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Old 12-09-2012, 01:58 PM
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leschowe leschowe is offline
Gold
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Louisville, Colorado
Posts: 157
Default Re: NEW Gold Inlay and Undercut, Template Set

Hi Chris,

Good questions.

Inlay process:
I guess that I should not have confused the way that I have learned to inlay gold channels with the description of this channel cutting graver set. These gravers are simply a way to cut and undercut a gold inlay channel, anything else that the Engraver wants to do to help hold the gold in even more securely is up to him. I do refresh the undercut with Rolands chisle because I think that it helps, but it is not required. (on a knife or jewelery it is probably not required) It is actually a very fast process once the small undercut graver is used. Simply hold the chisel at a slight angle and rotate the cylinder or barrel - it just cuts right along. I do have a palm Control Classic, but I configure the tool as a foot control for most of my gold inlay steps.

While we are on the subject of how I secure the gold, here is something else that I do (I learned this from Mike Dubber). If anyone were to actually put a .45 Colt round in one of my guns and fire it, I do not want the gold to come flying off the gun. I use a narrower version of Roland's chisel to raise up teeth in the bottom of the channel of the cylinder and barrel and ERH - this does take some time. I cut the teeth at about a 15 degree angle from perpendicular and then hammer the gold wire in against the grain. That gold ain't coming out unless you chisel it out.

You know Chris, you have to temper everything that I say with the fact that I tend to over-do everything.

You mentioned in your reply about your method of cutting a channel. I would be interested in hearing about that.

M42:
I use Steve's M42 blanks for everything and it has never failed to do the job. It is a very strong and tough material and I think it is the best in the industry - my opinion, of course. I do have a couple of Steve's carbide blanks but I have never used them. Mike tells me that I will probably need to use the carbide blanks on the Ruger Vaquero loading gate that I am currently engraving - we will see.

I will say one more thing about M42 and this graver geometry: I inlayed all of the gold wire on my Colt SAA and never sharpened the face or the heel - that was 34 hours of total gold inlay work - I'm slow. I'll take that back, near the the end I did feel guilty, I checked the cutting surface under the microscope, it looked perfect but I did freshen it up a little using only a ceramic stone.

Stainless:
I personally do not think that gold stands out on stainless, as it does on a blued gun, so I have therefore never cut inlay channels in stainless steel. I have however, cut carbon steel and stainless steel with an M42 Universal point and I have had absolutely no problem with either metal - so far!. The stainless is a little tougher, thus I use a little more power, but it works fine. I also think that my gold inlay point is, by definition, a stronger point than the Universal point so I would conclude that the gold inlay point would work just fine on stainless.

Check out Mike Dubbers reply up above someplace. He describes his use of the graver set on a Colt Diamondback.

Hay, it only cost $24 -- give it a try.

Les

PS: I just wanted to give anyone who has read this far a little gift. I have found a wonderful product for use with Steve's template system. These are ceramic stones made by Brownells. They are sized at .5 X .5 X 6 inch. I put diamond spray of the dark brown stone which is the most aggressive. The only problem is the .5 inch dimension, although it allows the stone to be used with the sharpening system, is small and it is easy to come off the stone while sharpening and thus trash the graver point. These are very inexpensive (if you get the Brownells discount the set costs only $35.84) for what they are, here is the pointer:

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-to...s-prod799.aspx
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