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slate spalling

Stone Conversations : Archive 6 : Message 00004

From: Norman Watts <Norman_Watts@zzzzzzz>
Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2004 08:54:55 -0400
Subject: slate spalling

I'm struggling with trying to incise thin lines in slate. Honed black
slate having a near perfect surface shows every imperfection. When I
first start to cut a thin line the surface spalls off in tiny flakes (a
millimeter and less in diameter) immediately ahead of the chisel,
leaving a thin cut with a rough edge on both sides. After that I can
slowly widen the v-cut and obtain a smooth, sharp edge to the line or
letter. If however I had wanted a thin line it would be unacceptable.
How can I prevent this?

I have some chisels (3, 5, 10 mm) from Tiranti, coded red. I read that
red is for granite and blue is for marble and pretty pretty well any
other stone. Maybe the red has too blunt a taper (though to my eye it
doesn't seem so) and I need to taper it more? I hesitate to taper and
then end up with a frail edge that breaks and destroys the chisel. I've
also thought of starting thin lines with a tungsten scribe, and then
widening them with the chisels, but that is no good if I want a curved
line. Ideas?

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