[Jewelry making - Article 00120] - [Orchid] Nail Tools: Engraving Chisels

[William L . Howard]

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    My name is William L. Howard, Bill for short, and I have made my
    living as a metalsmith for the last 40 years. I am considered a
    master goldsmith by those who care about such things, and I also
    engrave, sculpt, mint, cast, forge, make prototypes, teach, consult,
    appraise, drink single malt scotch occasionally, weld, do seminars
    and most anything else which is legal, fun, informative and earns
    fair wages. I live in Stoughton, Wisconsin, where we operate our
    school and do all the usual stuff. I've had to do some pretty weird
    things with metal in the course of making custom orders, and one of
    the most useful skills I ever learned was how to make those special
    tools you couldn't buy if you wanted to but really make the job
    happen faster. 

    Not everyone has vast resources of cash or tools so I have presented
    this information based on a low tech, low cost approach. You will
    need some concrete nails, a belt sander or grinder, a heat source,
    hammer, striking surface, a can of water, a vise and about 20
    minutes. 

    NAIL TOOLS 

    Making an engraving chisel: 

    1. Heat the heads of several concrete nails (bigger is better) and
    let them air cool to anneal (or soften) the striking surface to
    avoid chips, etc. Heat only about 1/4" to red/orange or until it's
    nonmagnetic. If you overheat, the steel will emit sparks which means
    you are losing carbon content which you don't want to do. 

    2. Heat the pointed end to red/orange and forge flat

    If you're quick you can hold this with your fingers. During the same
    heat, hammer a slight bend near the tip. This will save you some
    grinding later. 

    3. There are three basic parts to an engraving tool - FACE, HEEL &
    SHAFT 

    a. You sharpen the face 

    b. You shape the heel for the cut shape you want 

    c. You hold or mount the shaft The cutting edge is where the face and
    the bottom of the heel meet. The profile of the face is a cross
    section which has been ground off the tip, above the heel, at an
    angle. This will cut different shaped grooves into your work. The
    best one to start with is the 1/2 round. 

    4. Grind the heel slowly with the point up to make the bottom edge
    1/2 round. If you rotate it back and forth too fast, you will get a
    pointed shape instead of rounded. When you're happy, smooth it off
    with a little wet or dry sandpaper as this will make a smoother cut. 

    5. Next grind the angle you want for your face. Eyeballing is good
    enough. Grind with the heel up if you can as this will reduce burrs
    and try to get the plane of the face ground perpendicular to the
    shaft. If it's off to the right or left it won't cut straight. See
    large figure. 

    6. So far you have been working with annealed or softened tool steel
    which you will now harden by heating the business end to red/orange
    or nonmagnetic and quenching vertically in water. Don't stir, swirl
    or move it. 

    7. Your tool is now hardened and ready to sharpen. Use a light touch
    and avoid overheating by quenching frequently in a can of water. If
    you can, keep the face flat and true to the original angle. If it
    cuts your fingernail, it will cut mild steel or annealed tool steel. 

    8. To cut steel, hold at a steep angle and enter the metal with one
    tap. Continue tapping with a light hammer while lowering the other
    end until the face starts to cut through the metal. 

    9. To cut continuous lines hold your tool at a constant angle. Too
    high and it dives into the metal; too low causes it to surface. With
    a little practice you can cut a straight line at even depth. 

    10. To cut curved lines you must either rotate your vise or move
    around the work piece as you tap the tool through the metal. 

    IS IT RIGHT? If your tool has developed a mushroomed tip and won't
    cut, it is too soft. If the tip has chipped or fractured, it is too
    hard. Anneal & re-harden. The nail will stand this a good number of
    times as long as you don't overheat and burn out the carbon
    (emitting sparks during a heat). 

