How I Use the Master Font Strips

A number of folks have emailed me asking about making font sets from my master font strips shown previously. If I wanted or needed full type sets, the Gorton 3U can do 1:1 ratios for making such sets from the strips. For my needs I choose not to make full font sets of type. Instead I make short master strips of commonly used engraving setups to save time. These strips need not be engraved at the 1:1 ratio. A smaller size will do perfectly for my uses as my engravings will be much smaller. The 3U can adjust for final size.

To make the strips, I use .064" thick brass sheet. A 1 1/4" wide brass bar is laid on the brass sheet as a rule to guide the scribe.

The scribed lines can be seen here.

The brass gets sheared along the scribed lines to form 1 1/4" wide strips.

The blank strips look like this.

The next step is to grind the required 45 degree angle along both edges. I could mill it but free hand grinding it is simple, easy, and fast.

I do the grinding with a belt grinder.

As I grind the edges, I continually test the fit using the dial accessary I made.

The edges end up looking like this.

Below is the font strip that I will be using for the example of how I use the master font strips. Here are the upper case letters.

And below are the lower case letters. The numbers continue on the back side of the master font strip.

Before anything else can be done, a new stylus for tracing the letters must be made. This particular master font strip was made using a flat bottom cutter to allow engraving on both sides of the brass.

This rounded point stylus will be reshaped.

The Gorton 375 was set to 90 degrees.

The round point was ground to an over sized flat end.

This flat pointed end was ground down to a cylinder shape.

The goal was to have a flat bottomed stylus which fit slightly loosely into the font groove. If too tight, it might bind while doing the tracing.

Below is shown the desired fit. With this completed, I was ready to engrave the new font strips.

When I get some free time, I will demonstrate what I will make initially from this font strip. Until then, the short strips below will give an idea of what I will be making. These are strips which can get used repeatedly without requiring individual letter setup with each use.

Not mentioned earlier is the fact that many of the master font strips are marked for where to shear off the newly engraved copy so that spacing remains constant. Such markings may be seen below. This is handy when making complete alphabet sets.

NOTE: I do not have time to make font sets for others. Please do not ask.

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