I thought the same thing. The chisels do not look sharp enough to cut and yet I can see what looks like cutting marks on the background. The work is beautiful and the series showing it done is excellent.

Thanks Marilyn,

Yes, the chisels for the carving is not too sharp.
But one kind of the chisels for cutting and flat background remotion. is very sharp like the knife blade.

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Yours Charles,
the more traditional, the more mordern

Dear Jamie,

The thickness of the of the chiseling brass sheet is 2mm.
For the question of different from chasing and repouse ?
i think it is same. i just use the another word to describe the work. i used the carving. may be strange for you.

Exactly,these are the chisels.
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Yours Charles,
the more traditional, the more mordern

Welcome input.

Thanks you

Xie xie
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Yours Charles,
the more traditional, the more mordern

Thank you. Yes, at least the photos better than my words.

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Yours Charles,
the more traditional, the more mordern

Thanks Rich,

Im also very appraciate i can see lots of new things, really arts here. so i share, you share, and him or her will share, then all share here, ang all improved.
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Yours Charles,
the more traditional, the more mordern

Thanks Crquack.
Ask any questions like free.
We made the chisels by ourself. we sharp it, we form it. made the ones we need.
the chisel stick material most of them from the blacksmith, iron smith. some of them we also can buy from the market. use the current steel stick. but i like more the ones from the blacksmith. maybe it is a old habit.

The one kind of chisels for the carving used the 45# in china GB/T699-1999.
ASTM call 1045, 080M46,
DIN call:C45
JIS call: S45C,

Heat Treatment from the docments
normalizing：850
Hardening:840
backfire：600

The other kind of chisels for the cutting used the high speed steel. most of them can be used as long as the toughness and hardness are ok. how to tes, as long as the chisels you make can properly work on the metal sheet. the shisels can cut the material and will not broken easily. that's ok.

The size of chisels of mine is long 80 - 100 mm and it is round or square size is 4*4 5*5 6*6. you can choose the bigger ones.

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Yours Charles,
the more traditional, the more mordern

You are awesome Mr. Wu. I am a visual learner and just seeing your process and the types of chisels with the upclose pics really makes a difference. Thank you again too for the heat treatment specs. Very grateful.

Hi there Mr Wu,
Thanks for the demo. I am in a medaevil reanactment group that learns by doing. I have chosen the path of Jewlery/metalsmithing. I am searching for any hictorical documantation on the tools and their creation in Westren Europe from 1066 to 1603. I have many sites concerning Repousse and Chasing, but the tools, the Jewlers tricks, I am unable to find anything. Would you have any thoughts that might help?
THanks so much
Alistrina
Crown maker
Kingdom of Albion
Adrian Empire.org

Alistrina,

While Charles is in the Far East, the techniques and tools of chasing, repousse' and caving/chiseling are the same in Europe, all the way from the Bronze Age up to the present. Hammers, chisels and careful technique, nothing more. Pitch has been used to hold the work for centuries. While today some of us use more modern substances like plasticine clay, in the past earthen clay was used, as were lead blocks to back up the work.

The only difference in materials between the past and today is the steel we use for chisels. We use modern medium-carbon steels as they are readily available today. In the past, steel was very expensive due to the processes by which it had to be made, so it was only used at the very cutting end of the tool - the body of the chisel was plain wrought iron.

Some makers today use pneumatic hammers and chisels to save labor,but the fundamental process remains the same. If you study all of Charles' posts you will see that his methods are completely consistent with those sued elsewhere in the world. You can follow them exactly and feel secure that you are not perpetrating some anachronism, with the possible exception of the steel for the tools you are using and no one can spot that visually.

Rich

Thanks so much Rich. I have hit so many walls in my research, I have started to lose joy in the process. This web blog is helping so much
alistrina

You're quite welcome, Alistrina. That's what we're here for - helping each other.

You might want to pick up a copy of "Moving Metal" by Adolph Steines. It is one of the best books out there on the subject of chasing and repousse'. For some historical perspective, I'd recommend Moxon's "Mechanick Exercises", written in the 17th century, Diderot's "Encyclopaedia" written in the 18th century, and certainly "Divers Arts" by Theophilus, written in the 12th century. These will not be directly about chasing and repousse, but will give you an overview of metal arts and trades of their respective eras. Also, I'd recommend the "Pyrotechnica" by Biringuccio. It deals with the whole process of extracting ore and refining it in the 15th century, but you will see that the methods employed could have applied equally well to any period up to several hundred years earlier.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, "Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel" by Gies and Gies has some really good reading about the history of metalworking during the Middle Ages (500-1500) and how it relates to other aspects of life. This should be right in your intended chronology and may give you some insights that you can't get anywhere else.

Rich