hi from Houston

[cowinl]

Hi everyone,
I've wanted to give this a try for a while so I registered to ask questions. I am not a pro, I am just a hobbyist. i've been practicing on a copper plate i bought from the hardware store, and Ive been using a graver set I bought from finding king on ebay. I have had very little success. I married a year and a half ago, so I have to justify every expense for my new hobby, anyway I am often asked "why do you NEED that?" and it is easier to defend lower cost items than higher cost ones. So here I am with those tools and I wanted to ask what everyone else is using. Everytime I go to cut the graver doesn't and then It gets caught and then I get this bur at the end and the line is jagged. I was thinking about the jewelers engravers from jewelers stores online. But also I really like steve lindsays stuff. Seriously though, there is no way I can justify an air system without looking rediculous. So I am thinking old school
-but the set of gravers that I bought look exactly like the ones sold online, so are they different metals? I can't figure out why my cuts are so bad. When I practice, I feel like I am practicing bad cutting. hahaha! I think that introduces me. I'd like to hear from you if you have any opinions
-cowinl

[SVD]

Welcome to the forum!

It's probably the sharpening. Get Steve's system and you'll be amazed at the difference. There's a sticky thread (pinned to the top) in the General Discussion forum about 'Inexpensive way to get started'. Read through it.

You can justify it to your lovely bride by pointing out that the sharpening part of it will save the money you've already spent on the rest of your gear.

Then, once you can make her something pretty....