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Re: needles
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #1557 by DebBee
Jan 3, 2005 10:11am
Thread (disabled) Board
large-gauge hypodermic needles to carve with?

I know that ScoutDogs uses needles. She did the traveling event stamp of the LbNA map which has very tiny details. She has something about it on her web site:

http://www.scoutdogsboxes.com/shopping_page.html

She just says she uses the needle as a "very tiny knife". I imagine you could only use this effectively on good rubber, like PZ Kut, and while using a magnifying glass.

Fortunately I have intensely magnifying eyes without my glasses on. I can read microtype on a dollar bill. I just need a good light source. But that doesn't mean I have the skill of the patience for that kind of photographic quality carving.

Scarab
Re: needles
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #1565 by Scarab
Jan 3, 2005 11:08am
Thread (disabled) Board
I found the needles I had didn't seem very sharp. Not sure if it was the needles, or the carving medium, or just me. I'm just glad I'm not one of the animals who has to have these things jabbed into them. Seems like it'd be like getting an injection with a stick sharpened by a Boy Scout with a penknife!

DebBee
Re: needles
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #1566 by DebBee
Jan 3, 2005 11:56am
Thread (disabled) Board
I found the needles I had didn't seem very sharp.

I keep a small whet stone in my carving kit, and always sharpen blades prior and during carving. I don't use needles but that should work for them as well.

Don
Re: needles
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #1566 by DebBee
Jan 3, 2005 12:38pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote I'm just glad I'm not one of the animals who has to have these things jabbed into them.


I'm a regular pro at getting things jabbed into me. =) I've probably had hundreds of needles stuck into my arms. Not really a big deal after the first dozen or two times.

At last count, I've donated blood/platelets/plasma about 70-80 times. The old platelet machines were the worst--they stuck you twice for each donation--one to draw blood from one arm, then another to return the non-useful blood back in the other arm.

Lots of fun, though. =)

Last time I donated blood (last week), I surfed Atlas Quest a bit and found a couple of minor errors that I was able to fix after walking back home. =)

-- Ryan
Re: needles
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #1565 by Scarab
Jan 3, 2005 3:14pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote Fortunately I have intensely magnifying eyes without my glasses on. I can read microtype on a dollar bill. I just need a good light source.


I, too, can see every bit of type on a dollar bill. However, I am so danged excited by my new magnifying lamp that I can hardly leave the house! This is the one tool that any carver, no matter whether they prefer needles, knives or gouges or how good their eyesight, will absolutely LOVE.

This lamp has taken the quality of my carving to the next level. Thank you, Brian of TGD, for recommending that I spend the whopping sixteen bucks for one if these! There's nothing like the right tool for the right job...

Incidentally, I think there is no 'best' tool or media for stamp carving. I have seen top quality work done on everything from a Pink Pearl eraser to funky flooring salvaged at the dump. The same goes for the tools. Try them all and you will surely find your favorites. This is one place where I believe the dictum, "there are no rules!" Funhog
Re: needles - microtype
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #1576 by Funhog
Jan 3, 2005 7:15pm
Thread (disabled) Board
I, too, can see every bit of type on a dollar bill.

Oh, I have to challenge you there, to be sure. Do you know what the microtype is?

On the front of a new $20, in the bottom left, between the big number 20 and Jackson's shoulder, it says, "The United States of America 20 USA 20 USA 20." Can you see that? No one else I know can see it without a magnifier, so it would be cool if you could.

Nite Owl uses a magnifier lamp on a swivel arm. Best gift we ever had for carving. I use it for the light, and not the magnifier. I may use it when I get more detailed.

Scarab of the Doubtful Guests
"who wants to see Funhog's next level work"
Re: needles - microtype
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #1587 by Scarab
Jan 3, 2005 9:14pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Holy Magnifier, Batman! You're absolutely right. There's no way I cold ever see those little bitty letters without magnification. Thanks for telling us about them. I'm sure it's knowledge that will be good for a five buck wager in a smoky dive late at night someday. Funhog