
Cheers, and best to both of you on your engraving journey.

 

[gcleaker]

Kia Ora Hey Guys Just like to introduce myself,
im 32 structural steel fabricator from New Zealand ,Im New to the forum and have big passion in Leaning Hand Engraving,
i discovered Hand Engraving 3 years ago and quickly fell in love with the art , Unfortunately no one here down under specialises or teaches hand push air engraving and i also have no one to reach out to for guidance
my passion is cars but i love art and drawing daily in my black books i have a graffiti art background and background in drawing cultural polynesian patterns , i purchased sams The Essential Guide to Drawing Scrolls and other drawing books to learn from and love spend hours drawing and creating scrolls and spend plenty hours watching videos on youtube and the internet sponging up any information i can gather about engraving

the tools i have aquired and could offered so far on my journey is A foredom powergraver, a vise and a cheap chinese grs graver max knockoff which i dont know to much about operating and i feel stupid i got it and i accept that was a beginners mistake in buying‍
and so far two gravers which i purchased through GRS and that just arrived through the post
one 120 v point glensteel preshaped graver and one 90 degree glensteel narrow bevel graver i dont have any sharpening fixtures but just have fine and super fine ezelap diamond hone and stone and a Dc3 diamond ceramic whetstone and im thinking of purchasing a crocker style sharpener for my budget, my goal is to engrave car/motorcycle parts but i would also love to do any general custom engraving on anything thats metal haha. In future i plan to purchase a proper Grs engraving machine and other equipment along the way but so far im at the stage of teaching myself to sharpen the face and heels and learning the frustrations of hand sharpening i haven’t been able to learn how to shape the graver the get a good deep and clean cuts just yet but im still persisting i know i have years of learning ahead but excited,motivated and positive any tips or advice is much appreciated,i feel bad asking for help but im
limited on advice or what correct gravers i should be using , i would love to learn more and one day do a Course in engraving or meet anyone or others in my part of the world also on the same journey

thanks for reading my journey so far
Cheers Reece

Welcome my friend from the truly deep south glad you found your way hear.

 

[monk]

look up some of the work done by andrew biggs. eye poppin stuff, along with some very interesting stories.

 

[Crossbolt]

Welcome from a fellow beginner.
You mentioned " getting good clean deep cuts" .
I've been tinkering on and off for a couple years as time permits ( " not my job " ) . One thing I've observed as fairly consistent among beginners, myself included, is that deep cuts is not a problem, rather it is the problem. What I mean is we (beginners) tend to cut far too deeply and the real problem is to learn shallower clean cuts. Just a perspective.
Good luck, looking forward to seeing your NZ inspired work.
Jeremy

 

[reece2c]

Welcome from a fellow beginner.
You mentioned " getting good clean deep cuts" .
I've been tinkering on and off for a couple years as time permits ( " not my job " ) . One thing I've observed as fairly consistent among beginners, myself included, is that deep cuts is not a problem, rather it is the problem. What I mean is we (beginners) tend to cut far too deeply and the real problem is to learn shallower clean cuts. Just a perspective.
Good luck, looking forward to seeing your NZ inspired work.
Jeremy

thanks man appreciate the feedback