VOCABULARY TERM: DRAG ENGRAVING

Drag Engraving. A form of flat machine engraving in which the cutter point does not rotate but is dragged over the surface of the object to be engraved. The cutter point, under pressure, leaves a fine-line trail of V-shaped furrow in the metal. No metal is removed (as in hand or routed engraving) but the displaced metal is thrown up at the top of the shallow furrow to heighten the illusion of a deeply engraved line. The cutter point, obviously, must be very hard and diamond points are most often used. The style of engraving is indeed called diamond point and used in a tracer controlled engraving machine. It has the advantage in that such engraving can be done on an already lacquered metal surface, cutting through the lacquer but leaving the remaining lacquer undisturbed. Thus medals, for example, may be completely finished when manufactured, perhaps held in stock, then later engraved without requiring to be relacquered. The bare metal in the furrow, however is unprotected by lacquer and is subject to toning (this may be an advantage by highlighting the lettering). See machine engraving.

Dick adds:

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