We get a lot of questions about etching on steel. People who own steel tools are often inclined to personalize them. People who make their own steel tools are often inclined to embellish them. Etching is an effective and speedy way to impose line art and script onto steel surfaces. This week, Work treats us to an explanation of the technique as concise and straightforward as the method itself.
As you might have heard, we do not suggest that anyone adopt or attempt 1890s chemical practices. (Have you seen our disclaimer?) That said, the steps described in R. G. Naish's article are awfully similar to the asphaltum hard-ground copperplate etching technique I learned in school, and certainly worth the reading over. Who knows? Perhaps someday you'll be preparing artwork for etchings illustrating all manner of the manual arts. Carpentry? Upholstery, perhaps?
Disclaimer: Articles in Work: The Illustrated Weekly Journal for Mechanics describe materials and methods that would not be considered safe or advisable today. We are not responsible for the content of these magazines, and cannot take any responsibility for anyone attempting projects or procedures described therein.
The first issue of Work was published on March 23rd, 1889. The goal of this project is to release digital copies of the individual issues starting on the same date in 2012, effectively republishing the materials 123 years to the day from their original release.
The original printing was on thin, inexpensive paper. There are many cases of uneven inking and bleed-through from the page behind. Our copies of Work come from bound library volumes of these issues and are subject to unfavorable trimming, missing covers, etc. To minimize harm to these fragile volumes, we've undertaken the task of scanning the books ourselves. We do considerable post processing of the scans to make them clear but please bear with us if a margin is clipped too close, or a few words are unreadable. We would like to thank James Vasile and Karl Fogel for their help in supplying us with a book scanner and generally enabling this project to get off the ground.
You are welcome to download, print, and pretty much do what you want with the scan for your own personal purposes. Feel free to post a link or a copy on your blog or website. All we ask is a link back to the original project and this blog. We are not answering requests for commercial downloads or reprinting at this time.
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