    SPARK TESTING TOOL STEEL 

    Take the suspect stock and grind it hard enough to create a shower
    of sparks. If the sparks are straight and not too bright, you have
    nontool steel or iron. If the sparks fork and fan out in a bright
    pattern, you have tool steel. Use a wood nail and an old drill bit
    for comparison. Compare a wood nail (bends) and a concrete nail
    (breaks) for spark patterns. This is a scroungers' test and will not
    provide an alloy number or hardening information but can lead to
    results with a little trial and error experimentation. Junk is
    cheap, high tech tool steel ain't! IF YOU CAN DRAW IT, YOU CAN
    ENGRAVE IT. Can't draw? Use this trick! 

    1. Draw or trace your pattern on paper. 

    2. Using the copier, enlarge or reduce as you wish. 

    3. Clean your metal with Acetone or Lacquer thinner. 

    4. Tape your copy face down on the work surface. 

    5. Rub the back of the copy with a rag which is damp with Acetone so
    the paper looks translucent and you can see the pattern through it. 

    6. Before it dries or gets moved, press down with the dry end of
    your rag on the design until it is dry (60 seconds max). 

    7. Peel the paper, which will stick a little where the toner
    transferred, away from your work piece and see if the design is all
    there. 

    8. This produces a durable pattern which you can spray clear lacquer
    over for longevity of complicated designs. It will not rub off
    easily and can be transferred to anything the solvent won't eat! 

    NOTE: Your pattern is a mirror image of the original! You may want
    to trace the back of your design and copy that to allow the
    lettering to transfer as readable, etc. It works great for making
    stamp or die patterns which must be reversed anyway. 

    10. If you want to do it over, just clean the metal with acetone and
    repeat. 

    SAFETY TIPS 

    For those of you who have lawyers please observe the following
    advice. You are responsible for your own safety and work habits. Use
    safety glasses when using grinders, torches, hammers and all
    potentially dangerous (especially rotary) power equipment and tools.
    Avoid burns, if it gets hot let go! Remember that black heat (not
    glowing red) can burn you. You can hold work with your hands while
    forging but if you're not a quick worker be prepared to let go
    quick. Enough said about the obvious. 

    HELPFUL TIPS 

    If your Xerox transfer smears, you either got it too wet or your
    copy moved during the rubbing procedure. This transfer will not
    resist heat like soapstone lines will for cutting purposes. 

    Once you have a good pattern, you only have to follow the lines
    until you have cut them all to your satisfaction. Beware brushing
    off your work surface with your hand as the burrs you have raised at
    the end of your cuts will cut lines in your hand until they are
    removed with an exit cut. (SEE ILLUS.) This is designed to get rid
    of them and save your hide from damage. 

    While cutting, your graver acts like a plow or a wing according to
    the angle of attack. Steep angles cut deep and vice versa. The more
    taps per inch of line cut the smoother your cut will appear.
    Numerous light taps will work better than heavy blows for delicate
    line work. 

    If you find that the shank of your graver is bending, it is because
    it got too hot during forging or some other part of the process and
    didn't get hardened later. Heat the center and quench to try and
    remedy this. Take care to keep the ends cold or you will have to fix
    them next. Engraving and penmanship have much in common. Everyone has
    a different style, so experiment with face shapes and angles as well
    as heel angles. Use the bottom and sides to create compound or
    beveled cuts and tapered lines, etc. 

    These tools can be hammered, which is the usual method for cutting
    steel or they can be mounted in handles for cutting softer metals
    and fine work in steel by hand. The plates for printing our money
    are hand cut in steel for example. This is highly advanced work not
    recommended for beginners or amateur counterfeiters. A clever
    combination can be had by mounting your shaft in a handle you can
    use and including a short steel striker of smaller diameter which
    contacts the shaft through the other end of the handle. This allows
    you to cut by hand or hammer cut with the same tool. Handle shapes
    are usually shaped like a mushroom cut in half from cap to stem. The
    shaft is mounted in the stem end with the heel and the flat part of
    the handle on the down side. 

