I knew an Australian knife & gun engraver called Geoff Wilkins, his sketch books were amazingly detailed. He would also dovetail his lines and inlay dovetails with gold or silver wire, flattened out to lock them in. We all called him Tap Tap, as that was the sound always coming from his room.
Thanks for showing us your first sketches and giving estimates on a realistic time frame when it comes to practice. Lots of people try something and observe that they suck, so they quit. Getting the reassurance, from someone who does stellar work, that they too sucked until they didn't can be quite the aid for some people.
I was thinking the same thing. I saw those first spiral drawings and thought they'd look very similar to how I'd draw it at the moment 😄 and considering clickspring as some sort of wizard, it's surprising that he actually did also suck once (sorry man)
I was watching a renowned knifesmith talk about practice and skill levels, and he started off with "See this thing? The uneven grind lines, the off kilter block of wood serving as a handle? See how it's awful, even before we compare it to this pretty one? It's the first knife I ever made. They always look like that when you start, just keep practicing."
It's refreshing to see an incredibly skilled artist share their rough beginner's work and talk about the realistic time investment and discipline necessary to get to the level they're at. I've heard countless times people claim "talent" is why they can't do certain artforms like the greats they look up to. The great ones aren't talented either, they just put in A LOT of work and effort you haven't seen. If it was quick and easy, everyone would do it.
I’ve sketched all my life, and I’m entering my 2nd year of woodworking. Now that I’m looking at doing metal work, it’s amazing and quite a relief to see how well one’s practice in an area like sketch or wood chisels, can translate to another skill. For you folks that’s just starting out, practice on one thing will actually carry over to these other skills and it’ll build your confidence and experience. I can’t wait to make my first set of gravers!
Ooohhh WOW! You don't mess around!!! Seriously you spent the time to master something, and I know you'll say that you aren't as good as the "masters"... while I understand that sentiment, but don't kid yourself either, you've entered into a realm that few do in a lifetime... Congratulations on that and a beautiful engraving as well! Cheers.
i was lucky enough to get taught the bare fundementals of engraving at school (studying to be a silversmith currently) before the engraving teacher retired. my school engraving kit existed of no more than 3 push gravers, a piece of plywood to nail a plate to (we had these tiny brass nails to do that with) and a leather pillow to spin that piece of wood on. and it was essentially all that was needed to cut any work, as long as it was on a flat plate. this video has made me realize though, that there is a giant hole in my education (maybe because it was cut short, or maybe because we werent getting schooled to be engravers) that has kindoff left me struggling to grow any further. we never had any form of engraving design or anything like it, i guess ill have to pick up the pencil and teach myself. not the first time ive found myself thinking my education is too technical and not enough design oriented
Morning Chris! Thanks for the great video. Aside from doing your own projects, there is something very satisfying about watching someone create beautiful work - so thank you, your videos are much appreciated.
Hi Chris, you make engraving look easy but then you are a true craftsman. Everything you do is high quality and I can understand why you would want to get into engraving. Thanks for sharing.
Ron Smith is great. I had the chance to meet him a few years back and he gave me pointers before I got started in engraving. Incredibly humble for a man with so much talent!
Leather craft makes for some very nice patterns.the tools are different, but cutting leather with a knife then using the various impressing tools helps visualize some nice designs.
Really nice, I'm doing leather work because it's what I can do in an apartment, and many of the artistic lessons in this video can be applied for leather engraving.
Clickspring guy is my hero. For now, most of my time is spent at a decent but boring job and house improvements but some day I hope to spend a lot of time on awesome projects.
When we see a finished project and the apparent ease of the engraving process then one of the great questions asked about work of this standard is - "How long does it take to develop this level of skill?" We can get a strong clue from the "... at least one hour per day for the first six months ..." comment. The pictures showing the sketches that have been conveniently dated with dates that are in late 2018 four and a half to five years before this video was made.
Your videos are always so stunning. The quality of your craftsmanship of what you make, to include the video shooting and production, are precise and beautiful. Thanks for your channel.
Chris, this is my first ever TH-cam comment after many many years. You are an absolute legend and I love everything you do. This video is a stand out, your meticulous eye for detail and determination is something to savour. It truly is a pleasure to watch. Thank you.
