A technical dictionary of printmaking, André Béguin.

A line engraver's table must be of a size suitable to the dimensions of the plate he will cut. The surface of the table must be such that the plate being worked on can be easily rotated. The rotating of the plate is done by means of a cushion on which the plate lies during work, if the plate is relatively small, or then by rotating it while it rests on a small wooden board if the plate is larger. The line engraver must always hold the graver in front of him as if it were a natural prolongation of his hand. The graver must never be held in such a way as to be uncomfortable. The line engraver can then push his tool along the plate and regulate the depth of the lines he cuts while following the preliminary drawing. The graver should always be pushed in the direction in which the forearm is pointing (there should be very little effort involved). The forearm should be almost parallel to the table surface or else should form an angle of no more than 20° with the table in order to achieve the best working position.
In front of the line engraver there should be a source of light, either natural or artificial. Quite often the table is placed in front of a window. When work has to be done at night there should be a light bulb that sheds roughly the same amount of light as during the daytime. However, the light coming from the window will tend to reflect off the plate into the eyes of the engraver and because of this there should be a translucent screen between the window and the plate in order to diffuse the light.
Such screens can be made with tracing paper stretched on a wooden frame. The screen should be placed at a 45° angle. By leaning it in this way it will diffuse the daylight evenly on the working area. The metal plate will thus be illuminated evenly and at the same time it will not reflect. The cut lines will appear, by contrast, as darker lines much like a drawing done on paper.
On the right hand side of the engraver, well within reach, should be placed all of the tools he needs: gravers,

B. THE TOOLS. The graver (or burin) is the most important tool used in line engraving. It is made of a rod of hardened steel. When new this rod is usually 10cm (about 4 in) long and has a square or lozenge section. Heated until it is red hot, the rod is pushed into a wooden handle called a "mushroom handle" on account of its particular shape. The handle must be made of a hard wood and thus box wood is usually chosen for the purpose. A copper ring circles the end of the handle In which the rod is lodged so that the wood will not split. [here is also an elongated handle which has an opening cut into the wood. The rod lodges in this opening by means of a movable wedge. No matter what their particular shape may be, all burin handles are made so that when they rest on a flat surface there is only a 5° angIe between the surface and the rod. Such an angle permits the graver to cut easily into the plate surface. If the angle is increased the graver will cut too deeply and if the angle is lowered the graver will not penetrate the plate surface. When the mushroom handle of the graver rests on its flat side the rod should be resting on one of its corners (angles).