    Stamps, dies and trademarks can be made with your new skills.
    Coining dies, embossing dies for shaping thin metal and a multitude
    of other techniques are now available to you. You can also do
    decorative gun engraving, inlay work and a variety of other things
    which I highly recommend you practice first before you cobble up a
    valuable shotgun, etc.! 

    Steel is hard, and mistakes you make are hard to erase! Try planning
    your cuts, working some from two directions. This works well with
    curves. Most cuts work well if you cut from right to left (southpaws
    may ignore) and you don't have to make a cut all at once. It can be
    segmented and cut from different angles and directions as with
    lettering. 

    Last but not least, use finesse. Most novice engravers try to make a
    deep cut all at once when a better and more controllable approach is
    to shave it down in stages. A power slip can spoil hours of work or
    require the removal of a sharp tool from some part of your body. I
    know. I've done both. Try and plan your mistakes with the "what if
    game." 

    STOCK FOR MAKING A STAMP OR TOUCHMARK 

    If you want to avoid the trial and error method of finding junk to
    make a stamp with and you can spare a few bucks, call your local
    tool and die or machine shop. Ask for W1 or W2 water-hardening tool
    steel. It is adequate for our needs here and comes in a variety of
    shapes. I recommend round or square about 3/8" to 3/4" for stamps.
    It depends on what size your finished mark is to be. Water hardening
    is simple and easy. For those of you with the right stuff there are
    other steels with oil and air-hardening properties which are useful
    but more high tech. Size and cut your stock to a length which is
    appropriate to the use. Don't hit a stamp 3" x 3/16" with a sledge,
    use a tap hammer. Old chisels and punches are a good source for
    heavier duty stamps. Drill bits will work fine for light work but
    tend to be brittle unless tempered for heavy use. 

    MAKING A STAMP OR PATTERNED PUNCH 

    1. Heat red/orange and forge work end to shape desired. Soften
    striking end. I recommend forging a short taper towards the work
    end-- approximately 1/3 the total length or as required to shape and
    size the tip. 

    2. Heat and air cool to anneal and normalize (even out hardness of
    forged portion) the working end of your stamp. 

    3. Trim off the end of your stock so that the face of your stamp is
    perpendicular to the shaft and as flat as possible (90 degrees). If
    it will stand on the face on a flat, level surface you got it right. 

    4. Engrave or punch designs into the end of the stamp. Letters and
    numbers must appear backward like a mirror image if the mark from
    the stamp is to come out right. Don't cut or punch too deep as 1/32"
    is usually adequate to produce a legible mark. Keep your cuts neat
    and to an even depth so the resulting mark will have an even height.
    Use modeling clay, wax or lead for test strikes and to check your
    progress. 

    5. Grind or file an even bevel all around the edge. This will make a
    nice "frame" around your maker's mark. 

    6. Clean up the face and make sure all burrs are neatly removed.
    Double check your work. A good stamp will make thousands of
    impressions for you, and if there is a flaw it will multiply. 

    7. Cover fine engraving with flux to protect the detail and harden
    by heating to red/orange or (nonmagnetic) heat and quenching
    vertically in water. Just hold it still until it quits steaming and
    is cool to the touch. 

    8. Clean up with a fine steel brush and test strike in lead or soft
    metal. 

    9. If you are going to mark iron work, stamp the work while at least
    cherry red or hotter. Nonferrous metals such as copper, brass,
    bronze gold, etc., can be stamped cold. If you worked it hot, stamp
    it hot. 

    10. QUENCH your stamp after using it on hot iron or you will
    eventually ruin it through gradually softening the face. Air
    hardening steel eliminates this problem but water hardening steel is
    just fine and a bit easier to work for your first stamp. 

Howard Academy for the Metal Arts
William L. Howard, PO Box 472, 188 W. Main St., Stoughton, WI 53589
Studio phone: 608/873-5199
www.howard-academy.com
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