Thread: Hand Engraving Sample

Here is some other work I do. This is on aluminum
3 by 6 inch plate. All hand drawn out. My motorcycle
has alot of this. Trying to do some stuff on guitars too.
Anyway hope you like it.
Fresnojohns

stunting work john
I second what Brad said love to see more

Brad,
Thank you very much for the good words. I will post more in the future.
I first sketch my scroll designs out, then using a "flat graver", I push into
the metal and make a rocking motion to get the stitch cut look. All by
hand pressure. Then I use an air assisted hand piece, a self contained mini
jack hammer called a Gravermeister with 1200 taps per minute, and push out
the aluminum, then when all done, I get a liner tool, put in hand piece, and
push out gently the fine lines. In the old days it was all push tooling, and hammer and chisel. Steel is very hard to do. I will post more work soon.
Thanks again,
Fresnojohns

Amazing work, That is some skills...................................Kwit

SWEET! Love the detail, and unlike paint I would assume there is no covering up a blunder!!

that is a lot of work for a sample , well done

I want to say a Very Big Thank You to all of you
who checked out my Aluminum Engraving Sample.
And thank you for the nice comments on my style
of work.
This style is what is called Western/Wriggle Style,
and some even call it Spanish Style. There are many
styles. This style that I do is very well known on saddles,
belt buckles, cycles, and leather belt trim, etc.

Now, next time you look at Paper Money, you will notice that
there are some similer type accents that look a little like mine.
If you do see some scroll type designs, you will see they are
almost around 1/4 inch or so. I believe this is called
Bolino, or Bank Note style. You got it, The US Government employs
printers, engravers, etc to do this kind of work. They may do hard steel,
but in the money printing is a whole other process. These engravers
work 8 hours a day pushing a small hand piece under a microscope.
The faces and everything if I am right are all done first by hand. If
I worked there I would get tired of doing this. Its the same stuff over and over. But they are very skilled.

Firearms Engravers use this style on High End shotguns and handguns.
They do American Scroll, English Scroll, German Scroll and Bolino-Bank Note.
Their engraving is done with a handpiece like mine and they also use
a Hammer and Chisel also. You got it, its very time consuming. These styles
are based on scrolls but all have different fills to them. Also when you
see nice firearms work you cannot feel the cutting. No finishing other than
bluing the metal. These guys cut very light.
My style is lower priced to them.But thats ok. There is enough to go around.
Doing firearms is like doing Rolex Watches. Its delecate. No mistakes, no
slips and you work ultra small hardly on a flat surface too. Even what I do
when you make a mistake, there is no fixing it. Its done. This is like
airbrushing, it is practice, practice, and practice. It will cost a little bit to
get started up. When I started up doing this in 1991 I got used equipment
and it was around one thousand dollars. New stuff is around $2100.00
There is alittle around that is used, not much. Leather is way different
I believe, but some people can carve wood with this setup I have.

I thank all of you for checking this out. Any one of you can learn this.
Again, Anyone of You. As my teacher said everytime I would finish a
class with him. "Try to make the next one better", "Practice, Practice,
and Practice"
Thank You For the Great Words,
Fresnojohns

Thank you very much KD and Greger!!!
This is a 3 by 6 inch aluminum plate, that is 20 gauge thick.
About thick enough for a thinner bracelet. The first thing I
do is clean the surface and make sure there is no scratches
in the plate you can feel easy. This will effect the engraving
process. Then, I get a candle and rub all over the surface, this
is so I can trace with a .5 or .7 mechanical pencil. Then I make a
rough sketch of the scrolls. I also have scroll templates if I need
them super big. But if you use the templates, you still have to correct
them as they are rough guides, just enough to guide you. Then I use a push tool and hand cut into the metal. This gives the stitching look or western look. Next I have a hammer hand piece with more cutters and I push out
the metal for (brite cutting). And I come back one more time with a liner
tool, (in a 1/8'' wide tool you have 6 lines close together.) Then I go
between the cuts and gently push out the metal for the textured brushed
look. In this last stage is where you can really mess up after all this work
If any fine lines in tool get dull or break you skip across the surface and scratch it all up, then have to resharpen tools. I have scratched up hundreads of practice plates. Then finally it gets buffed. This is hard on
the wrist even with power assited hand tools. This takes time but if you
can airbrush, you can do this too. Its just alot of practice.
Thank you for your nice words, and letting me share this with all of you.

Fresnojohns

Thank you both very much for the good words
Dtown and Ern.
Fresnojohns

Cool looking work.Nice job on it.