Finishing the Enzo moon plate

The contrasts in carving only become properly evident after a patina or some other method of colouring is applied to the metal.

Today I added a black finish to the steel by heating it and quenching it in cooking (sunflower) oil.




It took several goes to get it looking good. It seems to build up in layers. I brass brushed the whole thing first time round, then selectively sanded it. Then back in the quench, then selectively sanding again.

The results are fairly pleasing although next time I inlay I will be much lighter on the hammer, trying the clean up the marks around the inlay is tricky.



I'm going to mount this one in wood, or possibly slate, not sure yet.

Test plate: mild steel and silver inlay

I've been wanting to try inlay as it's one of the techniques used in traditional Japanese metalwork. I cut a fairly large circle from mild steel and got to marking out a design. I chose to include an enzo as the moon. Using my v chisel and tiny hammers I outlined the design.







This is my workspace



I hollowed out a cavity to accept the silver and undercut the walls.



The silver is hollowed at the back to add surface area, that way when I hammer it flat it will spread into the undercuts.





Once it fits and is hammered in slightly, the walls are hammered down around the inlay with a flat punch. This ensures that it stays put and makes the definition between inlay and background.

Then I started shaping the silver.



The plan was to make the inlay look like a brush stroke enzo, I shaped it half round and made a groove in the middle.



Adding texture to the foreground and carving little grass tufts.




The blueish colour here is a trick of the light. The next stage is to colour the steel black. This is done by heating the steel and quenching in oil. This should make the silver stand out more

All in all, not a bad attempt. Once the heat colouring is done I'll be able to reassess. The steel is soft, being annealed mild steel but it still takes more of a toll on my chisels than the non-ferrous metals.