Question about gun engraving

[Robert Wiegand]

I have been engraving for quite a while now, but always in mild steel. I feel good about my engraving I have worked hard and studied a lot. But every time I try to engrave the slides on guns I can't do it. I don't know if it is my tools or how I sharpen my tools or have the wrong material for tools. I have tried everything and nothing has worked. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much Bob

 

[Eric Olson]

you might need a carbide graver instead of high speed steel. Requires diamond sharpening stones.

 

[SamW]

Eric is right. Slides can be rather tough/hard metal. Even with carbide you may need to dub the point of the tool which makes it last a bit longer. Welcome to the vagaries of gun engraving!

 

[Robert Wiegand]

Eric is right. Slides can be rather tough/hard metal. Even with carbide you may need to dub the point of the tool which makes it last a bit longer. Welcome to the vagaries of gun engraving!

thank you Sam , but what is dub mean.

 

[Robert Wiegand]

you might need a carbide graver instead of high speed steel. Requires diamond sharpening stones.

Eric, thank you for your time.

 

[monk]

using a bit of lube will help a bit. also be sure you're not clamping too hard on the slide. doing so, the slide may be too tight when assembling the gun. easy enough to just hotmelt the slide onto a block of wood. isopropyl will release the hotmelt when you're done.

 

[SamW]

As Monk said, be careful clamping the slide when clamping by the sides. I always form a piece of hardwood for a light press fit into the slide so the sides won't be pinched inward when clamped.

Dubbing is lightly drawing the bottom of the graver point (heel) across a fine stone while rotating from side to side to form a slightly rounded shape instead of a sharp V. This will give it more strength. Also, another way is to hold the tool not quite vertical and lightly moving it across the stone to put a very tiny face on the tip which is nearer but not quite a 90 degree angle to the heel. In really hard to cut metal I use both methods.

 

[Leland Davis]

What gun is the slide from? There is a list on this site of guns that are engravable and some that aren't.

 

[Robert Wiegand]

As Monk said, be careful clamping the slide when clamping by the sides. I always form a piece of hardwood for a light press fit into the slide so the sides won't be pinched inward when clamped.

Dubbing is lightly drawing the bottom of the graver point (heel) across a fine stone while rotating from side to side to form a slightly rounded shape instead of a sharp V. This will give it more strength. Also, another way is to hold the tool not quite vertical and lightly moving it across the stone to put a very tiny face on the tip which is nearer but not quite a 90 degree angle to the heel. In really hard to cut metal I use both methods.

that sounds good to me ,I'm going to try it today. Thank you gentleman for your help and I hope you have a good weekend.

 

[tdelewis]

Some guns are difficult because of the type of metal they are made. There is a site that will tell you which are easy and those which are difficult. http://gunengraving.org/engravablity.shtml Take a look at this page and check the ones you have worked on. If it is listed as difficult I don't bother with them.

 

[Matthew Evans]

Thank You so much for the link

 

[wdale.bass]

I have been engraving for quite a while now, but always in mild steel. I feel good about my engraving I have worked hard and studied a lot. But every time I try to engrave the slides on guns I can't do it. I don't know if it is my tools or how I sharpen my tools or have the wrong material for tools. I have tried everything and nothing has worked. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much Bob

Robert, I engrave lots of gun slides & have found many are difficult as far as hardness .There are lots of different ideas about how to overcome this dellima but I also have a tried & true sharpening that really works for me. I use a Lindsey 110 exclusively for cutting all my gun work main cuts with the following modifications:i use a 55 degree face. after making the tool with the Lindsey fixture I put the graver in the GRS fixture,face down(as if I'm going to sharpen the face) using a 70degree post angle I turn the rotation angle(the front of the GRS fixture) to 40 degrees on each side & put another "HEEL" on the face of the tool.about 3_ or 4 swipes on a 1200 grit wheel gets the job done.you now have an incredibly hard cutting edge that really cuts that hard metal

 

[Robert Wiegand]

you guys are great,thank for your help.the dubbing work excellent...thank you again and God bless