EC Lyons : Square Graver : # 3

Square Gravers are used by wood engravers and copper engravers. The face of the tool is square-shaped and will cut a line as deep as it is wide. This is a medium-fine Square Graver (#3).

Copper engravers use Square Gravers to create incisions on the surface of metal plates, which will hold ink during the printing process. The lines thus show up as black in the final print. Gravers will often raise a slight burr on the metal plate, either side of the cut, which can be scraped away to give a clean line.

Wood engravers use Square Gravers to create incisions on the surface of woodblocks. As woodblocks are inked with a roller, these incisions do not receive ink, and therefore show up white in the final print. Square Gravers are particularly useful for cutting thin lines which swell dramatically, because the width of the line is dependent on the pressure used. It is possible to create a flowing line which widens and contracts, or to make short stabs which widen from a sharp point. Square Gravers are also useful when lightening areas of a block by stippling: repeatedly pecking at the wood with the tip of the tool, so that the surface bears a carpet of tiny incisions. Because of the shape of this tool, these stipples will have slightly sharp edges; engravers wishing to stipple a surface with round dots would be better off using a Stippling tool or a small Round Scorper.

This tool was made from high carbon tool steel in the United States by E.C. Lyons. It is supplied factory-sharp, but it has not been honed to a fine edge. Please note, engraving tools are known by different names in the U.K. and the United States. Square Gravers are known as 'Square Burins' in the U.S.A.