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Tools, Glorious Tools! #8 - Learning To Engrave (Patreon)

Published:
2019-11-01 10:48:13
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Hi Folks,

Its time for a deep dive on learning to engrave - Please enjoy!

Cheers,

Chris.

Btw I ended up cutting a lot of the engraving footage to keep the video moving along, but you can watch slightly longer versions of 3 of the plates being engraved here:

Plate I

Plate II

Plate III

Direct links to the video -

Vimeo:  https://vimeo.com/370273062/da6b2ed34d

Youtube:  https://youtu.be/avrmVGDJXY0

-------------- Video Notes: ---------------

Engraving study material that I use:

(Amazon Affiliate links)

BOOKS

"The Art Of Engraving" (James B Meek): https://amzn.to/2qa2McL

"Drawing & Understanding Scroll Designs" (Ron Smith): https://amzn.to/2NxNINZ

"Advanced Drawing Of Scrolls" (Ron Smith): https://amzn.to/2JCoc9g

DVD's

"Learn Old School Hammer & Chisel Engraving" (Sam Alfano): https://amzn.to/2N4pRGH

"Engraving Scrollwork From Start To Finish" (Sam Alfano): https://amzn.to/2BYV3kj

"The Essential Guide To Drawing Scrolls" (Sam Alfano): https://amzn.to/2Wx4Do5

"The Experts Guide To Graver Sharpening" (Sam Alfano): https://amzn.to/2Ntte9b

My Engraving Tools:

Gravermach AT: https://amzn.to/2PD7lHc

Airtact Monarch handpiece: https://amzn.to/31YjGbC

Powerhone: https://www.grs.com/product/001-543b-power-hone-basic-power-hone-basic-230-volt/

Leica A60 Microscope: https://www.grs.com/product/003-881-acrobat-versa-and-leica-a60-complete-package-with-50x-objective-lens/

Val-Air Compressor: https://www.grs.com/product/004-678-val-air/

Sam Alfano Chisel Handle: https://www.grs.com/product/sam-alfano-chisel-handle/

Chasing Hammer: https://www.grs.com/product/011-471-grs-chasing-hammer-grs-chasing-hammer-round/

Optivisor Headband Magnifier: http://amzn.to/2HFg1FU

4 Arkansas Stones + case: http://amzn.to/2HCOAMX

EZE-LAP Set SF/F/M/C/XC Color Coded Diamond Hones: https://amzn.to/2BZUbvX

Consumables:

Thermo-lock work holding putty - https://amzn.to/38s8cBC

Files

Previews only

Tools, Glorious Tools! #8 - Learning To Engrave

Hi Folks, Its time for a deep dive on learning to engrave - Please enjoy! Cheers, Chris. Btw I ended up cutting a lot of the engraving footage to keep the video moving along, but you can watch slightly longer versions of 3 of the plates being engraved here: Plate I: https://youtu.be/05VwRMdvI7w Plate II: https://youtu.be/qIXeXw_WdQY Plate III: https://youtu.be/epMLhIshQRA ________________________________________________________ A very special thank you to Patrons: Sinking Valley Woodworks (http://www.sinkingvalleywoodworks.com) Glenn Trewitt Mike Manfrin Christopher Warnock Guy Loughridge Charles Frodsham & Co. Peter John Richardson Adam Slagle Tim Bray Dan Keen Samuel Irons Sean Kuyper Matteo Neville Daniel Cohen Larry Pardi Olof Haggren Stassinopoulos Thomas Florian Ragwitz Andrew Smith Bernd Fischer Sam Towne Jack Cause Jeremiah G. Mort Andre van Soest Matthew Middleton Thomas Veilleux Dave Seff Robin Haerens L'Enfant Watch Company C. A. Patrick Voigt Mark Coburn Bogdan Dan Steven R. Crider Gary Levario Pete Askew Jeff Armstrong Rudolph Bescherer Jr Robert Petz Ralph McCoy Jim Popwell Kaedenn Bradley Pirtle Alan Carey PaxAndromeda John A McCormick Thomas Eriksen Michael Hardel Tim Ball Dominik Rogala Xanadu-King Eric Witte Peter Grant Michener Jonathan Teegarden Steve Hossner RuKiddin06 RobinP556 ________________________________________________________ Video Notes: (Amazon Affiliate links) Engraving study material that I use: BOOKS "The Art Of Engraving" (James B Meek): https://amzn.to/2qa2McL "Drawing & Understanding Scroll Designs" (Ron Smith): https://amzn.to/2NxNINZ "Advanced Drawing Of Scrolls" (Ron Smith): https://amzn.to/2JCoc9g DVD's "Learn Old School Hammer & Chisel Engraving" (Sam Alfano): https://amzn.to/2N4pRGH "Engraving Scrollwork From Start To Finish" (Sam Alfano): https://amzn.to/2BYV3kj "The Essential Guide To Drawing Scrolls" (Sam Alfano): https://amzn.to/2Wx4Do5 "The Experts Guide To Graver Sharpening" (Sam Alfano): https://amzn.to/2Ntte9b My Engraving Tools: Gravermach AT: https://amzn.to/2PD7lHc Airtact Monarch handpiece: https://amzn.to/31YjGbC Powerhone: https://www.grs.com/product/001-543b-power-hone-basic-power-hone-basic-230-volt/ Leica A60 Microscope: https://www.grs.com/product/003-881-acrobat-versa-and-leica-a60-complete-package-with-50x-objective-lens/ Val-Air Compressor: https://www.grs.com/product/004-678-val-air/ Sam Alfano Chisel Handle: https://www.grs.com/product/sam-alfano-chisel-handle/ Chasing Hammer: https://www.grs.com/product/011-471-grs-chasing-hammer-grs-chasing-hammer-round/ Optivisor Headband Magnifier: http://amzn.to/2HFg1FU 4 Arkansas Stones + case: http://amzn.to/2HCOAMX EZE-LAP Set SF/F/M/C/XC Color Coded Diamond Hones: https://amzn.to/2BZUbvX

Comments

Drew

Glorious!

Brian fisher

Been wanting to learn this for a long time. Now i have no excuse. You saved me a significant amount of time just researching how to start. Thanks.

Lev Serebryakov

I'm envy! To have a free hour each day for practice your hobby… Ouch.

Chris Muncy

Amazing as always Chris. I always stop what I am doing so that your videos are the focus of my attention. Great over morning coffee :-) .

Mike Michelizzi

Watching talented people working at their crafts makes things look so easy, mainly I think because you see the finished product or at the most the process once it has been figured out or practiced for many hours. I fall for this sometimes and thought for a brief moment that maybe engraving isn't as difficult as I thought, but seeing how you've progressed really puts things into perspective. I know that there's no chance I have the patience to put in the amount of work that you have to get to where you are. All this to say: thank you for sharing the advice and your progress from the beginning to help those who may want to get into this!

Graeme Zimmer

Really interesting Chris. You've inspired me to start studying some of the basic sketching books. Thanks mate.

Samuel Irons

Thank you much for the video.

Peter Kransz

So the process is crawl, walk then run, and in your case you might be Usain Bolt.

Anonymous

Awesome way to start a Friday with a Clickspring video!

Leonard Solomon

It is impressive that when you embark on a new learning project, you go for it hook, line, and sinker! And I am grateful to you for the way you break it down for the rest of us, so succinctly. I have been making sporadic attempts at learning engraving for a few years now, and just watching your previous couple of videos on the subject has given me a quantum boost. Now with this more in-depth study, and list of source materials, you have cut my work out for me; it's time to get my hands dirty again. Thank you for what you do.

veritanuda

Very interesting. Years ago I bought a glass engraver and it took me months to get that to look like anything but a mess but I am curious how different metal engraving can be. For sure glass it less forgiving of small mistakes but it also is not as reflective as metal and so you can cover up things with some diamond paper if careful. Great overview Chris and happy you have learnt another skill and been able to bring it to your high quality work. It is fascinating watching your builds and engraving is just another aspect that is mesmerizing.

Boguslaw Smalec

Thank you Chris! Seeing your beginner sketches and cuts and then further improvement really encoureged me to try to learn this amaizing skill. :)

Joris van 't Land

That's absolutely stunning. As said above by Mike Michelizzi, these crafts seem to be so easy, until you try yourself. Sketching one hour a day for half a year is really something, and then another half a year to practice, practice, practice... But the results are really impressive. Thanks, as always, for sharing Chris.