Love the look behind the shed door. You sound like me, you are never to old to learn something new. Love how explain the ways you go about thins end to end.
i had gotten interested in engraving a few years back and while i didn't drop a few thousand on the fancy tools i did buy a good set of mixed geometry gravers from GRS and some of the manual push handles to hold them and it was a lot cheaper at about ~$300 USD. though sadly the "brass" plate i had picked up was a zinc alloy and it doesn't carve well at all... so that is another high price point to get into engraving is the cost of brass sheets, i suppose you could with a light hand flatten out some soda cans or get some aluminum sheets to play with or even go with steel but you'll e sharpening your gravers a lot more often.
The take away for me (and many other too judging by the comments) is the circa 200 hours of drawing practice before you really stuck your teeth into making carved pieces. That's fantastic commitment of course, but also truly tells a story about what might be needed to be able to produce work of this quality. Fantastic video and a life lesson thrown in too!
That's a good idea for a video actually. Making an engraver. ThisOldTony made an air powered chisel on his lathe and mill, so I imagine the engraver is just a teeny tiny Sherline-sized one of the same. Smaller mass inside means higher frequency and lower amplitude.
How do you think people can afford to plonk down $1500 for a semi-professional setup, such as shown in video? Go ahead and check the prices. ;-) Seriously, plates for money are engraved using doodling machines for patterns, exactly to prevent people like Chris from making their own plates. Look up videos, it is fascinating.
I’m a woodworker and I seem to always glean something from your videos. I’ve been wanting to do some scroll work in a few pieces but have been very intimidated by the process! Thank you for some helpful tips!
I've always been partial to bright cutting IE: straight line and rose engine. Art deco, hard edges, angles, geometric patterns... The equipment is in short supply so I've been doing it in CAD/CAM cutting with V cutters on the CNC machine. Also the "jeweling" or "engine turning" on more modern watches has always caught my eye. A book that sparked the interest for me was Herbert Maryon "Metalwork and Enamelling".
Sir, your enthusiasm is unmatched. Great to see a fellow Oz man getting into it and mastering this highly challenging gem of artistic profession. Let us see some lettering work from you.
Chris, I really enjoyed this tutorial on how to engrave for a new beginner. Your videos, no matter the subject, are always so well done! You're one of the few, and i mean a few influencers on TH-cam that are at the top " How to " revealing instructional videos in my book! Keep up the great work, 👍👍👍 🤜🍺🍺🤛Columbus Michigan
I have a friend that engraves drums and is extremely good at it and was a drummer. I do not have the patience for it but I enjoy watching it. Also just got back from Greece and went to the museum finally and saw the Antikythera. It was not as big as I thought it would be and there were a number of recreations around it on display as well. Got a few pics but they had a polarizer in front of it to bring out the details which made it hard to get a good pic from the front but you could get from the sides some. IIRC the ticket price was like $8euro. Nice museum and it's going to be really big after the expansion they are about to start is done.
I love your use of the term "knock up"! Been watching your stuff for years and you don't just 'knock up' anything... even your scriber is exquisite! Oh and by the way, thank you for adding yet another line to my list of things I want to try but haven't got the time for! 😂 Keep up the good work and good luck cobba! 👍
Honestly thought you studied under some old time master the first time you displayed your engraving on the Byzantine clock project. Amazed to learn you just picked up some books and DVDs, and learned on your own. I did similar with silk screening. I wanted to silk screen, picked up some DVDs, read some books, asked questions on online forums, learned by doing and made mistakes. Silk screening isn't as... visually impressive as metal engraving, but I was extremely proud of myself for my silk screening haha
Lovely to see a skill that can still be completely analogue. Digital curves are made up of straight lines - albeit very small ones - whereas an analogue curve is infinitely smooth. I know an engraver often uses air percussion or a hammer and lots of potentially jerky tapping, but the tool point is still 'turned' gently round the bends by hand. It's rather like the business of sound recording (I'm a musician, of sorts). Digital audio is sampled thousands of times a second to recreate sound that's a series of exceedingly tiny square steps, whilst an analogue recording on vinyl or tape often sounds... warmer. Softer. Smoother. Sigh. I wish MY curves looked as smooth as those, Chris... 👙👀
In USD $ a bit over 2000 for the power graver, 500 for the handle, 500-1000 for the vise, 3000 for the microscope and stand, 30 for one graver and toolholder, 1000 to 1500 for the hone. Professional kit is definitely an investment.
