The GRS GraverSmith is a pneumatic engraving handpiece manufactured by GRS Tools (a division of Glendo Corporation, Emporia, Kansas, USA), designed for hand engraving, bright-cutting, and stone setting at the jeweller's bench. Smaller and lighter than the company's flagship GraverMax system, the GraverSmith occupies a well-established position in professional workshops and training environments where bench space is limited or where a more manoeuvrable handpiece is preferred.

Design and Operation

The GraverSmith operates on compressed air, typically at working pressures in the range of 20–40 psi, supplied via a standard workshop compressor or a dedicated GRS control unit. The handpiece accepts the full range of GRS standard gravers as well as the company's quick-change toolholders, allowing the bench worker to switch between cutting profiles — flat, square, knife, round, and onglette among them — without interrupting the workflow significantly.

Two principal adjustments are available to the operator: impact frequency (the number of strokes delivered per second) and stroke length (the depth of each individual impact). Together these parameters allow the handpiece to be tuned for work ranging from delicate line engraving on precious metal to the more forceful impacts required when seating a bezel or setting pavé stones in harder alloys. The ergonomic grip is designed to reduce hand fatigue during extended sessions, a practical consideration given that engraving and setting work often demands sustained, precise muscular control.

Position Within the GRS Range

GRS Tools produces several pneumatic handpiece systems, of which the GraverMax is the most comprehensively specified. The GraverSmith is positioned as the more accessible entry point in the range: it delivers a narrower span of adjustment than the GraverMax but retains compatibility with the same graver and toolholder ecosystem. For jewellers whose primary tasks are engraving lettering, adding bright-cut borders, or setting smaller stones, the GraverSmith's capabilities are generally sufficient, and its reduced footprint makes it practical for smaller bench set-ups or for use at trade shows and on-site demonstrations.

Applications in Jewellery Making

In a working jewellery context, the GraverSmith is employed across several distinct tasks:

• Hand engraving: Monograms, decorative scrollwork, lettering on rings, lockets, and flatware.
• Bright-cutting: The creation of angled, reflective facets along the walls of channel and pavé settings to increase brilliance.
• Stone setting: Driving beads, pushing over bezels, and cleaning up prongs in combination with appropriate graver profiles.
• Surface finishing: Removing tool marks and refining surface texture in recessed areas inaccessible to polishing wheels.

The pneumatic action of the GraverSmith reduces the physical effort required compared with traditional push-graver or hammer-and-chisel techniques, and allows finer control over cut depth — a meaningful advantage when working close to a set stone where an errant slip could damage a girdle or chip a facet.

In the Trade

The GraverSmith is a standard reference in jewellery-making curricula, appearing in bench-skills programmes at institutions that teach stone setting and engraving as distinct disciplines. Its compatibility with the broader GRS accessory range — including the GRS Magnablock workholding system and the company's range of ball vices — means that a workshop already invested in GRS tooling can integrate the GraverSmith without acquiring an entirely separate infrastructure. It is distributed internationally through jewellery trade suppliers and is available directly from GRS Tools.