How do you 'hand polish' your graver? => 17 photos

 No matter the length of the graver, new or old, each one has to be "thoroughly" refurbished. But how do these steel blades get cleaned? 

 This essay might seem repetitious to some readers, but there comes a time in our pursuit of quality Diamond Setting where perfection is adamant.

      =========================================

 This rough looking graver will be on it's way in being a high quality metal cutting blade. Let me show you how this will occur. 

 

 1) =>As there is a very slight discolouration of the metal near the point, I wouldn't be too concerned. This is caused by the (gentle) heating during initial shaping process on the grinding wheel. We will remove this colouring, later in this cleaning process.

2) => The first step in "hand polishing" will be using the rough "Emery Paper" of #240 grit. This is the first of many stages.

 

3) => These nicely shaped gravers are 'always' highly polished and maintained regardless of their length. 

4)=> Supposing that you need a certain graver at a moments notice, are you going to spend extra time repolishing that graver?

These are the 'workhorses' at my bench.

5) => I will number every polishing wooden board without any guessing of which grit of paper is which. Time is of the essence.

6) =>Here is the close-up of the Emery paper of #240 git. You will notice the darkened (black) colour and the residue of my soft  pencil that I use to reduce the texture of the paper. Thus making this paper to be equivalent to a (modified) #300+ grit.

 7) =>The (2nd) next grade of paper is #400 grit. You will notice that the granules on the paper are now closer knit.

7) =>This is to be the second of two grades named "Emery Grade Papers." 

8)=> These are not repeated photos in this essay, but when we are dealing with two sides of a graver, thus, 2 sides must be shown.

9) =>There is always a 'DOWNWARD PRESSURE' applied to the gravers.

  10)=> The "hand polishing technique" is applied mainly to the tip of the graver, nowhere else!

 11) => For every photo of the polishing process, the polishing process is kept mainly to the tip.

12) =>The sequence of graver polishing must be always maintained. NEVER JUMP FROM #240 TO A #600 grit.

 13) => In these two photos on #240 grit paper. I'm showing one side and then the opposite side.

14) => On the Onglet graver, there is a rounded shape, remember to make sure that the polishing is not flat. All sides and angles MUST BE THOROUGHLY TOUCHED. 

15) => Hand-polish only the 'front portion', where my finger is shown.

16) => On every wooden board there will be two 'pencil rubbed' sections, Therefore, you you will have literally 'two boards of papers' on one. Good idea?

 Many photos have been used in this essay, this might have been repetitious, but this technique has to be thoroughly explained.

 

What can your gravers do after being highly polished? => 12 photos

This was a FLAT plate only 60 minutes ago. 

   Here are photos of gravers under a 200x power microscope. This is AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN (manually) "PAPER POLISHED".

 Many of the gravers appear to have blemishes, but we are not writing about defects.

 These fine shaped gravers have just one purpose and that is to hand-cut intricate designs into metal. (These blades are not assisted by any power cutting machines.)

 The highly polished surfaces at the side, or bottom are where the ultimate designs originate from.

  This technique is aptly named "Pre-Cutting", as all of the metal cutting or carving is done long before any Diamond Setting has been initiated.

It is much easier to get the graver tip into areas where the pattern originates. If the gemstone is resting in the metal, there wouldn't be any room to engrave.

 Always keep your blades highly polished. No matter the shape of the graver, as many patterns need to be cut once. 

1) The initial outline cutting acts as a guide for the next two stages. It is named "Rough-Cutting". The ultra thin graver of Onglet #1 acts as guide for the following steps.

--------------

2) This secondary technique is named 'Pre-Cutting' as all of the metal carving is done before any stones are set. The deeper cutting will be using an Onglet #2.

--------------

3) This final stage is the most attractive it is called "Bright-Cutting". The cutting blades could be either a Flat or Highly polished Onglet graver #2.

 There is no way any metal cutting of any kind when there is gemstone interfering with the movement of the graver blade.

In this one photo are 3 steps of the graver cutting. Interesting?

 In this one photo displays the metal being 'moved' over the gemstone. This occurred after the metal cutting has been completed.

 This is the sole reason why "Pre-Cutting' should be attempted FIRST. Your graver now has ample room to navigate around the space where stone will be sitting,

  The 10 Rubies have now been set and all is remaining is to 'Burnish' the beads. Can you imagine what would it be like if the metal cutting was left to the last?