Question: Practice Plates

[dbrodhagen]

Hi everyone, I am going to the local steel company, but I'm not sure what type of steel to ask for. I'm not all that happy with the steel I am currently using, there seems to be hard and soft spots throughout the material, for a beginner, this makes it very frustrating. I've been a woodcarver for twenty-five years and have experienced wood that does the same thing. With the wood when encountering a hard spot, you either reverse the cut on the grain, or plow right through with varied results. Plowing through the steel usualy ends up for me a large crater, and I am keeping the gravers sharp. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, Dave

 

[Sam]

Dave: Why not just order practice plates from an engraving supplier? The pre-cut steel practice plates GRS has been selling for 30 years is just fine for engraving, and the steel from the Cronite company is excellent but costs a bit more because of it's pristine finish. Personally, I'd use something that's proven as opposed to buying something from a steel company, especially if you don't know exactly what to ask for. On the other hand, any mild steel should be ok for engraving. Just be sure to get a nice, clean finish that's free of nicks and scratches. That may or may not be easy to get at a local steel company.

 

[Crazy Horse]

If you have to buy from a local steel company ask for "Cold Rolled" steel. It cuts well and should be reasonable in cost. You might ask for any scrap pieces they may have.

 

[samf]

I think i would agree with Sam. The plates from GRS are cheap. If you want something a little thicker get some 1018 cold rolled bar stock. It cuts pretty nice, but takes some time to prep.

 

[John B.]

Another great material for engraving but a little costly just for practice.
Low Carbon Ground Stock from suppliers such as Enco or MSC.
Great stuff for belt buckles, comes in about any thickness you need and with a nice surface. Order the width you want and cut it to the desired length.
It's a pleasure to engrave, with very even texture.

 

[quickcut07]

If this is a steel supplier ask for flat bar cold roll 2" X 1/8" . If you know the guys just ask for any CRS that is in the scap bucket.( CRS cold rolled steel ) Most suppliers have a bucket of small pieces they scrap. If you wish to anneal it and have a oxy/acetylene torch carbarise the piece with the acetylene flame then warm it with a neautral flame till the carbon deposit disappears. This should help. Oh by the way there will be mill scale on the steel that needs to be sanded or bead blasted off. Again not a big job. If you have a Fabrication shop near by you can get cut offs from them as well.

 

[Sam]

In my opinion, having a really nice finish to engrave on is as important as the material being pleasant to cut and not too hard. The practice plates that I'm used to that GRS sells are fine for practice, but most of the time I find myself wishing they were finished better. The mill finish on them is ok for basic cutting, but when you get to fine shading, bulino, etc, the texture in the finish is often as wide or deep as the fine lines I'm engraving.

Good advice from John B. The ground material he describes sounds excellent.

Do yourself a favor and get as flawless a finish as possible, especially if you plan to do finely detailed work.

 

[quickcut07]

What Sam and John B have said is sound advice. I look at practice plates to perfect a style of cut or get use to a graver. I'm also fortunate in having the equipment to polish any steel to a high sheen, satin finish or bead blast effect. I can speak from experiance when I say it is a shame to do a great practice piece only to see it the next day on a shoddy none finished plate I only intended to make a few cuts on. The better the finish on the plate can make a plain design pop! Where a poor finish on a plate can take away from a well executed engraving. If you can work with material that is finished. It's more fun engraving than making a piece of steel look good.

 

[dbrodhagen]

Thank you all for the input. With this info, I think that I will just order plates from GRS,
but I am intrigued by John B's recommendation of using the low carbon ground stock, hopefully there is a supplier close by. I have been pretty much engraving on whatever I can get my hands on with varied results. Thanks, Dave

 

[monk]

i'll get fired for this: i'd use the cheap stuff and polish it nicely. even though it has "bad" spots, this will prepare you for what lies ahead for you in the real world. that is when you will not have the luxury of choosing what material you may be engraving on. you'll find some of the fancy looking things you will engrave will have softies and hard spots, even hidden pits your graver will dive into. but if your practice becomes good, the better quality material could be sold as fobs, tags, and other items of use.

 

[Roger Keagle]

Monk has a good point, my teacher used 3" water pipe, sanded down and finished...he explained that to work in the round was better for practice because when you get "real" work it never seems to be flat, and if you work round you are ready for anything then...besides, water pipe is maliable iron and cuts like silk. Just my two cents.

 

[dbrodhagen]

That makes sense, nothing is perfect to work on. Just by experiencing the hard spots with the soft through enough practice will prepare a person to be ready for it. Thanks
Monk and Roger for your input.

 

[John B.]

I am reluctant to disagree, especially with two people such a Monk and Roger both of whom I respect.
When learning or teaching engraving having a reasonably uniform metal to practice on is important for the following reasons.
Both the student and the instructor need to be able to evaluate the work based upon the effort expended at that stage of the beginner’s knowledge and skill.
It is not helpful to be faced with a bunch of excuses for poor cutting based upon supposed hard and soft spots in the metal or other such problems. This throws too many variables into the equation at one time.
Once the beginner has control of the tools, understands proper tool geometry etc. they have a far better ability to face and deal with inconsistency in the metal.
Not all projects are in the round and starting a beginner on round surfaces is like throwing a non-swimmer in the deep end of the pool to start learning. Adding inconsistent metal is like adding great whites to the pool just for fun.
Better to learn a modicum of control on a flat surface first. Then move into a curved surface, followed by a round. Then a domed and finally a spherical surface in both concave and convex and the changes in tool geometry and angle of attack that is required.
Sorry to disagree guys, but that’s what makes horse races.
Best regards.

 

[GGS]

I work on steel. I buy it from a stockholder and get an engineer to put it on his grinder to give a good finish.

The steel you need to order is called B.D.M.S. (Bright Drawn Mild Steel).

I've bought from Cronite in the past. They are much too expensive, although I admit, the finish is good. For example; I've paid $70 dollars for one length, 3 inches wide. From the steel stockholder the same piece costs only $6.

The engineer charges me $4 for putting this on his surface grinder. Then a quick rub with smooth emery paper gives a good shine.

(Prices converted from pounds for you guys over there!)

 

[KSnyder]

Muzzle loaders builders supply has nice steel sheet in various sizes i think the alloy is 1009 low carbon, it cuts very nice is finished well & the price is right. I've made a bunch of belt buckles with it. It takes blueing great too.
Muzzleloaderbuilderssupply.com

Kent

 

[JCB]

steel

www.AdmiralSteel.com can set up up with about anything and they wil custom cut.

 

[technogypsy]

I get my low carbon steel from Metal Express. They are on my normal route and they have some nicely finished cut off normally in the ends in. Now as a total beginner, I'm not fussy. However, the scrap seems better finished than GRS's and its cheaper with no shipping. I cut it with a cheap bandsaw to rough sizes...

I also get metals from McMaster Carr and the finish on them can be very good. I got some oil hardening for forging ax heads - was limited to precision ground in my desired size - and its finish was as good as I could get.

For non-steel practice, one of my classmate in Ms Scalese class used copper pipe fittings. I'm thining of trying some steel tubing for similar practice.

 

[monk]

well, part of me must agree with john b. in an accelerated learning situation, i would agree with him. but i learned the slow, very difficult way. you youngins today are blessed. save yer bucks and take a class-- no matter from whom. an experienced engraver can teach so very much in so little time.