I’m (very slowly) trying to teach myself engraving, mostly for jewellery and enamelling applications. I’d say that along with lots and lots of practice at drawing and engraving , getting the sharpening of tools right is extremely important. It’s far easier if you’ve got a fixture to help get the angles absolutely correct, crisp and above all sharp. Doing it by hand is possible but a very skilled operation. I’m going to make a similar jig to the Lindsay sharpening template system, it’s easy and cheap to put together, is accurate, and can be used on just about any sharpening stone, diamond plate or even with something like the GRS power hone. Steve Lindsay’s engraving equipment is second to none, unfortunately along with the superb quality comes an eye watering price tag which gets even more ruinous when you convert to Aussie dollars and add postage. I’m going to have a go at making my own version of his pneumatic hand piece with my new lathe, I’m sure it won’t be as good but it’ll be a fun and educational project!
Have you ever thought about trying to tattoo yourself, or someone else? Im not a tattooist, or even thinking about one, but the dedication you have already put in would leave you in a good place to understand the nuances and design of art on the skin. That or at least get a self-designed piece for yourself!
Lovely work Chris! I have taught myself some engraving skills but do not have the time to reach your level. I use a Steve Lindsay Classic and his sharping jigs but Sam is a consummate artist and his site is chock full of great teaching too. I got into the engraving after joining Steve's and Sam's sites. I'm in Perth WA
Always wondered how long the ornate designs on ancient and modern shotguns took to engrave. Not something I am going to get into now, but thoroughly enjoyed your introduction here. Thank you.
Brilliant, such skill. Amy update on the antikythera machine yet, i found that build series extremely fascinating as i`m big into ancient architecture and technology.
HI - just the video i've longed to see ! It turned me on again but to make my own power tool hammer/engraver i the first place because I think it's "the motor" of the whole process - and I love to make tools I can use later.
Thanks for the video! A versatile guy who knows how to keep going on the job! Sound advice, good sound/video and pleasing voice/axcent! Not sure, could be Australian?
This is great Chris, thanks so much! I always wanted to know how you got started and developed your engraving skills. I'm definitely going to give this a go, especially the drawing because that's a skill I'd love to have in and of itself. Cheers from Geelong!
You and Uri Tuchman need to make a video together. He's a master at this kind of engraving but I think he appreciates your precision abilities. Would be great to see your talents come together.
Iv seen videos on here by a British guy who shows how to make a power engraver with a modified tyre inflator type compressor and plumbing fittings as a hand piece. I can’t find them now but there are others doing the same for anybody wanting to give it a go.
Is that Rodico or duct seal you're holding the work piece with? There's a small book called "The Art of Mechanical Drawing" by William F Willard, it's old but has many helpful instructions for home learning mechanical drawing. Engraving is scratching geometrical figures in metal, so its very similar.
I was just thinking to contact you via your channel to ask how to get started on learning engraving, looked up your channel, and here was this video. That's some expensive gear! Think I'll start with a chasing hammer hahaha
Inkscape a free application that is worth learning if you want to play with a lot of design work and it has a very handy spiral tool, however I do acknowledge the value of hand sketching. One handy method for getting your head around producing clean flowing complex curves is to draw a freehand squiggle then draw horizontal and vertical lines at each point where the curve crosses one or both axis, this reveals to you that many curves can be seen as series of elliptical quadrants. Do you think that there is any benefit in initially photo etching a design to jumpstart the metal removal and help guide the hand cuts that are used to finish the piece?
I love your work and have a question. Have you ever whittled away your pencils, trying to produce the perfect faceted point? ✏️ Chronic whittler syndrome? Thanks so much for the links. I worked replacing portions of these designs for a living for various types of restoration. They have always fascinated me. Especially the foliage. I wouldn’t think of putting tool to material without sketching first.
I knew an Australian knife & gun engraver called Geoff Wilkins, his sketch books were amazingly detailed. He would also dovetail his lines and inlay dovetails with gold or silver wire, flattened out to lock them in. We all called him Tap Tap, as that was the sound always coming from his room.
