Rare Handcrafts
The engraver
The engraver’s first tool is...the pencil. Of course, we instinctively think of the burin (or graver as it’s also known), or one of the array of burins placed close at hand; any observer at the workbench is struck by their number and variety. The burin is an almost natural extension of this artist’s hand, as a fountain pen is for a writer. Pointed, squared, or rounded, but always sharpened, this tool penetrates the material to gouge out tiny quantities, tracing a line or curve with a furrow of varying depth.