Frosting Practice

[Matt_Isserstedt]

Here are a couple of photos of some practice frosting I was doing tonight. I used a scrap piece of CRS, surfaced to the finest finish I could get with the shaper.

Then I scraped down the ridges a little (not to any dimension, just to get the feel). Then I started practice frosting of the decorative crescents.

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, the results look decent, but like most shop endeavours, I'm the teacher and student.

http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/fro ... ice_01.jpg
http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/fro ... ice_02.jpg

Like anything I feel like my results are getting more predictable and uniform the farther I go, maybe after frosting a half-acre I'll be ready!

The much harder problem I discovered was to capture this digitally. My digital camera sucks at macro shots, and the scanner absolutely would not pick it up no matter what I did (used software plus paper shims to try to get the reflection correct).

BTW I used my flat scraper purchased from Enco. The real test will come when I have to sharpen that sucker!

[SpinDoctor]

While it looks like you've got pretty good control, what you are doing is flaking. A proccess that is meant to produce oil reservous on machine way surfaces. Frosting is a purely decorative practice that lends no value what so ever to the performance of the machine tool slide. Now were you producing the flaking by the traditional method of push and roll or by the striking method. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif"%20alt="[/img]

[DFWKen]

Is there a website with suggestions?

[Matt_Isserstedt]

I'm honestly just a hacker at this. I just bought some Enco scrapers and I was playing around.

My technique is all wrong, basically I'm just using hand control to create parallel scratches in a crescent pattern with the corner of the scraper. When I say the corner, I don't have it turned at 45 degrees digging in like a cold chisel. The way I was doing it was not that tiring and reasonably controllable...I was pleasantly surprised with the purely decorative results.

The large flat side of the tool stays essentially flat, I'm just putting pressure on the left edge so the sharp corner does the cutting. I can't feel the crescents with my finger so they are not that deep.

I really need to see a live demo of the proper technique. I've read posts and suggestions but I can't visualize it. There's a VHS tape on Ebay but I can play around a lot before I fork over the $75.

[CBlair]

I read an article in HSM magazine some years ago that discribed a method for producing the effect you are looking for. It was discribed that the scraper blade was pushed straight down on the surface by placeing your shoulder and wieght over the handle. With the other hand a short choppy motion, almost a slap, was given to the blade and this would produce a small flake that would hold oil. I am sure there is more to it than this but if you are practiceing anyway give it a try.

Charles

[SpinDoctor]

CBlair, that's what I meant by the striking method. The more conventional push and roll as I call it requires the blade to ground with a large radius on the front end.

[gezr]

could I see a photo of something like this? I have a scraper and a carbide blade, but I have no idea how to truly use the thing. Ive done bits a pieces of trying to learn and when I learned that my strike twist and pull method is backwards I sorta gave up for the time on trying to learn how to do it, I did think about buying one of the videos but I figured at some point Ide run into someone who knew how to do it to it and include some sort of a photo.
Phil

[Matt_Isserstedt]

SpinDoctor,

Is the shape of the tool you are referring to similar to a curved gouge (ala woodworking chisels)? But with a cornered metal scraper edge rather than a sharp woodworking chisel edge.

[SpinDoctor]

No. Just a regular flat scrapper blade with a large radius ground from one side to the other. Gring the cutting edge the same as a regular scrapper with a 2 to 3 degree negative rake [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif"%20alt="[/img]

[sandman2234]

Matt,
Gezr came up with an idea to use a magnifying lens to help with close up shots. See his post and examples on this site. I assume he is using one of those magnifying lens you see hooked to the corner of a desk, some with a light, or a smaller spot in one corner. Good luck, and nice job. david