Thanks for showing us your first sketches and giving estimates on a realistic time frame when it comes to practice. Lots of people try something and observe that they suck, so they quit. Getting the reassurance, from someone who does stellar work, that they too sucked until they didn't can be quite the aid for some people.
Yes! Far too many people think that masters are just born into it. It both diminishes the masters' hard work and hinders their own development.
@@lerikhkl My respects to you, that is a very enlightened comment - thank you. I tend to suffer from that syndrome more often than I would like.
I was thinking the same thing. I saw those first spiral drawings and thought they'd look very similar to how I'd draw it at the moment 😄 and considering clickspring as some sort of wizard, it's surprising that he actually did also suck once (sorry man)
I was watching a renowned knifesmith talk about practice and skill levels, and he started off with "See this thing? The uneven grind lines, the off kilter block of wood serving as a handle? See how it's awful, even before we compare it to this pretty one? It's the first knife I ever made. They always look like that when you start, just keep practicing."
We all have to learn skills from the day we are born. It's just that as kids we don't give ourselves the option of quitting, that comes later.
It's refreshing to see an incredibly skilled artist share their rough beginner's work and talk about the realistic time investment and discipline necessary to get to the level they're at. I've heard countless times people claim "talent" is why they can't do certain artforms like the greats they look up to. The great ones aren't talented either, they just put in A LOT of work and effort you haven't seen.
If it was quick and easy, everyone would do it.
I’ve sketched all my life, and I’m entering my 2nd year of woodworking. Now that I’m looking at doing metal work, it’s amazing and quite a relief to see how well one’s practice in an area like sketch or wood chisels, can translate to another skill. For you folks that’s just starting out, practice on one thing will actually carry over to these other skills and it’ll build your confidence and experience. I can’t wait to make my first set of gravers!
Oh great, yet another rabbit hole for me to wander down! 🙂
Ooohhh WOW! You don't mess around!!! Seriously you spent the time to master something, and I know you'll say that you aren't as good as the "masters"... while I understand that sentiment, but don't kid yourself either, you've entered into a realm that few do in a lifetime... Congratulations on that and a beautiful engraving as well! Cheers.
i was lucky enough to get taught the bare fundementals of engraving at school (studying to be a silversmith currently) before the engraving teacher retired.
my school engraving kit existed of no more than 3 push gravers, a piece of plywood to nail a plate to (we had these tiny brass nails to do that with) and a leather pillow to spin that piece of wood on.
and it was essentially all that was needed to cut any work, as long as it was on a flat plate.
this video has made me realize though, that there is a giant hole in my education (maybe because it was cut short, or maybe because we werent getting schooled to be engravers) that has kindoff left me struggling to grow any further. we never had any form of engraving design or anything like it, i guess ill have to pick up the pencil and teach myself.
not the first time ive found myself thinking my education is too technical and not enough design oriented
I'd say pick some simple-looking flower to engrave, and keep some notes of everything else that you think of to engrave while you're working on it.
that really gives a scale of how much work you put into these projects.
Morning Chris! Thanks for the great video. Aside from doing your own projects, there is something very satisfying about watching someone create beautiful work - so thank you, your videos are much appreciated.
Hi Chris, you make engraving look easy but then you are a true craftsman. Everything you do is high quality and I can understand why you would want to get into engraving. Thanks for sharing.
Ron Smith is great. I had the chance to meet him a few years back and he gave me pointers before I got started in engraving. Incredibly humble for a man with so much talent!
Chris, thanks for this video. You are a life-long learner; willing to spend the time acquiring a new skill.
Oh no. I was recently tempted by this rabbit hole myself. This surely won't help me avoid another hobby! Excellent timing!
Whoops! Here we go again!
"Putting in the work" applies to any skill you wish to acquire. Great video, and message!
Leather craft makes for some very nice patterns.the tools are different, but cutting leather with a knife then using the various impressing tools helps visualize some nice designs.
Really nice, I'm doing leather work because it's what I can do in an apartment, and many of the artistic lessons in this video can be applied for leather engraving.
Thanks for the great camera work you do so often.
Thanks Chris, much appreciated :)
Clickspring guy is my hero. For now, most of my time is spent at a decent but boring job and house improvements but some day I hope to spend a lot of time on awesome projects.
When we see a finished project and the apparent ease of the engraving process then one of the great questions asked about work of this standard is - "How long does it take to develop this level of skill?"
