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EDEN — The first cut is the hardest, Bill Moody will tell you.
“I get so nervous — almost sick to my stomach,” he says.
That’s because Moody works in a very unforgiving medium. He’s a hand engraver, and his canvas is precious jewelry, heirloom guns and knives, and costly metals.
One mistake, one slip of the hand, and someone’s keepsake is scarred forever. But once he’s past that first cut, he’s in his artistic zone, where the passion for his craft and his well-practiced hands take over.
As he picks up a sharp, pointed hand tool called a graver, places it over a piece of metal secured in a rotating vice and begins the repetitive tap, tap, tap with a small hammer, he knows he must have steady hands and an eye for precision.
Through the magnified head loupe that he wears, Moody watches as the tool cuts a minute groove in a steel plate, the beginning of scrollwork or perhaps an initial. A curl of steel — so tiny it can only be seen under magnification — forms as his instrument furrows through the metal.
With machine engraving so commonplace, one would think that the much costlier and labor intensive hand engraving would be a diminishing art form, but not so, says Moody, who explains that the craft is undergoing a resurgence.
“There’s a real return to handwork and handcrafted articles. People appreciate that there’s a personality to them,” he says.
Moody, 61, calls himself a “serious hobbyist.” He began engraving 25 years ago, getting his start when he was a welder at a nuclear power plant in Florida. In the highly regulated industry, each weld had to be inspected. Moody and other welders had a lot of down time, waiting for inspectors.
There was also a requirement that each welder use a pneumatic engraver to carve their name and number on their welds. While waiting for an inspector, Moody began experimenting with the engraver, using it to decorate his tools with spirals and swirls.
Soon, other welders were pulling out their pocket knives, asking him to put designs on them. Moody, who says he’s always been artistic, was hooked. He bought a book, “The Art of Engraving,” and some basic tools, and began teaching himself the process.
“At that time, very few engravers would teach you,” says Moody, who was turned away when he asked an engraver at a jewelry store for advice. “They saw us as a threat,” he says.
After dabbling in it for five years, he’d come as far as he could on his own, and he set the hobby aside.
But in 2005, he and his wife, Mary, retired and moved from Florida to North Carolina, their native state.
After settling in Eden, he got much more serious about engraving, and he found that the climate has changed. “The master engravers all over the world are now willing and ready to teach you everything they know,” he says.
He travels frequently to Robertson to consult with Ken Hurst, a master engraver. And Moody has taken a weeklong class on engraving in Emporia, Kan., from master engraver Rex Pedersen, who is responsible for engraving the replica model cars given by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. to the NASCAR champion every year.
Because of the renewed interest in engraving, Emporia State University started the world’s first four-year degree program in engraving arts.
Though the interest is growing, Moody thinks he may be the only hand engraver within 50 miles of Eden. Because he is retired, he tries not to take on too many jobs. He’s engraved a number of firearms, put monograms on jewelry pieces, embellished some knives and a belt buckle, and done a silver cup for his son.
He’s been asked to engrave the door handles of a truck, which he plans to begin soon. “That’s probably the most unusual thing I’ve been asked to do,” he says.
As you’d expect, hand engraving is much more costly than machine engraving. A three-letter monogram is about $120. But the process is time-consuming. Moody starts by sketching a design — sometimes several, giving the client a choice.
A larger job, such as embellishing a firearm, takes much longer.
It’s not an art that you rush. When he worked on a handmade reproduction of a 1750s English trade gun, he spent 21 hours on the actual engraving, but he had the gun for 14 months.
“You have to get into an artist’s frame of mind,” he says.
And yes, you do make mistakes. But then, that’s part of the art form.
“Good engravers know how to cover it up or incorporate it in the design,” he says. And every engraver develops a unique style.
“After a while, your style will come out,” Moody says.
Moody’s wife says his style is in his scrollwork. She can pick out his work by the flowing leaves and swirling designs.
He says those lines come from nature. He studies vines, leaves and flowers for inspiration.
And sometimes, he retreats to his studio and just practices cutting lines. That hones his “muscle memory.”
But Moody leaves himself open to creativity.
“Basically, people just want it pretty,” he says.
Contact Myla Barnhardt at 627-4881, Ext. 116, or myla.barnhardt
@news-record.com
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200 E. Market St.
Greensboro, NC 27401
Phone: 336.373.7000
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Greensboro News & Record, Greensboro, NC ©2018 BH Media Group, Inc. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | This website is intended for U.S. residents only.
EDEN — The first cut is the hardest, Bill Moody will tell you.
“I get so nervous — almost sick to my stomach,” he says.
That’s because Moody works in a very unforgiving medium. He’s a hand engraver, and his canvas is precious jewelry, heirloom guns and knives, and costly metals.