The end of the rod is bevelled so that it forms a 55° angle with the plate's surface when the graver is lying on the plate surface. The tip of the graver comes to a sharp point. This sharp tip is placed on the plate surface and is pushed along on the plate where it makes a V shaped cut. While the graver is being pushed along a thin and continous strip of copper will be cut out of the plate and will roll up next to the graver tip.
Gravers of various shapes and sizes are available. Square gravers are the most often used. Lozenge shaped gravers cut proportionally tighter and deeper lines but they are only used for straight lines because, contrary to square gravers, they are difficult to turn while cutting a line. There are also hooked gravers that allow the artist to pull the graver rather than push it; but such gravers are not easy to find and are not much used.
The sizes of the gravers are indicated by a scale of numbers. There are twelve different sizes ranging from the smallest to the biggest. These different blades allow the engraver to cut lines varying in width and in depth according to his needs.
The mushroom handle is held in the palm of the hand and, at least in theory, only the pressure of the palm is needed to cut the lines. The fingers should be extended along the rod of the graver and are used to direct and brake the rod. The thumb is used to hold the graver up so that it does not fall out of the artist's hand. Nevertheless, the work shoutd not be done just with the hand but also with the forearm, arm, and shoulder in order to ensure a supple and continous movement.
Flat (chisel) gravers are also made with a stainless steel rod and have handles similar to the gravers mentioned above. The cutting edge, however, is somewhat different. The cutting edge is rectangular, the shortest side being vertical and the bevelled edge being cut in the same direction as the shortest side. The angle at which a flat graver is bevelled is less than the angle of a normal graver since it is of only 25° to 30°.
The base of the flat graver (the cutting edge) is thus a straight line (as opposed to the point of the normal graver) and can be used to cut lines of a width equivalent to the size number. On the other hand, the so-called point graver has a rounded end that cuts lines with a rounded base similar to those cut by a rounded gouge. Both the flat (chisel) graver and the point graver come in some twelve different sizes.
There also exist gravers which have separate points. These types of gravers are called tint tools. On the bottom side of such tools there are parallel lines which, when the bevel end is finished, cause the cutting edge to have a saw tooth configuration. This tool allows the engraver to cut rigorously parallel lines with one stroke. Tint tools may have anywhere from two to six "teeth" or lines. The angle at which the tool should be held is about 40°.
The flat gravers, point gravers, and the tint tools are held either in the same way as normal gravers or then practically parallel to the plate surface. If they are held in the latter way they should be pushed In short, regular and repeated movements. While being pushed they should be rocked back and forth first on one side then to the other, thus leaving a sign of this movement in the bottom of the line.
In this way the wide lines will have a wavy line bottom that holds the ink better when printing procedures begin.
The points, yet another tool, is also made of steel and has a round piece of wood for a handle or is screwed into a point holder. Points must always be very fine since they are used to make lines that are difficult to cut with a graver: the preparatory outline, sketches, etc. All lines made with a point should be superficial so that they can be easily removed with a burnisher.
The scraper is a triangular blade with a sharp point. In line engraving, when the lines are cut with a graver, there are two slight ridges one on each side of the line which is known as burr. The burr is usually removed so that the plate will he perfectly flat and the lines precise. To remove such uneveness one may use a scraper whose three edges are as sharp as a razor blade. One of the scraper's edges should be slid along the plate while keeping one of the scraper's sides on the plate surface. This tool must be well sharpened first on a grainy stone, then on a fine whetstone using some oil. Sharpening is most important if one wishes to leave no marks on the plate [ sharpening, whetstone]. The blade (or cutting edge) of the scraper should be held somewhat diagonally with respect to the line being scraped so that the metal is cut sideways instead of straight on. The flat surfaces of the scraper are slightly hollowed out towards the middle so that the width of the cutting edge is reduced to a minimum. By reducing the width of a scraper increased pressure can be put on the area to be cut away.
The burnisher is a polished steel blade widened out at the end to form a ball or an oval shape. This tool is used to close, crush, or erase lines. The burnisher is rubbed over a line (or plate) with a turning motion after having deposited a drop of oil or saliva on the spot to be worked. There are various kinds of burnishers: rounded ones and straight ones. Insofar as concerns the upkeep of a burnisher consult the entry specifically dedicated to this instrument.
A cushion is made of two pieces of leather sewn together and are stuffed with sand or rags. It is used as a plate-rest when the plate is being worked on. A cushion also permits the engraver to turn the plate easily while he is cutting the lines.
The anvil which is used by engravers should be perfectly planed as it is used to correct plates. Corrections are made by hitting the back of the plate behind the area to be levelled. Levelling may be done by means of a hammer or with another object hit by a hammer. The area to be hit must be located using a compass whose two arms curve inwards at the end. The arms of some compasses are very long so that they can be used on large size plates. Quite often the two curved ends of the compass are cut differently. On one side the end is bevelled while on the other side the end is pointed. The pointed end is used to mark the back of the plate in the place that needs to be knocked up. The hammer used for this job (knocking up hammer) is quite light but its shape ensures precision work.
The plate. Line engraving may be done on various metals including iron, steel, brass, and zinc but usually red copper is used because it 's firm, supple, precise, quite resistant to pressure and very tacky insofar as ink is concerned. Copper also permits the cutting of the most complicated and the finest lines as it has neither the hardness of steel nor the softness of zinc, both of which are felt by the engraver's tool and are visible in the prints.
In the past copper plates were prepared by specialized workers who hammered the plates so as to make them uniformly hard. The next step was to pumice the plate with pumice stone powder, rub it with wood coal and, finally, polish the surface with a burnisher. Today the plates are laminated better than in the past and therefore it is hardly necessary to hammer them. The plates used at present are also pumiced and polished up (both mat and shiny finishes can be had) by machines operated by specialized workers. Many engravers, however, still prefer to prepare their own plates [ metals, polishing].
The plate must also be slightly pumiced on the edges and corners. If the plate thickness is more than 1 mm (0.039 in) the edges and corners should be bevelled [bevelling ].

2. WORK AREA AND MATERIALS (top of this page)

3. ENGRAVING A PLATE

4. PRINTING A LINE ENGRAVING