Engraving Stone

shvl73 · Jun 14, 2004

Has anyone engraved stone with a sandblaster?
We lost one of her young geese (my dogs did it), she has them as pets & she was VERY upset. She buried it & put a field stone over it. I engraved it free-hand with my sandblaster & it came out OK.
All this has me thinking of a better way & making some up for all the pets before I need to & everyones emotional.
Is there a way to do it with a template or stencil?
How do the pro's do it on headstones?

shvl73 · Jun 14, 2004

Last week there were 4.
We were at the Agway & I felt guilty so we picked up their last 3 peking ducks & 2 leghorns.
If I had known she was going to have this many I would have built a bigger bird barn.

gsganzer · Jun 14, 2004

It's funny how we can become attached to a simple goose. Our neighbor gave us two egyptian goslings to replace our chickens and ducks that were killed in the great "coyote massacre". After cursing the geese for the first 3 months (droppings and honking), my wife and I have now grown attached to them. The male follows me around like a dog and climbs into my lap when I sit down and lets me pick him up and pet him. It's funny how he became attached to me, he bites everyone else that gets too close.

wroughtn_harv · Jun 15, 2004

A sandblaster and some stones is a neat playground. I use it often. I've done everything from transferring a photograph to granite countertop scrap to an address stone for my daughter.

The best source of tools and equipment for working stone is http://www.granitecitytool.com

You are only limited by your imagination and pocketbook. Actually the pocket book is more of an excuse than a real limiter. Enough imagination and.............

I must warn you though. Once you start fiddling with stone you will find yourself handicapped like the fella that's addicted to blacksmithing, obsessed with woodworking projects, and generally having more fun than anyone around him.

You can click on the "life is good" and see where I not only used chisels, sandblasting, but also a torch to take a piece of Oklahoma sandstone and make into a state of Texas for a gate.

It is addicting. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Enjoy. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

shvl73 · Jun 15, 2004

Thank You!!
That's the info I was looking for. By the way, that is some beautiful work. Transfering that picture to stone is amazing. I'd like to start into it, but with 10 left-handed thumbs I'm a bit of a hack. I think I'll order some stencils & see where that takes me.
Thanks again,
Torin

wroughtn_harv · Jun 15, 2004

One of my biggest problems is I want to be an artist but can't draw. It makes it tough.

What's sad about the photo thing is machines do it so much better. They've got stencil material that works chemically with a plotter. So you apply the material to the stencil for your picture, attach the stencil to the stone, wash it with a chemical bath. Blast.

The way I did it was to make about six copies of the picture. Index the copies. Attach the first picture to the stencil material on the stone. Cut out the lightest parts. Blast. Attach another copy, trim out the next lightest areas. Blast. I repeated this until I figured I had it all. Then I pulled the last of the stencil and dusted the whole thing with the blaster.

It was wild and fun. Part of it is you never know how it's really going to turn out until it's over. When it turns out good there's a rush. Not the kind of rush you get when there's a snake in the tool box, but comparable in a good kind of way. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

And, welcome to my world.

Libertine · Jun 19, 2004

shvl73:

How do the pro's do it on headstones? 

2 ways. One using a rubber mat (or stencil) into which the lettering/design/etc is cut, usually with a computer driven stencil maker (just like a big plotter is driven with programs like AutoCad etc.) The cut areas are pulled away from the mat and the stencel laid over the stone. A sandblaster running automatically works back and forth down the thing until it is cut. Dust blown out and lithographed (to darken the lines/cuts).

The other way is laser etching. Hard to do by hand though. Image is transferred from the source (such as photograph, line drawing etc.) into a computer driven laser which moves back and forth over the stone cutting very fine lines into the stone. Only works well with black granite though. These machines will run you around $50k.

JEH

StoneHeartFarm · Jun 20, 2004

( Not the kind of rush you get when there's a snake in the tool box...)

Would someone please remind me not to loan Harv my toolbox. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Steve