How to Engrave Your Own Plaque

A home engraving kit can provide a professional finish.

Having a plaque engraved can be both expensive and inconvenient if you don't have a professional engraver operating in your area. However, with a steady hand and a little artistic flair, there's no reason you can't do your own engraving with a home kit. You can pick one up online relatively cheaply and have it on hand should you ever need to do any more engraving in the future.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Pencil
• Engraving kit
• Safety goggles
• Scrap plate of metal
• Clamp
• Plaque
• Damp cloth

Instructions

1. Draw out your design on a piece of paper. Do so repeatedly until you have a design you're happy with, and one that you can draw accurately and consistently.

2. Choose the right engraving tip from your kit to try out your design on your scrap piece of metal, and plug the machine into its power supply.

3. Put the safety goggles on and practice your design on the piece of scarp metal until you're confident using the engraver.

4. Change the engraving tip if your plaque is made from a different material than the scrap metal you used for practice.

5. Clamp your plaque to a hard flat surface making sure that the grip doesn't damage the side you're engraving.

6. Engrave your design on your plaque while wiping away any metal residue with a damp cloth.

References

• Engraving School: The Art of Engraving

Resources

• Turbo Carver
• Minicraft Tools: Engraver