I know that many jewellers are engraving and setting stones, but what is known about the techniques in holding a graver? If the jeweller is working with metal for long periods of time, the jeweller will experience 'localised' fatigue.
This ongoing fatigue will hinder the completion of a suitable design for your jewellery. Fatigue will also be detrimental to the arms and fingers. I was instilled with correct body posture, along with finger& hand placement to my gravers in my earlier years of apprenticeship.
Therefore, THIS PARTICULAR ESSAY IS FOR YOU.
To keep my fingers free of shards of metal during the bench grinding & shaping process, I'm using latex gloves as shown here.
This photo shows how long the graver should extend; it shouldn't lie beyond the first middle finger knuckle.
All three fingers are holding the graver and resting IN THE PALM. The little finger prevents any further movement. This end finger is very important in the holding process.
The little flat spot in the handle is not for decoration, it's mainly to NATURALLY GRASP the handle.
The thumb and forefinger act as a guide for your blade in metal carving. While the remaining fingers are used to grasp the handle.
Many times, I will cover my thumb for protection, but why? The thumb tends to move UNDER THE GRAVER, thus needing absolute ongoing protection. The bottom of the graver is quite sharp, almost like a knife.
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