Learning to Engrave

I just got a set of old english engravers on Ebay. I heard the english steel was superior, so I waited until I could find some. Can you tell me how many hours of practice it takes before you become proficient at engraving. I'm starting to build my own rifle, but fear I won't be able to handle the engraving, yet I want to do it myself. Also, is there some material you can practice on rather than wasting flat brass?

It is better to practice on mild steel than brass. Go to the sheet metal shop and have them cut you some 16ga into 3"x2" plates. Glue them to a block and practice on them. The gravers you bought are probably the wrong type for what you want to do. You need a couple of chisels and a chasing hammer or two. You probably bought hand push gravers. They are basically for jewelry and watches[ gold and silver stuff. They may come in handy latter though.

looaround the home hammer heads hinges lock plates of the door typ or get off e-bay a lot of stuff on there

here is a good site for engraveing info http://www.engravingforum.com/

I just got this great bit of advice from Ken Moors. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it.

He says "If you have some scraps of mild steel those work just fine. If not, you can buy a box of nail guards. These are a steel plate that is attached to a stud when building a house and it is installed to protect any wires or pipes that run through the stud from getting hit by a drywall screw. They are a little harder than mild steel so they are actually better to practice on and they are super cheap. You can get these at any Lowes. Some of them have writing stamped on them, some are galvanized, and some are just flat bare steel, those are the ones I get. They have really sharp prongs on the backs of them that you can either bend down or use to attach them to a block of wood to hold them while you practice."

I wonder, is signing up for this site a no obligation no identification site like this forum?

they want your e mail adds and user name no pay I have been there for a yr it is one of the best sites out there with tons of vids and engraving info and they will ans any questions you have

No worries Kevin. I got that tip off of the engravers forum. :thumbsup:

I'm a novice when it comes to engraving. Hopefully one of the pros will see this thread and offer some advice too. For me, I found the drawing to be the hardest part. Those scrolls and leaves look deceptively simple to draw but to get them anywhere near right takes a lot of practice. So, I just doodle that stuff every chance I get. Lucky for us, the engraving on a lot of the original longrifles is fairly simple as far as engraving goes.

suzkat said:

I just got a set of old english engravers on Ebay. I heard the english steel was superior, so I waited until I could find some. Can you tell me how many hours of practice it takes before you become proficient at engraving. I'm starting to build my own rifle, but fear I won't be able to handle the engraving, yet I want to do it myself. Also, is there some material you can practice on rather than wasting flat brass?

Click to expand...

As far as the time it takes to learn, you will be the determining factor in that. You will need to learn to draw the art work you wish to cut to the point that you can draw it in your sleep. You will also need to learn how to properly sharpen your gravers so they are the same every time, and then every spare moment practice.
You cannot cut nice work without proper graver geometry, and proper graver geometry cannot salvage ugly drawing.
Good Luck

Jerry;
There is a sharpening system for air gravers, I can't remember the guy's name, Steve somehting. Will that system work for chasing type gravers?

Hi Sir yes it will they also make a handel for hand gravers for there blanks to be used in there is a hand gravers spot on there list just for hand and push engravers any of there blanks and sharpening system can be used for push and hand gravers just go to the top and look at engraveing tools or call Steve and he will be happy to ans all your questions http://www.engravingforum.com/God Bless

Saber.
You have to separate the god from your link or it will not work.

Aprentice-- your looking for steve lindsey's website. His templates work very well but if you don't have a power hone they are very slow. Being a pro I could never get along without a power hone. I would spend at least half my time sharpening.

Thank you Sir did not know I had done that and yes a power hone is a must have it will save you a lot of time and we use Lindsys graver blanks and it would take a lot of time to ruff them in with out power

I have a 250 grit diamond stone. Would the power still be needed? I have no problem working hard.

my rough power hone is 200 grit then I go to 400,800,1200,2000 grit diamond stone then 4000grit japanese water stone then rouge and leather on our gravers. afte I do the blanks on first sharpening It only takes around 4 mins to resharpen or put a new point on just never let your graver get hot when useing power

Mike it's not the hard work it's a time factor.
I rough mine out with a 100 grit diamond wheel. then I go to a 600 grit and then to a 1200 grit and then I polish them with a ceramic wheel and diamond dust. You only need the diamond dust on carbide gravers, you won't need it on the stuff you do. without a power hone it would take me at least an hour to shape a new graver.
Bear this in mind. When engraving gravers need sharpening very frequently. The reason a lot of guys have so much trouble learning to engrave is half the time the graver is chipped microscopically and they don't know it. Most people can't see well enough with the naked eye to tell when a graver is as sharp as it need be.
Trying to engrave without the needed equipment is like driving a car with three tires because you can't afford four tires.
I am looking at this from a professional standpoint.

I understand. But I went to a local guys house and observed his air graver, and tried it. He told me that I was doing pretty good for someone who had never used a graver. Selling pitch? Any way, just the Lindsay gravers are $3000! I don't have that kind of money. I thought about GRS and decided that was too steep, too.
I want to do it myself, but I'm medically retired, and money is an issue. Even the power grinders have a healthy price. So it's either chase a hammer around or farm out the work. I want to make my own gravers, just so I can say so, I have the material, but I feel I am butting my head against a wall.
Something will give, time will tell.
I do appreciate your input. You are a master.
Maybe if I win the lottery.... :hmm:

The late Lynton McKenzie did almost all his work with a chisel and hammer and a hand graver.
you can do it also. It's just slower and slower learning. Probably the best thing you can make a graver out of is a small triangular file or a small high speed lathe bit.

Thanks. It'll come, just give it time....