FROST

Hand engraving is the art of carving, by hand, a pattern into metal. It is not etching. It is not a rotary tool. It is not a laser.

The tool is a graver — a miniature chisel in high-speed steel, carbide, or a cobalt-carbide mix — hand-sharpened to nine or ten different points depending on the cut. A common blank is 3/32″ × 3/32″ × 2½”.

The line is made by pushing the graver through the metal, or by chasing it with a small hammer or a pneumatic handpiece that acts as a tiny hammer.

The craft asks a lifetime of drawing, transfer methods, metallurgy, machining, and math. Most of the work is done under a scope for posture and sight. It is slow. It is hard on the body, the eyes, and the hands. That is why a true cut still reads as a cut.