Have you ever wondered how jewelers can engrave such small and detailed inscriptions on small jewelry pieces without damaging them? We’ll explain as we take you back to the origins of jewelry making and engraving and show how far we’ve come with modern techniques.

The Origins of Jewelry Engraving

Humans have been creating jewelry for thousands of years, and we’ve been making personal engravings on them for just as long. For over a millennium, jewelers engraved jewelry without damaging the piece by hand-engraving with precise tools called gravers.

These sharp and tiny handheld chisels could mark a piece’s surface without breaking even the smallest jewelry. Today, some people still engrave by hand using tools similar to the gravers that ancient jewelers used. Basically, if you brought a modern engraver to ancient times, the people then would recognize it!

Modern Machine Engraving

While hand engraving is useful and has a romantic quality, modern-day jewelers have developed newer methods of engraving jewelry more precisely and quickly and with minimal damage. Today, most engraving is done by either a laser marking machine or a machine with a diamond-tipped bit.

Using a focused beam of UV light is how laser marking machines work to make a permanent yet minimally invasive mark on a material’s surface. A laser machine or diamond-tipped bit is much stronger than typical hand engraving tools and opens up many more possibilities for engraving designs. Plus, machine engravings are much quicker and, therefore, more affordable, allowing average people to get more intricate engravings on jewelry for less.

Laser vs. Diamond-Tipped Engraving: Which Is Better?

If you’re at a jewelry store and are getting a piece engraved, they may ask whether you prefer a laser or diamond-tipped engraving, but which is better? In most cases, laser engraving is the better option, as it’s more advanced and typically more precise.

Laser engravings also have the advantage of more significant color contrast, as the laser burns the material while engraving. But diamond-tipped engravings can offer more depth than laser marks, so it has advantages. Typically it’ll depend on the material, as some softer jewelry materials are more suited for laser engravings, while harder ones benefit more from a diamond-tipped bit.

Conclusion

We hope our explainer has helped you learn something about how jewelers get those intricate and finely-detailed engravings on even the smallest of jewelry pieces! If you ever get the chance, consider observing a hand-engraving demonstration to get an appreciation for the art form and its rich history. It will help you appreciate the precision of modern laser and diamond-tipped cutting methods!

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