Engravers' Ball, Engravers' Block. A vise to hold a die or medallic item while some form of hand work is performed on it – engraving, chasing, inscribing, proof polishing or such. In its simplest form an engravers' ball is a metal sphere with a channel cut in the top with one or more set screws on one side of the channel to lock the work against the opposite side of the channel. Sizes range from 4-inch to 12-inch spheres. They would rest on a solid leather pad, or doughnut-shaped leather ring pad, or more recently, a nylon or felt ring pad.

The spherical shape allows the ball to easily move in any direction at the engraver's demand. By such swivel action the operator could engrave in easy motions or set the work in one position. One ingenious hand engraver, Neil Hartleip, of Fairmont, Minnesota, attached his engravers ball to a potter’s wheel and thus was able to control the direction the ball turned by foot pressure on the potter’s wheel mounted below his engraver’s bench.

A leather bag filled with sand, forming a cushion, and called an engraver’s pad was the earliest form for supporting engraving work; this was preferred by copperplate engravers for the ease of working a flat plate more so than any kind of vise that held the plate in one fixed position. Such sand bags are still used today for embossing and repoussé work.

Modern engravers' balls are chromium plated vises to hold any work 5-inches or smaller. Engravers' blocks are more precision tools than the simple ball. They have adjustable jaws with a plate on the top of each jaw for mounting pins and dozens of attachments for holding a variety of work. The pins are notched and attachments include extension arms for locking in odd-shaped or pieces larger than 5-inches.