Questions From Customer
Hi Andu!
I purchased your power hone with full set of sharpening templates last year. I have been engraving with manual push gravers mounted in a GRS quick-change adapter like this:
and GRS manual push graver quick-change handle like this:
I have sharpened my gravers using your templates and power hone:
I have now finally saved enough to also buy one of your air gravers. However, I’ve never used a power graver before so I’m very confused by the difference between automatic control, hand control, and palm control. Can you explain so a dummy beginner like me can understand each option, please? I need to understand so I will purchase the power graver that will be right for me and my needs.
I am a small business jeweler. I will be using your power graver for three purposes. 1) engraving precious metals, 2) engraving copper to prepare for Champlevé enameling, and 3) setting gemstones.
I tried the Foredom hammer handpiece with my Foredom flex shaft tool. I like having the machine provide power so my hands don’t ache from long and hard use of push gravers, but I really don’t like the foot control because the response time is slow and I have difficulty getting fine control over the graver tip while setting stones. After damaging expensive gemstones, I gave up on it.
I found that manual push gravers give me more fine control over the tip of the graver and the depth of cut. The problem is that I am not young anymore and my hands become very painful after just a couple of hours working with manual push gravers. I believe the power graver will allow me to work longer hours without hand and wrist pain.
I like the idea of controlling the graver pressure by hand like I have learned to do with manual gravers. However, I am intrigued by the idea of automatic control. I’m just not sure how well that will work for me when setting stones. How can I get fine control of graver pressure with automatic control? Maybe I should only use the power graver for traditional engraving, and go back to manual push gravers for stone setting?
I hope you don’t mind answering all my dummy beginner questions. I just want to be sure I get the tool that is best for me, because this will be a very large investment for me…
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