Brian H. contest submission Engraved Nude folder

[Brian Hochstrat]

If you would like to comment on this submission, you may do so by posting a reply in this thread. Thanks! Kaitlin



I am working on a job now that I think will lend itself well to a tutorial. It is a simple interframe folder, no switches, slide pockets, just a straight forward Kious model 6. The design request was for a nude. That also simplifies things being all that is needed is a single subject posed. So first thing lets look at the knife..... [IMG][/IMG]

On this style, when doing a portrait I like them best viewed verticle, also gold was requested and we need to decide how we are going to make this design flow and have some elegance, and what are we going to do for background behind the girl? So here is how I handled that, I opted for a gold ribbon which will lead your eye to view the rest of the knife not just the upper portion and gives some movement to the design.
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Ok design was sent off to the customer, he asked for some exposure so I will make the adjustment, I will redraw on the working sketch which is just the outlines which will be transfered onto the knife.

Ok, first thing we need to do is mark our borders. I use dividers for this with replacable tips. I use one carbide tip the other is brass, the brass is used so no scratches are made on the spine of the knife while marking borders. I mark the borders on both sides of the knife while I have the dividers set at the specific width. Next we support and protect the knife. The bottom side is covered with tape. I make a thermoloc cradle for even support and then hot glue that to a wood block, also I seal all the openings with hot glue to avoid chips or grit getting in anywhere. Also the blade is taped and the delicate tip is supported with a block of leather. Out of time, more to come soon.
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[Brian Hochstrat]

We already marked the borders prior to glueing being that having glue at the edge interferes with the dividers. So first thing, I cut the outside border, now we have to keep in mind our handle inlay is still unprotected so we do not want to be swiping any chips across it. Next I cut the border around the inlay. I use a 110 graver with a longer heel then I generally use, it helps keep the graver cutting on an even plain and the narrower V also shows less width variation of there is any dolphin action. There is really no way I have found to mark a guide line around the handle inlay. So what I do, is taper the face of my graver down so that the cutting point is the distance from the edge as I want my border from the edge of the handle inlay. So when I cut I place the tool so the edge of the graver is at the edge of the handle inlay and I use that to follow, combine that with a consistant depth of cut and you will get an accurate border. If that description makes no sense I can post an illustration but hopefully it is understandable.

Now we can protect the handle inlay, I use heavy packaging tape. Stick the tape down and then cut around using the border line to cut into. I use an exacto knife that I rounded the front portion of the blade and sharpened it so I can push the cut and see where I am cutting.

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So now we are ready for the design. I scale my working design down and vectorize it in Illustrator and print it out on the Epson transparencies. Using the damar varnish/alcohol mix I burnish the design on. Now rubbing will take off the ink, so I take AquaNet or any cheap lacquer hair spray and give it a light coat to protect the ink.

Time to cut. The first thing we want to cut is or inlay pockets. I use an 80 graver with the Lindsay grind and reverse relief. The thing looks like the Concord, but you can get in there and cut deep and get very little burring. On inlay pockets cut to the inside of your layout line, remember we will be outlining the gold once it is set, so we need to leave space for that line.

Typically when I do multi color inlay, if I have different colors of golds meeting, I inlay one color surface it down, and then inlay the next color, and I inlay hardest to softest, but 18k (the hair) is not that hard so I will go ahead and inlay my fine gold first. Once I have outlined my pockets, I can now cut the rest of my design. When doing this there are two things you want to remember cut on the outside edge of your layout line and do not cut into an inlay pocket, stop just short and we can continue the cut once the gold is set, if we cut into it now our gold will spill into that cut and causes issues. I use a 110 for this.

Once the design is cut, we can finish cutting out the pockets, undercut and raise some teeth. I use a rotary to remove the bulk of the material and then clean up with the 80 graver, and under cut with a small knife graver, I cut single teeth with a flat in the narrow lines and will do cross hatched teeth in larger areas. Here is a pic of the finished channel, and note how all the lines are stopped short of the channel.

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Ok if I have lost anybody let me know I can post some pics of the tools and clearify anything that was not well explained. To be continued.......

