My first apprenticeship was with a jeweler (still with us at 97) who
apprenticed in the 1930s. They made them by hand back then. He told
us that the gravers were used by immigrant jewelers & diamond setters
who came from turn of the century Germany. The company he worked for
is still with us today (fourth generation) and at one time made all
the mother and child jewelry. They outsource now, but that’s another
story.
For those who don’t know what these look like, EuroTool currently
makes them. The distributor we use is Twin City Supply at
952-545-2725. The stock number is GH-605 and cost $5.95 each.
They are designed like all gravers to fit on the palm of your hand.
They only make one size, but for people with smaller hands we cut the
back off to make them little shorter. The concept is that the blade
of the graver is held securely in the whole handle. You don’t have to
break them off half way like the smaller mushroom shaped handles.
This allows a lot more strength in raising beads and more control of
the tool (at least in my opinion). The non working end of the graver
called the tang is heated until red and bent at a right angle to fit
into a series of holes drilled into the long slot on the bottom. The
blade is tied into the handle with a strong nylon string or even a
heavy duty fish line. The string securing the blade gives your hand
much more leverage in using the tool. The string area is where you
grip it. As the blade is used and gets shorter, you take it out of
the handle and advance the blade up the series of holes and restring
it. The screw in the back is new. If I use the screw, it is more of a
safety feature to keep the blade of the graver from ever slipping out
of the handle and going into the palm of your hand. The working end
of the graver is all of one half to three fourths of an inch out of
the handle.
We had our wood shop make these for many years. GIA made them also
for many years and called them Taylor style graver handles. When GIA
stopped making them in the late 80s we had them made in Minneapolis
by an independent wood worker. They at one time were about $1.00
each.
I as well as all the other instructors at our College still use this
style handle and teach all the stone setting courses with it. In
fact most of the Midwest jewelers that were apprentices and students
of Ray Grobe still use these handles.
Regards,
Todd Hawkinson
Minneapolis Comm & Tech College