Hello, from a newbie!

[salvagesculpture]

Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself! I'm Mark, from Southern Indiana. I have been engraving for only 1 month, and I am hooked! I am an artist of other mediums, mostly metal sculptures. Engraving is bringing me as much pleasure as my other sculpting work! I stumbled upon Hobo nickels on Intsagram after looking up a hashtag. I came across JB (thetattooguy81 on IG) and his stuff really is why I purchased the almost $300 worth of tools to get started.
I purchased a cheap ball vise off of Amazon, along with a starter back of grs gravers and handles. Not having a dremel tool of any sorts I purchased a Prodigy flex shaft from Rio Grande on the cheap and these are the basic tools I've been using thus far. I have been sharpening my gravers by hand and this is by far my biggest difficulty. Only using my flex shaft with different grinding stones chucked and the flex shaft gently mounted in a vise to fold it at a certain angle. It's been rough to say the least but it can be done for those who are just getting started. My next investment will be the Lindsay templates and stones for sure!

Thanks for having me! If you all want to check out my other work, I'm on Instagram as Salvagesculpture and Facebook at www.facebook.com/salvagesculpture

I've attached some of my first 15 coins(that's all I've done so far);


Trump coin after I messed up his mouth and couldn't fix it. Also, I am not a Trump hater but seeing as though this is art and he is a polarizing figure, well this is what i came up with.

Head side of Willie Coin

Tails side of Willie Coin







Trump coin before the attempted mouth fix

[Steve Lindsay]

Welcome Mark!
Hey, did you know Mike Dubber is right there in Evansville, Indiana? http://engravingclasses.com/Michael_...ing_Studio.htm

[salvagesculpture]

Thanks you, Steve! I had no idea! He has some incredible accomplishments and skills! I am really amazed at some of the artwork done by engravers!

Thanks again for having me!