[Brian Hochstrat]

Ok, here is an overall look at how things are shaping up. All the fine gold channels are cut and ready for inlay, the scroll design is outlined, as is the pockets for the 18K gold (the hair)

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So now lets set some gold, for these ribbons I used round wire. I don't get fancy either, I have several sizes of wire and I use what will fill the area. These channels are of varying widths, so I start at the wide end and work toward the narrow. When I get to where the wire is to wide, I cut it, square the end, and I drop down a size. Keeping your joints square will stop layering, which is when your gold flows over the top of another piece of gold, if you allow this when you surface the gold off the top layer will pull out, and surprise, you now have an ominous hole in your inlay. Also when punching the gold in (on higher karats of yellow and green), you can get the wire to stretch as you move forward, this is a handy move, say if the channel is getting a bit narrow for the size wire you have, but, you are almost to the end of the channel and really don't want to stop and then mess with a micro length of smaller dia. wire you can just push that excess gold forward lessening the flow of gold out the sides.

Also for 95% of my inlay work I use a small steel punch about .04 inches in dia. with a textured face. This small face allows me to both concentrate impact power and keep track of where all of my tool is, so I do not hit the steel. I prefer steel because it does not bend, mushroom and holds the roughness on the face for a while. The down side is, if you hit the steel, you now have a major dent, so use it at your own risk.

So after setting, we pare the gold back. I use a square graver turned flat with a long 20 deg heel and the corners dubbed again a little disclaimer, this works great if you can control the tool, it stays very sharp and cuts the gold cleanly, but do not nick the steel, the dubbed corners help, but you still have to pay attention. Using a brass graver of the same design is safer, but personally, I do not like them due to the fact they dull quickly, but many people like them and get along fine with them. I come in at about 90 degrees to the line and put the point of my flat under the overflow and lift and cut forward at the same time, this will give an upward cut and test your gold for security, better it lift up or out at the bench, than some other time down the road. I repeat this all the way around the inlay and will be left with a raised center, I then come in very flat and level and shave the gold down, being cautious not to dip below the level of the steel.

Once it all pared down pretty close, using surfacing stones, I will flush the areas that will adjoin the 18K. The rest can be flushed once all of our gold is set.
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So here we are working on the hair, again I outline the channel, remove the bulk of the material with the rotary tool and undercut. Two things I do on larger inlays like this to level the floor, is to use a flat graver to shear off the high spots, and then I take a micro punch .02 +/- and punch it all smooth, you don't have to get brutal either, just go over it lightly and work it down level. Now that it is level we can cut our teeth.


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[Brian Hochstrat]

Ok, sorry for the delay, tis the season.

So our channel is cut, undercut and teeth raised using a flat graver, we will now cut the material. We are using 18k gold, 24ga. To transfer the outline to the gold, I daube the surface with some printers ink, just enough to turn it black, to much ink the transfer is splotchy, to little you will get no transfer, play with it and you will easily figure out how much is enough. So next take some clear packing tape and stick it down to the area and lift it off, it will take much of the layer of ink with it, now stick it down to your sheet of gold and rub the tape a little and the pull it off and "walla" there is your outline, now it is a good idea to scribe your outline so not to rub it off while cutting with the saw also chips like to stick to the ink so after scribing I clean the gold off with some Ronsanol lighter fluid, it really cleans the ink off well. So with a jewelers saw I cut out the gold using a 8/0 blade, and I split the hair into two pieces, which will make setting easier later on. Now the gold fits pretty close to the edge of the pocket, but I do cut the gold a bit full at the tips of things, so I know I will have enough material to fill the area, the picture shows a gap at the edge, but that is due to the gold sliding around on me while the picture was being taken, if there was a gap that big, there would not be enough gold to fill the channel, plus with the harder golds, they do not want to move as well so to get it all the way over to the edge would take some pounding, so fit the gold as close as you can.
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[Brian Hochstrat]

Disaster has struck. All the data (aka pictures) on the memory card for my camera has been lost, so no more pictures. And being the knife is finished and gone, there is no way to do any retakes. So here is a pic of the finished piece, hopefully Steve will have another tutorial contest another time and I can try to get a complete tutorial together. -Brian




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