> I found that the instructions from the book using
>a hammer and sculptor's chisel or burin, or whatever the sculptors call it,
>(I found a small one in an art supply shop) didn't work very well for me
>because the stone would chip slightly rather than letting me etch the
>smooth edged V-profiled lines I wanted. I ended up using a scribing
>technique, drawing a sharpened steel tool toward me, for the most part
>using a straightedge to guide it, but with some freehand for Roman
>numerals.
Jack,
I'm a metal and wood based person myself and have had the need to
work in stone and slate forced upon me as it were. This is why I bought
the Kindersley book on the advice of a stone carver friend in order to
undertake a little self teaching. Watching a slate letter cutter at work
some yeas ago certainly helped.
Was the tool you used cutting both sides of the vee groove at once? A
burin (sometimes called a scorper) for wood or metal engraving works in
that way but would probably cause the chipping you mention if used on
slate in place of a single edged chisel.
A burin is sharpened by grinding an angled flat across a diagonal at the
end of square steel rod to give a diamond shape. This will produce a
lovely curled chip when used on metal or end-grain boxwood but would
probably dig out flakes from slate. I must try it myself after the
noiseless Christmas break I give my neighbours.
Hope this is useful
Tony Moss
