on 2/2/01 8:07 PM, John Carmichael at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hello dial makers: > > I just read Tony and Bill's comments on engraving numerals into metal. Very > satisfactory results can be had by hand carving roman numerals using a > Dremmel-type tool fitted with a cuttoff disk. I can see why roman numerals > were so popular with the ancients because, since they are composed entirely > of straight lines, they are so easy to draw and carve!
Let me recommend a low-tech skill that is not as hard as you might believe to acquire an acceptable ability at, which is carving directly on brass with (non-power) hand engraving tools, which, I believe, can still be bought from a few art supply or jewelry making supply sources. I have not made a sundial in this way (or at all) for many years, but back in the 1980s I made at least 7 or 8 dials in this way. It took me a month or two of playing around with scrap metal to get to a point where I had the confidence to attempt the first dial, and it turned out well enough, although cruder than the later ones I made. I still have it. I got pretty good at it before the demands of job and family caused me to give up this hobby. (It has to be a hobby, no one could get a reasonable return on the labor involved. I gave several to family and friends, and sold the rest to acquaintances for less than the minimum wage for my labor.) But to return to the discussion of carving roman numerals, I found this to be much harder than decorative motifs or the lines of the dial itself--in fact it was the hardest engraving skill to acquire. The reason is the very simplicity of Roman numerals. The slightest deviation from the intended cut was noticeable, which is not the case with slight mistakes in decorative lines, or with cursive lettering. (Roman numerals are not all straight lines, by the way.) Those of you who make dials commercially are unlikely to have the time or inclination to devote to something like this, but those who do this for fun might find it very rewarding to acquire a mostly long-lost skill and use it make a handsome and accurate sundial. best regards, --Jim McCulloch
