Handmade Metal Engraving Guide

Hand engraving is probably not new to most people. Hand engraving can actually be seen as pushing an engraving knife into the metal and then carving the desired design into the metal. In general, handmade metal engraving can be categorized into three types, one is purely handmade engraving, which is to use a push-type engraving knife to push out the designed pattern on the surface of the metal. Another type of hand engraving is the use of a hammer with a small chisel to carve out lines or patterns on the surface of the metal. The last is with the help of certain engraving machines, such as pneumatic engraver and other engraving tools, engraving on the surface of the metal, this engraving method compared to the previous two methods will be more relaxed.

Three different methods of hand carving

1. Push-type engraving knife

Most of the push engraving knives can engrave directly on the metal without the help of a tool like a hammer. During the engraving process, you need to keep adjusting the angle of the engraving knife to create different shapes. To use a push engraving knife, you need to firmly grip the engraving handle and then push the engraving tool into the metal surface to engrave a design on the metal surface.

2. Engraving knife

Then there’s the most common carving knife, which (or chisel, as you might call it) comes in a variety of shapes, and you’ll need to use a small hammer along with the carving knife. However, you will need to learn to control the strength of the knife, as too light or too heavy a hand will affect the finish of the piece.

3.Pneumatic engraving machine

Pneumatic engraving machine as a more specialized engraving machine, you’d better have some experience before using it to be able to use this machine better. If you don’t have experience, you can go to the Internet to search for some tutorials on how to use a pneumatic engraving machine. However, you can’t just read the tutorials and start using it, you can choose some metals that aren’t very valuable and practice on them first. You can choose some not very precious metals to practice on first, and then you can really get your hands on the actual operation.

What is the process of hand carving like?

1. Determine your engraving concept

Before carving a pattern design, you have to determine what kind of carving concept you have. The concept of engraving is the style of your design, the values you want to express, and the approximate shape of the design, etc. If you are designing for a client, then you should always communicate and exchange ideas until your engraving is ready. If your carving is designed for the customer, then you have to communicate with the customer at any time until your carving concept can reach agreement.

2. graphic design

After you have decided on the design concept, you can then determine what the exact pattern you are going to engrave will look like. When engraving you will have to outline the item. There are many ways to outline a design, and here is one of the easiest methods, which is printing with smoke. For this method, you will need something like a kerosene lamp or a candle that produces smoke.

When using smoke to color engraved metal, it is best to place the metal at a certain height from the flame to prevent the surface of the metal from being heated (especially if the metal contains materials that are not heat resistant). If you feel you can’t control this method mentioned above. There is another one, which is to use printer ink to make a drawing pattern. When the surface of the metal is blackened, you can tape over the area. Then remove the tape and the metal will show the appropriate pattern. The next thing you will want to do is to etch more detailed patterns, such as boundary lines, onto the surface of the metal. You can choose to use a white pen to draw on the metal so you can see it more clearly. It will also be easier for you to engrave later.

3. Formal engraving of motifs

Your next step is to choose any of the above mentioned carving tools (push carving knives, chisels and hammers and pneumatic carvers). However, you will need to use your imagination in this step, as the shape of the engraving tool will vary from one tool to the next, depending on the type of blade. Even the same engraving tool will produce different results depending on the angle of the engraving. And you need to pay attention to the process of carving to maintain the unity of the carving style, try to avoid the style of particularly contradictory lines and patterns at the same time.

4. Choice of engraving technique

When it comes to engraving, you will need to have some specific plans based on the engraving technique you choose. If you’re going for a relief type of engraving, then you’ll need to consider in which sections you’ll be removing the metal. Then there is the precious metal inlay process, where you may need to cut very small volumes of gold, silver, or some other type of metal and whack it into the appropriate areas. When performing these steps, you will ideally want to tool the thickness of the metal you are inlaying to cut an incision of the appropriate depth. Sometimes we call these cuts “pockets”. If a small channel is cut inside the pocket, this shape of cut is called a “dovetail”. When gold is hammered into a dovetail, it is very stable. The reason for this is that the metal expands as it is hammered, expanding to the bottom of the dovetail, and eventually achieving a fixed effect.

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