A Little About Burins

Burin is a french word meaning "cold chisel", people may use the word when referring to the most used engraving tool (pictured below).
An engraving burin is mostly used by engravers, but is implemented in other professions, like print making. Burins usually are shaped like a pencil with an exaggerated eraser. The larger, "eraser head" fits snugly into the palm of an engraver's hand while the sharper metal end is used to carve lines, shapes and designs into metals.

There are an infinite amount of shapes that an engraver can turn their burins into. The large variety of shapes give the engraver the ability to find a tool for every use.

• A tint burin consists of a square face with teeth, enabling the creation of many fine, closely spaced lines.

• A stipple tool allows for the creation of fine dots.

• A flat burin consists of a rectangular face, and is used for cutting away large portions of material at a time.