I’m going to go through the steps of cutting out a design on metal showing the different techniques and tools that I use. I’ll start with the design on paper and show how I transfer and cut this out on my sheet of metal. Because this is only a demonstration I’m just going to use a piece of scrap copper.
![Marking out pattern with stencil • Eileen Moylan Marking out pattern with stencil](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/IMG_4252-300x200.jpg)
I’ve chosen a pattern with a lot of cutting out so you can see how to cut a small detailed area with a jewellers saw. I am only going to use a section of this pattern so I using a stencil to pick an area and mark it out.
![Design glued to metal and piercing frame ready to go! • Eileen Moylan Design glued to metal and piercing frame ready to go!](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/IMG_4254-300x200.jpg)
Once I have the design I glue my piece of paper on to the metal. I don’t always work this way. Often if it’s a pattern I might use again I will transfer the design on to the metal and save my original piece of paper to be used again. Once the paper is glued on I mark out the areas that will be cut out. With this design I’m going to cut out all the black sections.
![Marking drill sections with centre punch • Eileen Moylan Marking drill sections with centre punch](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/IMG_4259-300x280.jpg)
These black sections will have to be drilled through to allow the blade to get into these areas. So I am going to mark the centre of the drilling hole with a centre punch. I use this because a drill bit has a habit of wandering if it doesn’t start on a recess. The centre punch forms a large enough dimple to guide the drill bit. It’s important to use this when I’m drilling in such a small area where there’s no room for error!
![Drilling holes for saw blade • Eileen Moylan Drilling holes for saw blade](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/IMG_2407-300x192.jpg)
I’ve drilled all the holes and now I’m ready to start cutting. I open one side of the frame so I can pass the blade through the drilled hole and reattach it to my piercing frame on the other side.
![Putting saw blade through drilled hole • Eileen Moylan Putting saw blade through drilled hole](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/IMG_2413-300x281.jpg)
![Putting saw blade through drilled hole • Eileen Moylan Putting saw blade through drilled hole](https://eileenmoylan.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/IMG_2418-300x249.jpg)
I’m going to make a video of the cutting so you can see how the blade moves along the metal. I’ll post that on Monday..
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