We can get a strong clue from the "... at least one hour per day for the first six months ..." comment.
The pictures showing the sketches that have been conveniently dated with dates that are in late 2018 four and a half to five years before this video was made.
Your videos are always so stunning. The quality of your craftsmanship of what you make, to include the video shooting and production, are precise and beautiful. Thanks for your channel.
Took my plunge into engraving at 59, absolutely love it!
I don't think a beginner's guide and how to could have been explained as good as that. Awesome 👌
I'm 70 yrs old now. I wish I would have been able to see your videos when I was 14 yrs old. I would be a different person now.
I'm literally always astonished at the craftsmanship of Clicksrping
Chris, this is my first ever TH-cam comment after many many years. You are an absolute legend and I love everything you do. This video is a stand out, your meticulous eye for detail and determination is something to savour. It truly is a pleasure to watch. Thank you.
Thank you mate, terrific to have you watching :)
what a great road map. outline and time frame was very helpful
Great idea to learn to sketch well first, and then transition to engraving. Similar to sculpting with clay before moving onto stones.
Love the look behind the shed door. You sound like me, you are never to old to learn something new. Love how explain the ways you go about thins end to end.
Great timing, i just started engraving yesterday using the engraver design you showed us in the antikythera mechanism video
Great video Chris, thanks for showing your early work and learning process.
So much talent and hearing your enthusiasm makes me understand why you have the talent. Thank you for sharing these videos.
i had gotten interested in engraving a few years back and while i didn't drop a few thousand on the fancy tools i did buy a good set of mixed geometry gravers from GRS and some of the manual push handles to hold them and it was a lot cheaper at about ~$300 USD. though sadly the "brass" plate i had picked up was a zinc alloy and it doesn't carve well at all... so that is another high price point to get into engraving is the cost of brass sheets, i suppose you could with a light hand flatten out some soda cans or get some aluminum sheets to play with or even go with steel but you'll e sharpening your gravers a lot more often.
The take away for me (and many other too judging by the comments) is the circa 200 hours of drawing practice before you really stuck your teeth into making carved pieces. That's fantastic commitment of course, but also truly tells a story about what might be needed to be able to produce work of this quality. Fantastic video and a life lesson thrown in too!
Thank you Chris! I've been considering trying out engraving and it will be good to see how you started.
"Eye-wateringly expensive." Imma use that one. Excellent vid, Chris.
That's a good idea for a video actually. Making an engraver. ThisOldTony made an air powered chisel on his lathe and mill, so I imagine the engraver is just a teeny tiny Sherline-sized one of the same. Smaller mass inside means higher frequency and lower amplitude.
Can you make a $100 bill plate?
He made an antikythera mechanism from scratch. Of course he can make a minting press plate!
How do you think people can afford to plonk down $1500 for a semi-professional setup, such as shown in video? Go ahead and check the prices. ;-)
Seriously, plates for money are engraved using doodling machines for patterns, exactly to prevent people like Chris from making their own plates. Look up videos, it is fascinating.
@@first_namelast_name4923 I watched a counterfeiter story on YT last night. He was good and just got too greedy.
No, officer, i can't
Why, what could you ever do with that?
Repeatedly you show us what an incredible learner and craftsman you really are. Your skill is stunning!
Wow, it's incredible how fast you learn a skill.
Linoleum is a nice medium to start with to learn carving lines. And it's cheap too.
I’m a woodworker and I seem to always glean something from your videos. I’ve been wanting to do some scroll work in a few pieces but have been very intimidated by the process! Thank you for some helpful tips!
I would happily watch hours-long videos of you engraving
This is excellent, thanks for posting. It's always so much fun to learn about a new area.
I've always been partial to bright cutting IE: straight line and rose engine. Art deco, hard edges, angles, geometric patterns... The equipment is in short supply so I've been doing it in CAD/CAM cutting with V cutters on the CNC machine. Also the "jeweling" or "engine turning" on more modern watches has always caught my eye. A book that sparked the interest for me was Herbert Maryon "Metalwork and Enamelling".
Sir, your enthusiasm is unmatched. Great to see a fellow Oz man getting into it and mastering this highly challenging gem of artistic profession.
Let us see some lettering work from you.
