Recently, I spent a great week at Ray Cover's intermediate engraving
course in Festus, MO (4/23 to 4/27).

Ray's teaching style is open and informative. He is personable and
shares his techniques and methods openly with a genuine concern for
each person.

The range of equipment available in Mr Cover's shop is extensive. Ray
is knowledgeable and informative regarding all brands and styles of
tooling and shares the source of each readily.

This class was incredibly empowering. I entered with a sense of "what
I cannot do" and I left with a knowledge of "what I can do".

I highly recommend Ray's classes for anyone interested in moving
their engraving skills to the next level.

Sincerely,
Gail Williams
Hand Engraver Williams Flutes,
Boston





gail williams
5/4/2007 10:05:26 AM

AHHHH, another flute engraver!
Williams Flutes are good to work on. I've done several, but most of my work is done on Burkart,Miyazawa, and Muramatsu. I've engraved over 2,000 of them.
It's a good skill developer-----round surfaces to challenge you,very thin metal----.012"-.016", softer materials such as pure silver, harder materials like platinum,and the clamping fixtures to work around.
Good stuff!
Brian


Brian Powley
5/10/2007 5:06:23 PM

Brian, I can only imagine the fixtures you had to come up with to hold these things. Did the vibration of the gravermax give you any trouble? Have you done any trumpets, horns or such? I did some instrument work along the way. Pearl inlays, banjos, guitars, Horns, but I never did any flutes. You remember Rod Cameron in our class? He was doing some beautiful stuff. Very unique guy and quite a craftsman..........RonS

Ron Smith
5/11/2007 11:34:11 AM

Ron, I make my fixtures out of oak wood. I "borrowed" the idea from a device known as a barrel spinner, whereas the clamping action is applied to the ends of the tube.
I also made a mandrel that fits inside the tube. It is a mixture of lead shot and Micromark casting resin.
I mixed up a batch of it and poured it into a tube treated with mold release and let it cure.
It makes the tube rock solid and eliminates GraverMax vibrations.
If I'm engraving the lip plate, the outer edges get a bead of hot melt glue to prevent flexing.
Haven't engraved any horns, but have done steel drums, piccolos,banjos and I just finished a complete restoration on the tailpiece of an original 1935 Gibson Super 400 Guitar.

Brian Powley
5/11/2007 12:22:43 PM

Darn.........I hit the "send" button before I was finished with the last post. (Yes, I still struggle with this computer stuff)

Yep...Remember Rod Cameron real well. Believe it or not, but I'm almost as Scottish as he. I'm first generation American from Scottish immigrant parents.
To the best of my recollection, Rod uses a small end mill cutter and a 3 axis vertical mill to cut the channels for the silver inlay.Pretty complicated stuff, but the results are just stunning.



Brian Powley
5/11/2007 12:32:31 PM