Hi Steve, fellow engravers . . .

[CabJagMan]

Hi Steve & fellow engravers. I am British born but now living in Australia for the past 12 years. I restore and sometimes manufacture clocks. I have always added a name plaque to my creations but would love to engrave a name and details like scroll work etc.

I am artistic with 2nd in the Royal Canberra show a few years ago so am looking forward to honing my artistic skills and applying them to engraving.

Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated Steve. I will predominantly be working on brass sheet / plate. I wish to emulate some of the 17th & 18th century engravers styles, they are truly beautiful and works of art in themselves.

I have often removed the chapter ring from an old clock and seen the practice attempts on the reverse, or on the back of the dial plate.

How difficult are the air operated tools to master and would I be better suited to start by hand?

Kind regards, Nick

[SVD]

Welcome to the forum!

Air-assisted is actually easier to learn with.

With palm push you have to build the muscle memory to drive the graver through the metal while simultaenously holding it back from sliding right across the plate.

With Hammer & Chisel (usually abbreviated H&C) you have to learn to control where the point is going by tapping on the back of the chisel, controlling both hands and a few other body parts.

With air-assisted you hold the graver in one hand, maybe have to co-ordinate using a foot pedal and the graver slides through the metal with just enough resistance to keep it under control.

With any method you'll learn how to make a line in no more than a couple of minutes.

But only with air-powered will you be able to stop thinking about that and concentrating on what to do with that line within a day or two.

[Titian]

Hi I'm Panja from Thailand.
Welcome.