Throughout the past five years of my glass engraving journey, I have tried a handful of different tools and methods for glass engraving, some of which worked and some of which didn't. If you're interested in trying out glass engraving, read on to learn about some of the things I've learned along the way.
My Beginning Tools
I didn't know that glass engraving was a real thing until I tried it out. I was originally interested in wood carving with a simple blade, but my husband surprised me with a WEN handheld rotary tool. When I first opened that box, I thought to myself, "What am I supposed to do with this?" I had no idea what a handheld rotary tool was! I think I had seen someone using a Dremel a few years back, but I still didn't know what that thing was. Anyway, I ended up using my WEN for woodcarving for a few months, but as I read up on some of the different bits that came with the kit, I found that some of the bits could be used on glass. Eventually I tried out the diamond burrs on glass, and that was when I fell in love with this form of art. Diamond burrs are a great way to start; they're inexpensive but you can still do a lot of engraving with them. They are still my greatest staple in my engravings. Here are some links to some diamond burrs that I would recommend.
Diamond ball burrs Variety pack: https://amzn.to/3ymlXAR
Diamond ball 2mm pack: https://amzn.to/3xXX1Ot
Side Note: Make sure when you are ordering burrs that the shank is the right size for your rotary tool. Some tools have interchangeable collets so that you can get shanks in different sizes, and some have only one size collet so all your bits need to have the same shaft size.
Another Side Note: There are many different shapes of diamond burrs that you can use, but I prefer the diamond ball burrs. Some other engravers like using different shapes, but I just like to get different sizes of the ball burrs.
WEN rotary tool photo & link https://amzn.to/3HBUA8M
You can use any rotary tool to start glass engraving. A lot of people like Dremel tools. My husband chose the WEN because it was inexpensive and he wasn't sure whether I was actually going to use it. It wasn't the greatest quality, but it worked to get me started. I would definitely recommend getting a flex shaft with whatever tool you choose to get. I started without the flex shaft, but the tool was big and awkward in my hand.
Next Level Up
After using only the diamond burrs for a while, I decided that I wanted to try other bits to see if I could get some shading into my engravings. See, the diamond burrs create the most bright white areas of the glass engravings, and I learned through YouTube videos that some stone burrs could be used for creating darker areas. So I tried out some of the stone burrs that came with that original WEN rotary kit. Some of them produced a shading effect, and some of them made the same white effect as the diamond burrs. I ended up gravitating toward the pink stone burrs. I found that when I first started using them, they left the glass bright white, similar to the diamond burrs. However, as I kept using the pink stone burrs, eventually they would wear down and become dull, which then created the shading effect that I was looking for. Unfortunately though, that worn-out effect was not consistent. There were times when I was working on a project, trying to get the white areas a little darker, when suddenly the bit changed and started scratching my project up. The inconsistency bothered me, so I decided to look for other stone burrs for my shading.
Intermediate Tools
At some point around this time I discovered that rubber silicone polishers helped with shading. I often use these to dull down the white areas of my engraving. I still use these all the time; they are important pieces in my engraving kit.
Rubber Silicone Polishers: https://amzn.to/3npJsT3
In my search for more specialized shading tools, I found Eternal Tools, a fine tool supplier from England. They are the only place that I could find Arkansas stone burrs, which create dark shading on glass. Eternal Tools supplies many fine tools for fancy hobbies like glass engraving, watch making, jewelry, etc. Since they cater specifically to glass engravers, they can be your one-stop shop for all things glass-related. They have good-quality diamond burrs, various stones for shading, silicone polishers for even more shading, etc. They are a little more pricey, but their stuff is always excellent quality. However, I have noticed that all of their shaft sizes are 3/32" or 2.35mm, so you'll need to make sure that you have a machine that can take that shaft size. The biggest kick from Eternal Tools is the price of shipping. Since it's all shipping overseas (I live in the US), a tiny envelope of burrs costs like $20 to ship, so I always make sure that my order is big enough to validate the price of shipping.
Rubber Silicone Polishers: https://www.eternaltools.com/polishing-abrasives/mini-rubber-silicone-polishers
After almost 4 years of engraving with my WEN rotary tool, I decided to level up my rotary tool to a micromotor. It felt like an expensive jump, and it took a lot of encouragement from my husband, but it was definitely worth it! The micromotor runs so much smoother and quieter than the WEN rotary tool. We ended up finding a micromotor on a dental supply website. I have no regrets for making that purchase. I could engrave for twice the amount of time with much less soreness in my hand! However, the catch with that is the micromotor only takes one size shank, so I couldn't use many of my burrs anymore. Fortunately, all of my burrs from Eternal Tools fit my micromotor, so I only had to replace things that were on the cheaper side.
Here's a link to the micromotor I chose:
Current Level Tools
I'm always down to try out new tools, but I feel like I've found a good variety of tools to satisfy my current glass engraving needs. I'm sure there are many different tools and techniques out there, and there are many opinions to go along with those tools and techniques. Every glass engraver will have a different story, a different journey. So while these tools work for me, you can take my words with a grain of salt.
Here's a list of the tools that I currently use, in order of most-commonly-used to less-commonly-used:
Micromotor
Diamond ball burrs, many different sizes to fit the project
White Arkansas stone burrs
Rubber silicone polishers
Green silicon carbide stone burrs
Here are some of my more recent projects, using all of the tools I just listed:
If you made it all the way to this part, thanks for reading! I hope this was helpful for you in your glass engraving journey. Feel free to contact me with any questions or suggestions! Happy engraving!
Disclaimer: I am a part of the Amazon Associates program, so I earn a small percentage of any purchases you make on Amazon through the links I have provided here. Conversely, I do not receive any benefits from Eternal Tools or Lions Dental Supply for sharing those links with you.
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