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Making Touchmarks
Written by William L. Howard   
Page 3 of 6


IS IT RIGHT?: If your tool has developed a mushroomed tip and won't cut it is too soft. If the tip has chipped or fractured it is too hard. Anneal & re-harden. The nail will stand this a good number of times as long as you don't overheat and burn out the carbon (emitting sparks during a heat).

SPARK TESTING TOOL STEEL: Take the suspect stock and grind it hard enough to create a shower of sparks. If the sparks are straight and not too bright you have non-tool steel or iron. If the sparks fork and fan out in a bright pattern you have tool steel. Use a wood nail and an old drill bit for comparison. Compare a wood nail (bends) and a concrete nail (breaks) for spark patterns. This is a scroungers' test and will not provide an alloy number or hardening information but can lead to results with a little trial and error experimentation. Junk is cheap, high tech tool steel ain't!

IF YOU CAN DRAW IT YOU CAN ENGRAVE IT: Can't draw? Use this Xerox trick!

  1. Draw, trace etc. your pattern on paper.


  2. Xerox it bigger or smaller as you wish.


  3. Clean your metal with Acetone or Lacquer thinner.


  4. Tape your Xerox face down on the work surface.


  5. Rub the back of the Xerox design with a rag which is damp with Acetone so the paper looks translucent and you can see the pattern through it.


  6. Before it dries or gets moved, press down with the dry end of your rag on the design until it is dry (60 seconds max).


  7. Peel the paper, which will stick a little where the toner transferred, away from your work piece and see if the design is all there.


  8. This produces a durable pattern which you can spray clear lacquer over for longevity of complicated designs. It will not rub off easily and can be transferred to anything the solvent won't eat!


    9. NOTE: Your pattern is a mirror image of the original! You may want to trace the back of your design and Xerox that to allow the lettering to transfer as readable, etcetera. It works great for making stamp or die patterns which must be reversed anyway.

  9. If you want to do it over, just clean the metal with acetone and repeat.
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After years of trying to get a "round toit" - the Elektric Anvil has been re-integrated into the Celtic Knot. I have closed "ElektricAnvil.net" and am now working on adding new material to the knot.  Come back soon to see what's new at the Celtic Knot.