Hand-engraving or pushed engraving, which used basic hammers and chisels, is perhaps the oldest implemented method. With the development of blade tools in the upper Paleolithic periods, humans began to record daily life with a burin or graver made from chipped flint. These pushed gravers, used by truly skilled artisans, were refined and honed throughout the centuries to produce clean, smooth lines. Eventually, Egyptians fashioned a blunt and rounded point drill that cut into stone. Early woodworkers and metallurgists worked with mallets and punches creating textured patterns. Fine chisels and gouges inscribed more descript art pieces. Sharp picks or needles recorded ancient embellishments into horn or bone.
Engraving recorded history from early man to Egyptian hieroglyphs to art prints. It was also a form of communication among tribes. Long before photography, cameo engraving and cutting captured the likeness of ancient leaders in Rome and Egypt. Intaglios were images carved into ancient pottery, dies for royal seals or coining. Ancient engraved pieces adorned everyday items, such as vases and bowls. Early handmade firearms were inscribed with ornate images on the lock, barrel and hardware for wealthy customers.
Ancient engraving tools cut or carved text or designs into hard surfaces, therefore they had to be very sturdy themselves. Flint and bone were used in chiseling. Later, pointed tools of iron rendered images into pottery, stone and metal. Assyrians and early Greeks used sapphires while other cultures implemented diamond points to scratch images into gems, semi-precious stone and glass. Obsidian splinters carved Mexican alabaster sculptures while bronze chisels; later steel chipped away the granite and basalt blocks for large monuments in Greece, Italy and Egypt. Eskimos implemented ivory walrus tusks as engraving tools.
Approximately 77,000 years ago, South African carvings were etched into stone by chiseling. Known as the lost-wax method, chasing, the opposite of embossing, was a style used in ancient metallurgy to create jewelry with dimension and detail. Folk artists picked up the art of engraving and incorporated its designs into powder horns or decorative handles. Scrimshaw is another technique incised into bone or ivory. American whalers passed their time at sea whittling whalebone or teeth with jackknives or sail needles. Tooled images etched into woodcuts or acid-washed metal plates set the standard in early printmaking in 15th century Europe. Sandblasting was patented in 1870 and has been used as a widespread practice since.