What a fantastic tutorial. Great insight into getting started.
Thank you, very interesting insight into something I love watching you do but had never contemplated doing myself!
Amazing work! Great job picking up a craft like this and excelling!
Chris, I really enjoyed this tutorial on how to engrave for a new beginner. Your videos, no matter the subject, are always so well done!
You're one of the few, and i mean a few influencers on TH-cam that are at the top " How to " revealing instructional videos in my book! Keep up the great work, 👍👍👍 🤜🍺🍺🤛Columbus Michigan
I wish there were a "double thumbs up" rating because that's what I would give every one of your videos! Lovely!
Thank you and God bless you sir!!!!!
I have a friend that engraves drums and is extremely good at it and was a drummer. I do not have the patience for it but I enjoy watching it. Also just got back from Greece and went to the museum finally and saw the Antikythera. It was not as big as I thought it would be and there were a number of recreations around it on display as well. Got a few pics but they had a polarizer in front of it to bring out the details which made it hard to get a good pic from the front but you could get from the sides some. IIRC the ticket price was like $8euro. Nice museum and it's going to be really big after the expansion they are about to start is done.
Love this channel. “Here’s my attempts at engraving” better than some that have been doing it for years 🤣🤣 awesome dude thanks.
It's interesting that many of the scroll and leaf designs are similar to what is done with leather carving.
Great video I throughly enjoyed watching
Thanks for the video, really put things into perspective.
Awe inspiring Chris.👍👍
Thank you for the extremely useful heads up on methods for attaining this skill!
I love your use of the term "knock up"!
Been watching your stuff for years and you don't just 'knock up' anything... even your scriber is exquisite!
Oh and by the way, thank you for adding yet another line to my list of things I want to try but haven't got the time for! 😂
Keep up the good work and good luck cobba! 👍
WOW! Thanks Chris!
Very educational!
This is a good wealth of information! Thank you so much!
Honestly thought you studied under some old time master the first time you displayed your engraving on the Byzantine clock project.
Amazed to learn you just picked up some books and DVDs, and learned on your own.
I did similar with silk screening. I wanted to silk screen, picked up some DVDs, read some books, asked questions on online forums, learned by doing and made mistakes. Silk screening isn't as... visually impressive as metal engraving, but I was extremely proud of myself for my silk screening haha
Next week 'Hi this is Adam Savage here from my cave with a show and tell about a rabbit hole I've fallen down lately: ENGRAVING'
wow, major dedication!
Lovely to see a skill that can still be completely analogue. Digital curves are made up of straight lines - albeit very small ones - whereas an analogue curve is infinitely smooth. I know an engraver often uses air percussion or a hammer and lots of potentially jerky tapping, but the tool point is still 'turned' gently round the bends by hand.
It's rather like the business of sound recording (I'm a musician, of sorts). Digital audio is sampled thousands of times a second to recreate sound that's a series of exceedingly tiny square steps, whilst an analogue recording on vinyl or tape often sounds... warmer. Softer. Smoother.
Sigh. I wish MY curves looked as smooth as those, Chris... 👙👀
In USD $ a bit over 2000 for the power graver, 500 for the handle, 500-1000 for the vise, 3000 for the microscope and stand, 30 for one graver and toolholder, 1000 to 1500 for the hone. Professional kit is definitely an investment.
Luv everything you do ❤
I feel like I speak for all of us when I say it's a little daunting hearing you call yourself a beginner. We've seen your Chris Ramsay video
GRS uses an air pulse and spring.
Alternatively, the tool can create the pneumatic pulse- Steve Lindsay and his AirGraver.
I’m (very slowly) trying to teach myself engraving, mostly for jewellery and enamelling applications. I’d say that along with lots and lots of practice at drawing and engraving , getting the sharpening of tools right is extremely important. It’s far easier if you’ve got a fixture to help get the angles absolutely correct, crisp and above all sharp. Doing it by hand is possible but a very skilled operation. I’m going to make a similar jig to the Lindsay sharpening template system, it’s easy and cheap to put together, is accurate, and can be used on just about any sharpening stone, diamond plate or even with something like the GRS power hone. Steve Lindsay’s engraving equipment is second to none, unfortunately along with the superb quality comes an eye watering price tag which gets even more ruinous when you convert to Aussie dollars and add postage. I’m going to have a go at making my own version of his pneumatic hand piece with my new lathe, I’m sure it won’t be as good but it’ll be a fun and educational project!
