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Old 03-18-2015, 05:24 PM
Ray Cover Ray Cover is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Missouri
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Default Re: Ray Cover templates sharpening tutorial

Now we will move on to the square graver template. For some reason Steve has this one labeled "Standard". I don't remember what the reason is but the template labeled "standard" makes a traditional square graver. I had trouble getting good lighting on the actual graver pictures but I think they came out OK enough for people to see how they are made. The graver pictures are not of actual gravers but of oversized ones I made to make it easier for students to see the business end in a classroom setting.



The picture above is what the point should look like. This graver has a 55 degree face and a 15 degree compound heel (or double heel, one on each side of the belly).

Let me point out that this can be tapered down more than it is or not tapered down at all. Don't get hung up on what the back of the graver looks like or how wide it is. You can make this as wide or narrow as YOU WANT IT. Some people even round the back of. What goes on with the back is of NO consequence to how it cuts. Its the point you should be concerned with.



The first facet I always cut is the face. This is done using the long side of the template as shown above. Make sure and grind this all the way down to a full diamond shape on the face. In other words, grind it all the way down to a full point on the tip.

Once the face is ground and polished (I usually only go down to a fine ceramic for polish on this), I will use the taper template shown in the first section to taper the top and sides. In reality it doesn't matter if you taper before or after the face is on. Teaching classes has shown me that it is usually easier for most people to understand if they put the face on the graver first. That puts the point on the graver and once it has a point they can see how it is supposed to oriented (top bottom etc). this makes tapering easier for most people because now they can see which are the sides of the graver and which is the top. That is why I have developed the habit of grinding the face first then switching to the small taper template and tapering the sides and the top. Then I put it back into the large "Standard" template and put the heels on.



Above you can see one the template being used to put a heel on one side fo the belly and then in the pic below you can see the template being used to put the other heel on the other side of the belly.



KEEP THE HEELS SMALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you look at the first picture of the actual graver you can see the heels go no further back than the edges of the face. Many times newbies will complain about not being able to cut a curve or scroll with a "V" style graver without scraping and galling on the outside of the cut. They also complain about constantly breaking points. Th numbe rone cause for this on any graver that cuts a "V" shaped channel is the heels being too large
Attached Images
File Type: jpg square graver.jpg (90.6 KB, 0 views)
File Type: jpg square1.jpg (49.5 KB, 0 views)
File Type: jpg square 2.jpg (45.1 KB, 0 views)
File Type: jpg square3.jpg (39.5 KB, 0 views)
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