A burin is the principal tool of the line engraver, also known as a graver. It consists of a short bar of hardened steel, usually square or lozenge-shaped in section, ground at an angle to a sharp point and set into a rounded wooden handle that sits in the palm of the hand. Pushed forward across a metal surface, it cuts a clean V-shaped groove and lifts a fine curl of metal.
The burin has been used since the Middle Ages by goldsmiths and silversmiths to engrave inscriptions, crests and ornament, and from the fifteenth century it became the tool of choice for copperplate engraving, producing prints by masters such as Albrecht Dürer and generations of later reproductive engravers. Engraved lines have a crisp, swelling and tapering character quite different from the softer line of etching or the burr of drypoint, which helps in identifying print techniques. Gunmakers, clockmakers and makers of scientific instruments also relied on gravers for decoration and dials. Antique engravers' tools occasionally appear on the market and appeal to collectors of tools and printmaking history.