One mistake, one slip of the hand, and someone’s keepsake is scarred forever. But once he’s past that first cut, he’s in his artistic zone, where the passion for his craft and his well-practiced hands take over.
As he picks up a sharp, pointed hand tool called a graver, places it over a piece of metal secured in a rotating vice and begins the repetitive tap, tap, tap with a small hammer, he knows he must have steady hands and an eye for precision.
Through the magnified head loupe that he wears, Moody watches as the tool cuts a minute groove in a steel plate, the beginning of scrollwork or perhaps an initial. A curl of steel — so tiny it can only be seen under magnification — forms as his instrument furrows through the metal.
With machine engraving so commonplace, one would think that the much costlier and labor intensive hand engraving would be a diminishing art form, but not so, says Moody, who explains that the craft is undergoing a resurgence.
“There’s a real return to handwork and handcrafted articles. People appreciate that there’s a personality to them,” he says.
Moody, 61, calls himself a “serious hobbyist.” He began engraving 25 years ago, getting his start when he was a welder at a nuclear power plant in Florida. In the highly regulated industry, each weld had to be inspected. Moody and other welders had a lot of down time, waiting for inspectors.
There was also a requirement that each welder use a pneumatic engraver to carve their name and number on their welds. While waiting for an inspector, Moody began experimenting with the engraver, using it to decorate his tools with spirals and swirls.
Soon, other welders were pulling out their pocket knives, asking him to put designs on them. Moody, who says he’s always been artistic, was hooked. He bought a book, “The Art of Engraving,” and some basic tools, and began teaching himself the process.
“At that time, very few engravers would teach you,” says Moody, who was turned away when he asked an engraver at a jewelry store for advice. “They saw us as a threat,” he says.
After dabbling in it for five years, he’d come as far as he could on his own, and he set the hobby aside.
But in 2005, he and his wife, Mary, retired and moved from Florida to North Carolina, their native state.
After settling in Eden, he got much more serious about engraving, and he found that the climate has changed. “The master engravers all over the world are now willing and ready to teach you everything they know,” he says.
He travels frequently to Robertson to consult with Ken Hurst, a master engraver. And Moody has taken a weeklong class on engraving in Emporia, Kan., from master engraver Rex Pedersen, who is responsible for engraving the replica model cars given by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. to the NASCAR champion every year.
Because of the renewed interest in engraving, Emporia State University started the world’s first four-year degree program in engraving arts.
Though the interest is growing, Moody thinks he may be the only hand engraver within 50 miles of Eden. Because he is retired, he tries not to take on too many jobs. He’s engraved a number of firearms, put monograms on jewelry pieces, embellished some knives and a belt buckle, and done a silver cup for his son.
He’s been asked to engrave the door handles of a truck, which he plans to begin soon. “That’s probably the most unusual thing I’ve been asked to do,” he says.
As you’d expect, hand engraving is much more costly than machine engraving. A three-letter monogram is about $120. But the process is time-consuming. Moody starts by sketching a design — sometimes several, giving the client a choice.
A larger job, such as embellishing a firearm, takes much longer.
It’s not an art that you rush. When he worked on a handmade reproduction of a 1750s English trade gun, he spent 21 hours on the actual engraving, but he had the gun for 14 months.
“You have to get into an artist’s frame of mind,” he says.
And yes, you do make mistakes. But then, that’s part of the art form.
“Good engravers know how to cover it up or incorporate it in the design,” he says. And every engraver develops a unique style.
“After a while, your style will come out,” Moody says.
Moody’s wife says his style is in his scrollwork. She can pick out his work by the flowing leaves and swirling designs.
He says those lines come from nature. He studies vines, leaves and flowers for inspiration.
And sometimes, he retreats to his studio and just practices cutting lines. That hones his “muscle memory.”
But Moody leaves himself open to creativity.
“Basically, people just want it pretty,” he says.
Contact Myla Barnhardt at 627-4881, Ext. 116, or myla.barnhardt
@news-record.com
Get today’s top stories right in
Recommended for you
FOOTBALL
HSXtra.com Football Playoff Playbook: Week 2
GOVERNMENT
Outgoing ambassador says she brought 'Carolina values' to UN
FOOTBALL
HSXtra.com Football Playoff Playbook: Week 3
FOOTBALL
HSXtra.com Football Playoff Playbook: Week 1
Load comments
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Services
Contact Information
greensboro.com
200 E. Market St.
Greensboro, NC 27401
Phone: 336.373.7000
Email: feedback@greensboro.com
Greensboro News & Record, Greensboro, NC ©2018 BH Media Group, Inc. | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | This website is intended for U.S. residents only.
