Metal engraving is the art of engraving designs or words on metal surfaces. Metal engraving is not only found in jewelry, but also in our daily life. In addition to making items more beautiful, engraving is also very practical. Take ring engraving as an example, if your ring is accidentally lost, you can retrieve your ring by virtue of the pattern engraved on your ring. Another example is the serial number on the machine, which can help us quickly identify the category of the machine.
What is hand carving?
There are many different methods of engraving metal, with the technique of hand engraving having been around the longest. Hand engraving metal is the use of hand engraving tools to carve a specific pattern on the surface of the metal material. Hand engraving is not only one of the oldest engraving methods in metal engraving, but also one of the longest-existing engraving methods in other material engraving processes. Hand engraving means that the entire engraving process is done by hand by the engraver. Hand carving this carving method for the carver's requirements are very high. If you do not have enough experience in carving, then you will not be able to skillfully use the carving tools.
There is actually another name for hand-carving called "push carving". Why is it called "push engraving"? This is because in the process of hand carving, the carver will often make a move to push the carving tool into the metal.
Hand engraving is better suited for softer metals such as gold, silver or brass. That doesn't mean that you can't carve harder metals, but the process is a little more labor intensive. You may also need to use some tools like a hammer.
Although the actual efficiency of hand engraving is not very high and is not suitable for producing products in large quantities. But hand engraving is still loved by many. A big part of the reason is that each hand-carved piece is irreproducible. That's why many jewelers offer hand engraving as an additional service to selling jewelry to attract more customers.
What are the tools I need to use for hand carving?
Although hand carving has been around for thousands of years since it existed, the basic process has not changed much. Below is an introduction to some of the basic tools. You can use them as a reference if you want to try hand carving yourself at home.
Carving Knife: A carving knife is one of the most important tools for hand carving, and there are many different types of carving knives. Here are a few examples of the most frequently used types of knives.
- Flat Head Engraving Knife:Flat head engraving knives are mainly used for large area engraving, such as engraving shadows.
- Round head carving knife: suitable for carving some semi-depressed patterns.
- Pointed carving knife: suitable for carving some thin lines, or some other details.
- V-shaped engraving knife: V-shaped engraving knife can be used to deepen the outline of the engraved pattern, but also very suitable for engraving letters.
Ball vise: unlike ordinary vise, hand engraving is better to use special ball vise to fix the engraving parts. When you buy a ball vise, the business will give you some accessories. These accessories can help you carve many different shapes of engraving materials.
Sharpening stone: after a long time of carving tools, more or less will occur a certain degree of wear and tear. If the carving tool is very blunt, the carving out of the effect is also very unsatisfactory. At this time, the sharpening stone is very important. However, the use of sharpening stones also requires certain skills. A good sharpening stone will keep the engraving tool sharp all the time.
But now the use of purely manual engraving tools are gradually becoming less and less people, because purely manual engraving tools are not good to operate, and the actual work efficiency is not very high, so now there are a lot of engraving craftsmen will choose to use the pneumatic engraver for their work tools.
How do you hand engrave metal?
It is important to note here that hand carving is something that takes a long time to practice. So, a lot of the details are only learned through your own personal experience.
- PATTERN DESIGN: Before engraving, you should draw the pattern you want to engrave on paper first, or use a computer to draw the pattern first and then print it out. If you are not familiar with the engraving process, you can print out the engraving pattern on vinyl sticker paper first.
- Cleaning the metal: Before you start engraving, it is better for you to do a thorough cleaning of the engraving material. Here you can buy a professional jewelry cleaner and then carefully wipe the engraving material with a soft cleaning cloth. If you don't have the means to purchase a cleaner, you can also use diluted soapy water to clean the metal. In fact, the cleaning effect of both is more or less the same.
- Choose the right engraving tool: here you need to depend on the pattern you want to engrave, if you choose the engraving machine, you can replace the corresponding engraving head.
- Fix the metal: you can use a professional engraving jig or a ball vise to fix the engraving material. The purpose of securing the engraving material is to allow you to engrave better and to reduce the probability of you hurting your hand during the engraving process.
- Start carving: Get out your carving tools and let's start the formal carving. In the beginning, you can start by drawing a rough outline on the carving material and then gradually add the details of the carving pattern. This process may take you a lot of time, which is all very normal. Also, it is a good idea for you to have a metal scraper on hand to scrape off excess metal shavings as you carve.
- Finishing touches: After the carving work is completed, you can apply a layer of protective paint or other protective material on the carved part. In addition, you can also polish the carving material to give the carving a more glossy look.
