New project

[mckeenh]

Here is a picture of my latest project. The inlay is gold, the pins are brass for strength and the settings are gold with emeralds. The liners are anodized titanium. they are green even though my photography may not show it well.



I know where the faults are but you will have to find them for yourself, the scrolls look oblong because the knife is tipped a little to get the right light on it so that is not one of them.

Neil:yesnod:

[PatP]

faults or not, that is still cool as heck!

[mckeenh]

Thanks for the compliment. I have come to the conclusion that even though it looks good on paper, it doesn't always look the same after it is cut. I still have a little clean up to do. The other side is not cut yet so I will get it. Most people are not as aware as us engravers, we see way more in the engraving.

Neil:yesnod:

[SVD]

Looking good Neil! :thumbsup:

Remember, some of the 'flaws' are just where what you cut wasn't what you had in your mind (or at least didn't wind up looking like you thought it would).

[mckeenh]

Some of the flaws are microscope related. I really like working under the scope but sometimes you get so focused on a small area that you forget the overall plan. I am going to have to go back and use my optivisor some more and see if I can get used to it again. When I started with the optivisor I cut more heavily, then I got the scope my cutting became more delicate, I will have to find a happy medium.

Neil:yesnod:

[SVD]

I can relate to that!

I like laying out with my OptiVisor - something that Lee Griffiths does as well. It lets you see a bit better (so you can place lines more precisely) while still keeping that 'overall' view.

When you get right in there with the scope you can cut huge, massive things with deep lines. All of which, once you look away from the scope are hard to find with the naked eye.

But when you cut under the scope your mistakes tend to be smaller as well, which is good.

And Lord can you go to town on shading! Zoomed in tight on the scope you can get into that kind of shading that, line-by-line, nearly disappears without the scope and instead turns into actual shading. Not that I can quite do that yet, but folks like Chris can!

[mckeenh]

I agree, I layout with magnification as well. But I am not cutting with the optivisor and I think maybe I should cut my main lines with it still and then go to the scope. I think it would be a better way of seeing the whole and not the part.

Neil:yesnod:

[SVD]

As it happens I'm sort of testing that idea. When I use the Box O' Happiness I've just got the little MagEyes visor (still need to get their strongest lens plate) but when I'm home I've got my beloved scope.

In my opinion, once you've layed out the lines it doesn't matter how you cut them, as long as you cut them cleanly and correctly. Using the scope makes it more likely you'll do that so I favor cutting as much under the scope as you can. You do need to watch out for your line depth / size when under the scope because it's easy to make them too fine - a problem you're not likely to have with a visor - but that's just an experience thing.

[mckeenh]

I think that I might have to agree with you on that. It will take a little experimentation to see what actually happens.

Neil:yesnod: