different ways to relieve background

[Barry Lee Hands]

There are a lot of ways to skin this cat, and cat skinning is always messy for a beginner, hehe.
Generally, I will cut my leaves and sculpt them with a round bottom. Then, I cut the scroll lines with a 116 degree, and the edges of the leaves also.
I have found, after many years of using a flat for background, that to relieve - I prefer to start with a round bottom to relieve the background, as it is easy to go quick, and I mean really quick- without making a mess of the edges. It als solves the problem of a high spot in the center of the negative space, because with a round bottom, the center becomes the low spot.
After the first relief pass with the round bottom I go in with a flat about .020 in or .5 mm, to flatten, then a .010 in flat to clean the corners, then touch up with a 90 v chisel all the original lines
Next I punch everything flat, stipple, recut with the 90 again, and stipple the fine edge again.
to fully sculpt and relieve a pair of scope rings, this takes about 6 days.
I am commenting, because I happen to be doing a pair of rings for a project and have a pic to share:

[Dave London]

Barry I will give that a try next time. makes sense to me

[Jan Hendrik]

Damm! That is some neat work Barry! I need a lot more practise!

[Barry Lee Hands]

Originally Posted by Jan Hendrik

Damm! That is some neat work Barry! I need a lot more practise!

Thanks Dave, and thanks Jan.
It looks soooo rough to me, hehe.

[SEngraver]

Hi Barry Lee,
Thank you for the good tips there,I am off to make a round graver.
A very nice close up there
SE

[Daniel Krauss]

Barry thanks for this little informative post. I'm trying to stay away from getting a rotary for background removal. Your explanation on doing it without is exactly what I needed...Blessings...Dan

[Barry Lee Hands]

Hi SE, and Daniel,
Glad you liked it!

[SEngraver]

Originally Posted by Barry Lee Hands

Thanks Dave, and thanks Jan.
It looks soooo rough to me, hehe.

Hi Barry Lee
It may look so but thats a view on huge magnification and when we would see the same without that magnification with our eyes it will look pretty nice I am sure.
If I look at my hand to remove a burr under the scope or loupe It looks not so good but without that my hand looks nice to me

SE

[Otto]

That's great. Thanks for the tips.

[Barry Lee Hands]

Thank you . . .

[Jeff Miller]

Thanks for the tips and close up, explanations and a picture like this is a big help.... looks great!

[redgreen]

I hesitate to offer any opinion about how to engrave or tool use, however; I have offered this in the past. As my babble is often unfathomable I thought I would reiterate, hopefully the contents will not be found offensive or objectionably tedious.

I have found a round works very well for background removal, however; Mike Dubber's Speitzer used with a round heel exceeds the rounds capabilities. I use a universal template with the heel template rounded to offer a 'round' graver in the vertical position and tilted in either direction it will remove metal to nearly flat without any possibility of the heel digging in.



Works very well for me but as we all know I'm a bit abnormal to say the least.

Bob

[Ray Cover]

I like that Barry.

[choppers_rule]

Hi Barry,
When you said "Round Bottom", are you referring to an Onglette?
I'm a newbie and been using flat to remove background. And yes....I ruin some of the edges while removing background.
Sorry for the stupid question.

Denny

[Barry Lee Hands]

Originally Posted by Ray Cover

I like that Barry.

Thanks Ray!

[Bob DeMarcki]

Mr. Hands,

I have found that your advice to use a round bottom graver for material removal is superb. This approach has saved me a load of time. Thank you very much for sharing this information with us!

Bob A. DeMarcki