Hello everyone. It's time for me to "tool-up" and begin to engrave, something I've wanted to do for years. My background: I am a machinist with a well-equipped shop, and an interest in all things mechanical. I've machined, sand-casted, engineered everything from flintlock rifles to small turbojets.
Like many of you I'm sure, I want to do everything, rather than farm out tasks to others. I've got a modest collection of gravers and a hammer, and with them I've dressed some of my work up a bit. Fortunately, crude engraving is appropriate on a ca. 1800 flintlock, but I want to take my work to the next level. To do this, I need the equipment.
I am familiar with (but have never used) GRS equipment, and assumed that's what I'd buy. Then I came across Steve's tools, which appeal to me strongly for a number of reasons, the primary one being that the tools themselves are art, and that says a lot about the design and the care that went into them.
Price-wise, Steve's classic handpiece w/footpedal is about the same as a GRS Gravermach and a handpiece. I am leaning strongly towards the classic, mainly because the palm control is more than 2X the cost, and I can upgrade the tool at some future date, if needed. My primary question today, besides the introduction, is this - is the palm control worth the extra $$? Can I get started with the classic, or would I be a fool not to immediately press forward with the palm control unit? Or, dare I say it, GRS? Everything I've read so far from ALL sites other than pure GRS-sponsored pages says that Steve's system is simply hard to beat.
I've broken my acquisitions down to enraving tool(s), sharpening, workholding, and optics. The workholding will probably be GRS. As for sharpening, I've really got a problem paying what GRS asks for a device that does nothing more than turn a platter at a modest RPM - THAT I can machine or engineer in my own shop. Optics - I need more research.
Anyway, I'd like to solicit adivice... "If you were to start over..." that sort of thing. I'm sure dozens of noobs have shown up with the same questions, and for that I apologize. I always appreciate expertise from forums like these. Thanks! I'm very excited to embark on a new skill. :D
Kurt