Making gravers out of round stock

[Rashid]

Folx,

 

I've made a 2-angle sharpening fixture and am thinking about making

some gravers out of round stock (M2, Tungsten Carbide etc). It is

readily available from me favorite supplier, McMaster. 1/8, 3" length

 

 

 

The question I have is: after making one, how do I resharpen it later ?

Being round, how would I locate it in the sharpening fixture, so that it

aligns (yaw) again ? I guess I can always eyeball it, may be with a magnifier, and

go after the 45 face, making sure it rests squarely on a granite plate or something ?

 

 

 

Square bits are easy, as I have made a 90 degree V-notch in the fixture.

[Jim Kelso]

I like using round stock. You can see my approach under the topic heading "Gravers" early in this same menu section. I resharpen by eye with a little magnification, but many find the jigs to be helpful. You can visit Steve Lindsay's forum for sharpening infoHERE

[Steve Ellsworth]

Depending on how you constructed your sharpener jaws - you could...

make some flat reference grinds on the sides of the round so they always come back to the same spot when you chuck them in or engrave a reference line on the graver jaws and the top of the stock before you start cutting it. If you dont tear up your gravers too badly when working, you should never have to put them back into the fixture to resharpen, but if you do, rather than granite, use a mirror on top of your sharpening surface to gauge position when adjusting the fixture. gives a much better eyeball reference than granite or steel. Sharpen with power to 1200 grit then anything past that do by hand under the scope (I am assuming you have one) using a worn 50k diamond wheel to get close and finish with 3m plastic abrasive 3 -5 micron to fine tune and adjust your relief angles. It takes very little effort. Just a few strokes. You dont have to take off much metal, just be sure all the facets line up. Be sure to back up the plastic with something hard and turely flat. Relief angles can be flat or radius and they will all work fine - again, keep tthem small. too much metal removal makes for gravers which only cut straight lines.Put a secondary micro tip on the graver - sometimes called point dubbing. Make it 45 - 60 depending on what you are cutting - this takes off the sharp point which most people end up breaking when doing tight curves, by doing this you will not break tips anymore. Keep the microface much smaller than the line width you want to cut