The Lindsay AirGraver and traditional tools

[banjo_art]

I'm a fan of the Lindsay AirGraver and learned engraving using it right from the start. As a result I've never even made a cut with hammer and chisel. I do use a hand graver for my dot bulino work but that is all. So far the Lindsay chasing air graver I have has done everything I've wanted to do but my range of engraving work is fairly narrow so....

I was wondering if those of you who did "transition" from hand graver or hammer and chisel ever feel that a particular cut or feature is done better with them. If so when and why would you set down the air graver and pick up your old tools?

--Art

[carl bleile]

The Parker shotgun in my photo album was done with hand tools, the Lindsay tools would have made it a lot easier, the only time I might go back to hammer and chisel is when I'm realy knocking out some very deep relief or heavy sculpting, but I think that might change after I have put in some more time with the Lindsay.
Carl Bleile
southwest,Ohio

[Roger Bleile]

If I was restoring an antique gun's engraving I might revert to H&C because all of the old works show lots of progress marks that are hard to duplicate with power assisted tools. I still have my old Grvermeister which, with my old heavy handpiece from the 70's, will cut with progerss marks though the marks show more uniformly than that of 19th century gun engraving.

CRB

[MikeDubber]

Like Carl, I'm one of the old guard who learned to engrave with the hammer and chisel. We had little choice at the time, the GraverMeister did'nt arrive until ten years into my career....and I recall that nearly everyone - both engravers and clients - resisted the change to air power.

We've been through all of those politics of resistance and now air power is accepted by most everyone. There are still a few hold outs, and I occasionally hear that they continue to sell themselves as engraving purists...professing that they alone do "real engraving" and everyone else does "machine engraving." I hear these things from potential clients who have been searching for engravers, gathering prices and opinions. They ask how I engrave. I usually reply, "Why do you ask?" I seldom answer the question unless they insist, then (mostly because I'm opinionated, old, mean, and don't need their work anyway) I tend to unload profusely about stupid people and old ideas. I have no argument with those who want to engrave with hammers and chisels - until they try to elevate themselves above the rest of us.

I'm happy that I have the skills to engrave the old way. In fact, I always demonstrate the process sometime during my classes, saying that if folks are intested, they should try it, it's fun! My hammers and chisels still work just fine and I enjoy picking them up and chasing an occasional line or two. To amuse myself, I've even cut sections of scroll patterns by switching to my hammer and chisel mid-stream to see if I can really see the difference. I find that if I chisel very, very slowly, that the differences are so subtle that no one would ever know.

But why would I want to engrave really, really slowly with my hammer and chisel? That just gets me back to stupid people and old ideas.

Mike Dubber

[carl bleile]

Right on Mike, I think my brother Roger will agree it doesn't matter how the chips hit the floor it's the finished product that counts. With power tools it still takes years to become a master class engraver and the tools will not make a person one.
Carl Bleile
southwest,Ohio

[Dave London]

Amen
Gentlemen