Ralph McCoy

Chris, so this art took you 1 year, so you are a mere mortal. Ralph

Clifton Ballad

The sketching part... I have almost 0 artistic inclination or skills... Like im not even sure where to start. Guess ill have to get some books, or maybe bug some of my artistic friends for some pointers.... That being said, have you tried engraving steel and bluing it like you would with screws or clicksprings? I know it wouldn't look quite the same but I'm curious what it would turn out like...

Emmas Spareroom Machineshop

enjoyed very much. the hrs on the sketchbook are a very real thing. youre starting to get some pretty nice results and the hours show! nice work i think by anyones standards.

Joshua Fairhurst

Fantastic to finally see! The whole TGT series has me eagerly awaiting this move and setting up the home shop

Joshua Fairhurst

A couple of questions though: Specifically for engraving what are you using to glue the workpeice down (shellac then some kind of putty?) and on the much broader scale what kind of brass do you use?

Spadge Fox

Absolutely amazing work as always Chris, not something I'd have the patience (or the wallet) for. =^.^=

Clifton Ballad

So the table provides rotation and the ball vise adjusts for work piece angle? How do you rotate the table as you are working, is that with your legs or other hand?

Robert D

What makes the Ron Smith books so good? I've seen that the first book is supposed to be a short 40 pages for a hardback and that looks like an awful lot for a very short bit on the subject matter. I myself recently picked up a book by Rachel Wells on Engraving from her classes on the subject and while I haven't finished it yet for its price it looks to be a fair resource. It's a mere $10.25 and while its just a loose leaf print and fairly bad photography it's fairly inclusive. It can be found here: https://www.bkstr.com/yavapaistore/course-materials-results?shopBy=discoverShop&divisionDisplayName=&departmentDisplayName=GST&courseDisplayName=291§ionDisplayName=30044&courseRefId=&merfnbr=218&termDir=201930

Robert D

I was also curious Chris have you looked at Steve Lindsay's graver sharpening system/templates or are you use hand cutting your gravers?

clickspring
>>28542270

The putty is called Thermoloc, excellent stuff, really versatile for workholding. I tend to use "engravers brass" for all brass sheet requirements, its a staple for most non-ferrous suppliers - Cheers :)

clickspring
>>28545179

The table is rotated by hand, theres a quick shot of it at 9:57 - its just a very slow rotation of the table to feed and orient the cut.

clickspring
>>28553236

I like Ron's books, but you're right there are many to choose from. I'd run with whatever can get you started practicing the soonest - Cheers :)

clickspring
>>28553421

I'm using the GRS dual angle fixture, I like the ability to play around with different angles to see what I get, but Steve Lindsays templates look excellent for set and forget sharpening, very practical - Cheers :)

Marc Banks

Hey Chris, are you ready for that video to go out into the wild world of youtube? I frequently use your videos as standards and examples and have a gentleman asking about getting started in engraving.

clickspring
>>29376141

This one won't be going out publicly on YT Marc, but I'm very happy for you to share it with him privately - Cheers :)

Mike Borkovic

Hi Chris, great work. I‘m starting to try machine powered push-cut engraving after working on wriggle cut for the last year. I’m wondering what you’re doing with the scribe pre-shading. Is your scribe dipped in something and you are sketching your shading lines? Or are you scratching/creating a slight guide to assist your tool’s path? You’ve gotten really good, keep at it. Would love to see more videos on the subject.

clickspring
>>32113571

Hi Mike, I tend to lightly scratch a main guide directly onto the metal, I don't use any waxes etc, just a very gentle touch of the sharp scribe against the grained surface to catch the light. This forms a guide to cut that main line, and then the other shading lines are dropped in adjacent to that key line at various widths and cut depths to give the illusion of depth - I will certainly be doing more engraving as the projects unfold - Cheers :)

Karl Mansson

Hey! Nice work Chris! Just thought I'd add that there are several different designs for shop build power engraving machines as well. Can be built for not much at all! Search youtube and you shall find.