Have you ever thought about trying to tattoo yourself, or someone else?
Im not a tattooist, or even thinking about one, but the dedication you have already put in would leave you in a good place to understand the nuances and design of art on the skin.
That or at least get a self-designed piece for yourself!
Lovely work Chris!
I have taught myself some engraving skills but do not have the time to reach your level.
I use a Steve Lindsay Classic and his sharping jigs but Sam is a consummate artist and his site is chock full of great teaching too.
I got into the engraving after joining Steve's and Sam's sites.
I'm in Perth WA
The engraving is almost as good as his voiceovers. Lots of skills are on display on this channel.
Chris has so many high level talents across a range of different skill sets that if he wasn't a fellow Aussie, I might just end up jealous of him!😅
Always wondered how long the ornate designs on ancient and modern shotguns took to engrave.
Not something I am going to get into now, but thoroughly enjoyed your introduction here. Thank you.
Brilliant, such skill. Amy update on the antikythera machine yet, i found that build series extremely fascinating as i`m big into ancient architecture and technology.
HI - just the video i've longed to see !
It turned me on again but to make my own power tool hammer/engraver i the first place because I think it's "the motor" of the whole process - and I love to make tools I can use later.
Wonderful information. Thank you very much 😊
Nice... Very nice. Again!
You blow my mind.
outstanding results.
Thanks for the video!
A versatile guy who knows how to keep going on the job!
Sound advice, good sound/video and pleasing voice/axcent!
Not sure, could be Australian?
This is great Chris, thanks so much! I always wanted to know how you got started and developed your engraving skills.
I'm definitely going to give this a go, especially the drawing because that's a skill I'd love to have in and of itself.
Cheers from Geelong!
Very impressive 😊
Thanks so much for your video... very informative. Do you have any longer videos of the sketching process?
Thanks for sharing 👍
Wow! Great work!
Started a Family Coat of Arms in wood 12mths ago, hard on the hands. Perhaps metal engraving is worth a go awesome insight into techniques... thanks.
This series is epic!🔥🙌💯
You and Uri Tuchman need to make a video together. He's a master at this kind of engraving but I think he appreciates your precision abilities. Would be great to see your talents come together.
Lee Griffiths Art and Design fundamentals book/Dvd for drawing scrollwork. 😊
Great stuff 👍 I'd love to give engraving a go sometime. 😎
Still looks like devil magic to me, but, what is the purple material used to hold the workplace to the ball vice?
Hello mate - Thermo-Loc. Softens with heat, an excellent all round workholder for awkward engraving shapes - Cheers :)
Iv seen videos on here by a British guy who shows how to make a power engraver with a modified tyre inflator type compressor and plumbing fittings as a hand piece. I can’t find them now but there are others doing the same for anybody wanting to give it a go.
Great content as always
Great video as always 👍👍
Hats off!
Is that Rodico or duct seal you're holding the work piece with? There's a small book called "The Art of Mechanical Drawing" by William F Willard, it's old but has many helpful instructions for home learning mechanical drawing. Engraving is scratching geometrical figures in metal, so its very similar.
Excellent vid.
I was just thinking to contact you via your channel to ask how to get started on learning engraving, looked up your channel, and here was this video. That's some expensive gear! Think I'll start with a chasing hammer hahaha
Inkscape a free application that is worth learning if you want to play with a lot of design work and it has a very handy spiral tool, however I do acknowledge the value of hand sketching. One handy method for getting your head around producing clean flowing complex curves is to draw a freehand squiggle then draw horizontal and vertical lines at each point where the curve crosses one or both axis, this reveals to you that many curves can be seen as series of elliptical quadrants. Do you think that there is any benefit in initially photo etching a design to jumpstart the metal removal and help guide the hand cuts that are used to finish the piece?
I love your work and have a question.
Have you ever whittled away your pencils, trying to
produce the perfect faceted point? ✏️
Chronic whittler syndrome?
Thanks so much for the links. I worked replacing portions of these designs for a living for various types of restoration. They have always fascinated me. Especially the foliage. I wouldn’t think of putting tool to material without sketching first.