Linda,
Perhaps you should consider other methods… I myself used to sharpen
35 or 40 gravers “freehand” - on a pair of stones every Monday
morning. I hate to think of how many years ago that was…
Anyway, even back that long ago, I sharpened them in a side to side
motion - across the graver face - not forward and backward as you
are describing. When I could finally afford to purchase a Crocker
fixture, I cut my sharpening time of several hours down to about an
hour on Mondays. I wore out two Crockers over the years. Still have
'em, just in case space aliens somehow manage to stop electricity
from working on this planet.
25 or more years ago, someone whose name I have long forgotten -
rigged up a motorized faceting machine to sharpen his gravers. GRS
latched onto the idea, and the “Power Hone” was born. Most
professional engravers nowadays use it or something very similar.
I’ve seen them cobbled together using motors salvaged from can
openers, variable speed mixing machines, and old 3 speed record
players. What you need is a speed of about 200 to 300 rpm. You can
get there with the motors I mentioned, or you can get there with
belt or gear reduction. The lap and the gravers don’t care.
I have been using a Power Hone for around 25 years now (? hard to be
sure of the years anymore) and teaching students with them for at
least 7 years.
There are multiple reasons for this. First would be the speed
factor. No contest over freehand or the Crocker & stones. Second
would be the accuracy factor. You ALWAYS get exactly the same cutting
point. Use the same settings and it doesn’t matter if you didn’t
sleep well the night before, are slightly hungover, got a slight
buzz going, or just not quite awake yet. Third - graver blanks have
evolved. The old carbon steel gravers and the improved highspeed
steel gravers are still used today. BUT, there are new alloys that
can stay sharp from 7 to 10 times longer than these first two
materials. You cannot sharpen these alloys on the average whetstone.
You need diamond abrasives. Fourth, if you study a graver that has
been sharpened under magnification you will find that sharpening as
you describe (back and forth) there are always tiny lines scored
from the face that will show no matter how much you polish your heel.
Sideways movement (Crocker or Power Hone) leaves the same scoring but
parallel to the polished heel.
There’s more, but I’ve really gotta get my chores done before
bedtime.
If all this confuses you even more, email me and I’ll send you some
more elaborate (or simpler) sources of and
illustrations.
Brian P. Marshall
Stockton Jewelry Arts School
Stockton, CA USA
209-477-0550
instructor@jewelryartschool.com
jewelryartschool@aol.com