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Intersecting Lines

 

In hand engraving it is rare that all cuts are the same width and depth. As mentioned on other pages, character and sparkle is achieved by varying the width of cuts. A common problem for the student is the intersection of a light and heavy line. It's quite easy to get good results cutting a shallow line into a deep line, but terminating a deep line into a shallow cut can be quite disasterous.

In Figure 1, the approaching cut has less depth than the cut it’s joining. This allows the chip to detach and break away freely.

In Figure 2, the approaching cut is deeper than the cut it’s meeting. Since the base of the chip is wider than the intersecting line, it cannot detach cleanly and causes an unsighly bur that damages the outside edge.

As long as the cut you’re making is the not deeper than the cut you’re meeting you should be ok.

This photos illustrates the disasterous results in not planning ahead. The two border lines at the bottom have insufficient depth, making it impossible for the chip in the heavy cuts to detach and break away cleanly. This results in burs and overshoots as the graver makes an unsightly mess. Knowing that there will be deep cuts which intersect the two border lines, the borders should be deep enough to prevent this from happinging.

The top design shows borders of correct depth. Tutorial end