[Jewelry making - Article 00174] - Re: [Orchid] First graver purchase

[Melissa Veres]

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Hi Connie,

    I certainly wish you well in your endeavors. Working with gravers has
    been discussed, and it's a valuable skill to be added. Your gravers
    have many uses from fancy stone-setting styles, to basic clean up, to
    seat cutting, to pushing up stitches for positioning pieces. You will
    accumulate different kinds and sizes of gravers as you go along, so
    what you buy first will depend in part on what you want to do with
    them. A square grave is an excellent start for general purposes, but
    it is also more difficult to sharpen than others since it needs to
    have 3 surfaces prepared. A round graver will only need to be
    sharpened on the face, the rounded edge will still raise the stitch
    you want for positioning purposes. If you buy a #50, ( the smallest
    round), there will be very little difference in appearance of your
    stitches from the use of the square. Another graver which you could
    use for the stitches would be an onglette, (recommend #0 or #1 to
    start, #3 for stone setting). It's very similar to the round but
    comes to a point instead, and you can still just sharpen the face to
    45 degrees to use it for your immediate purposes. 

    Your gravers and handles are usually purchased separately. If you use
    hand gravers, the graver will have to be shortened, and fitted to the
    handle. (I use the half-mushroom, my hands are about medium, and my
    average graver length is about 41/2 inches overall. Just a general
    guide, you must make it for your own hand) ) The back end of the
    graver is what is removed, a safe way is to do it by cutting v-
    grooves on each side of back where it should be cut. Then snap it
    apart. You will have to re-grind the back a bit to fit into the
    handle. Drill a pilot hole in the handle first, place the graver
    sideways in a vise, and gently tap the handle into place, being sure
    to maintain the alignment between the bottom of the mushroom, and
    the belly of the tool. The Gravermax, or other systems, each have
    their own handpieces, and handles for use with the quick-change ends.
    They sell gravers pre-shaped for the quick-change ends so you save so
    time and material, although they may still have to be adjusted for
    length, and will still need to be sharpened before use. 

    The GRS sharpening system will save you alot of time in sharpening
    and will give you consistent angles each and every time you sharpen
    any particular graver. The fully adjustable holder is the way to go.
    (The holder is the key, there are homemade versions of the wheel out
    there.) You can sharpen by hand with sharpening stones, and finish
    with 4/0 emery paper on glass. Then you can use diamond spray on hard
    leather for a mirror finish. You must maintain a short uniform stroke
    throughout the process to keep the edges crisp. 

    The Gravermax will definitely help to increase your control, by
    providing a controlled power so you stop when you need to. It's an
    investment, and not necessary for what you want to do now. Taking a
    class if you can, will go a long way to learning this beautiful
    skill. Fine hand engraving is an art unto itself, but the skillful
    use of the graver will serve you well in all of your bench
    adventures. 

Melissa Veres, engraver
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