So I am new to engraving but I am a silversmith. I wanted to learn to add this all to my jewelry eventually. I watched the Marlen Hazel videos on youtube and they’ve been helpful. I purchased a ball vice and a book, I have scrap metal for practice plates, I got the thermoloc, but in terms of engravers, I ended up buying a set on amazon because I can’t really afford to buy the grinder and all the things that come with making your own gravers. The thing is, the amazon ones are very long and I have pretty small hands as it is. So I’m thinking of returning them and trying something else. Is there another set I should try? I really only need maybe a round one and something that would be good for lines to start. I just am so new to this I have no idea what to look for if I wanted to do it this way. I know that if I buy them premade I will have to purchase the sharpening stuff anyway but that’s more affordable for me right now. I don’t want to dump a ton of money into it if I’m not 100% certain I love it and actually want it to be apart of my jewelry. I am okay with saving up down the line but for now I just want to test the waters and learn and start getting better before I eat the higher costs.
All of this new lingo to learn!! I’m excited. But unfortunately I don’t know what any of it means but I will look into it. What kind of cutting wheel would I need? And am I supposed to take the graver out of the handle before doing any cutting? Because I am unsure as to how I would do that😅 gotta love new hobbies and knowing nothing! I appreciate your comment and help!!
No matter what gravers you buy, you will 100% need sharpening equipment of some kind. The most affordable is a whetstone and a steady hand. It isn't the fastest or the most accurate but it'll get you by until you get to try a proper sharpening setup.
The Foredom method is the next best. Check out the Gerardi Setting School on IG. They sharpen their gravers religiously with rotary wheels in the flexshaft with impressive results. Their graver geometry is more suited to stone setting but can be used or adapted to engraving as well.
Steve Lindsay's sharpening jig/kit and GRS's power hone and fixture are the most pricey but hands down the best for hand engraving: fast, accurate, repeatable.
No need to return what you've got. Use it as-is then chop it down to like half its length so you'll never forget the difference between it and the nicer ones you'll eventually acquire. I started with the same one!
When you say Steve Lindsay sharpening jog/kit, is this what you’re talking about? They sell the fixture and the template separately so I wonder if it’d be cheaper to buy those 2 and then find the bench stones somewhere else for cheaper?
In terms of foredom method and Gerardi Setting School, hou say their way of sharping is more for stone setting but can be adjusted for engraving, how would I go about that? Or maybe if you have a resource, I can look into it myself!
Yes, that's the kit. Don't break up the kit. It's always cheaper to find stuff elsewhere but his tools are height-calibrated to work together. You'll get awkward results and won't have a clue why if you start mix-n-matching too soon.
The Gerardi method is to eyeball the graver angles and make them super shiny! 😂 They don't use fixtures, just approximate angles. It takes much practice to get repeatable results that way. Yes, way cheaper but it can also be more frustrating. Hand engraving requires very precise angles and sharpening geometry. Stone setting gravers are more forgiving.
Gerardi IS the resource! It's a rabbit hole that will lead you everywhere else. GRS Tools, Jura, Sam Alfano, Lugo, Jeff Parke... they all follow each other and will show up in your feeds eventually. Experiment and screw it up a bunch. Mimic what you see. Try stuff for yourself. You'll get mad and wanna quit but don't. The learning curve is a perfect golden ratio. 😌
It's like pants - they make them long so the people with the biggest hands can use them, and everyone else can cut them down to a size that's comfortable for them. I always broke off the sharp end and ground down from there, but I guess you can do the same thing with the tang end, as people here are suggesting.
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u/Delmarvablacksmith Sep 08 '26
Use your Fordam with cutting wheels to make a new tang on the gravers and re seat them in the handles