How to Engrave a Stone Pendant
Pendants engraved with symbols, words and simple line drawings are both beautiful to look at and, in many cases, meaningful to wear. Stone pendants can be some of the most difficult to engrave due to the hardness of the material, but with a hand-held rotary cutter and the right bits and process, you can make your own professional-looking engraved pendant customized to any design you like.
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Things You'll Need
- Stone pendant
- Permanent marker
- Nail polish remover
- Woodworking vice
- Leather or rubber scraps
- Rotary cutter with diamond burr cutting attachment
Instructions
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1
Trace the pattern you want to engrave upon the stone in permanent marker. This will give you a line to follow while you're engraving. If you make a mistake, wipe the marker away using nail polish remover and try again.
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2
Secure the pendant in a vice. Place some small pieces of buffer material, such as leather or rubber, on either side of the stone in order to help hold the stone in place and prevent any scarring from the vice. Position the stone so that the side you want to engrave is facing outward and accessible. Tighten the vice until you can no longer move or wiggle the pendant with your fingers.
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3
Do a rough engraving to get the line right. Turn on the rotary cutter before you press the bit against the stone, then move the tip of the spinning bit over the shape you drew in Step 1. Run the tip of the bit over the lines several times until a single, thin, consistent groove starts to form. There will also be some "false-start" scratches, but don't worry about these.
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4
Go back and fill in with a deeper engraving. Follow the lines of the thin groove with the cutting tool in one long, slow movement to make a deeper engraving. Keep the pressure consistent so that the tool penetrates at the same depth throughout the engraving.
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5
Clean up the stone. Remove the pendant from the vice and rinse it in the sink to remove the dust from the engraving. Wipe away any remnants of permanent marker ink.
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