Southern Custom
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
This is a little essay/post I'd written over on the "The Engravers Notebook" Facebook forum. Sam asked that I post it here as well. I'd written this mainly for the benefit of the large number of beginners on Facebook but I sometimes forget that there are many here lurking in the background as well. Here is that post along with the two accompanying photos of an old plate and some new work:
"Someone here asked about practice plates. The fact that you are using them means you are on the right track. Be SURE and date them. You'll use them to gauge progress later.
It should go something like this: Engrave your first practice plate. When you look at it you'll want to toss it in the rubbish bin. Keep it. Engrave the second plate and the cuts are getting cleaner. Somewhere between #10 and #15 or month 3 you'll look at the plate and think "YES! I've got this! Time for a pistol!" Mark and date this plate. At this point stifle your joy and refrain from taking grandpa's Colt from the safe.
3 months later you'll finish another plate and say YES. Now I think I REALLY have it! Your wife will agree. Facebook will applaud you. Take out the last marked plate to compare and it will hit you, "Holy crap I didn't have a clue back then! Glad I held off on the Colt".
Again, stifle your enthusiasm. Leave gun in safe. Repeat process.
By the 5th or 6th "Lightbulb" moment you should be cutting Spydercos or Buck knives. Summon all your willpower and leave that gun in the safe until you can sit down with a working professional gun engraver or have found one qualified to honestly critique you're work by email or photos. If all is right in the world he'll approve your sketches and You are off to the races. If not, you are likely close and your new mentor can give you some pointers to straighten you out. (Joining FEGA will offer you access to any number of fine craftsmen willing to help.)
Now you go home, take out the Colt and realize, wait a minute, there are a million nooks and crannies and a long round barrel to work around and everything you've cut to this point has been flat.
Put the gun away. Drive to Home Depot and buy some 3/4" mild steel tubing. Transfer some scrolls and start cutting again. Suddenly your graver won't stay put and keeps slipping. Rethink everything you thought you knew and start cutting your practice barrels. Inexpensive brass cone shaped plumb bobs are good as well.
When the slips stop its time to take out the Colt. Look it over very hard. Now put it away, again. Drive your local Academy and buy a Bond Derringer or a Ruger Single action and dive in. You'll make mistakes. You will thank me later for the advice to leave the Colt untouched for now. There are issues with cutting a gun that never even crossed your mind. Use this gun to find out what they are. Keep this gun. Think of it as your first practice plate with consequences.
Now that you can cut a gun, you'll spend the next few years learning to prep and polish them and develop the problem solving skills inherent to gun engraving that only come with experience.
I say all this not to discourage you or to preach, rather, I offer it a realistic view of the progression you might take and a prescription for avoiding the headache and heartache that many would be engravers experience. I can speak with authority as I've been there and made every mistake one can make along the way. Yes, I've learned from them but there are a few mistakes that I could have avoided all together. In particular there is a beater 1873 Winchester out there covered with something resembling leaves that I'd pay to take back, and a Bond Derringer deep in the safe that I'm waiting for a chance to sand out or destroy. When I cut each of those guns, I and everyone I knew were applauding my work and saying "Isn't it about time you cut a gun?" And so I did. In hindsight, I and my friends and family were in no way qualified to judge what constitutes quality hand engraving. One glance at my sketches and any half baked gun gouger would have stopped me in my tracks and set me straight to the betterment of the craft.
Remember that one day you may become a professional and I speak from experience when I say that trying to erase the tracks of poorly cut work from the historical record is increasingly difficult these days. The best solution is easy in principle but hard in practice. Strive to keep your ego in check and let a mentor/instructor/master guide you. Don't let the peanut gallery of engraving fans on Facebook convince you that you are something you are not. Pats on the back are encouraging but meaningless from the wrong folks and to your task at hand.
I've been on the jewelry bench for 30 years. I've used engravers proficiently for 20 of them, and I've cut steel for around 7 years now. It's only in the last few years that I feel I've started coming into my own as an engraver and have anything to offer in the way of advice. If I'd had proper instruction I could have cut my learning time in half and likely have avoided many costly mistakes.
I offer this with hope that none of you ever have to experience the awful feeling you get when you realize the gun you cut 6 months ago was utter rubbish and you can't take it back. There are no second chances with gun engraving. The gun you cut with your name attached will be around long after you are gone.
I feel we are in a renaissance period of engraving with new styles and techniques emerging every day and the more of us practicing the better. But just as quality work enhances our image as a whole, a few bad apples spoil the bunch and poorly engraved guns and knives reflect on us as artists and craftspeople. When you hear someone say that engraving will destroy a gun's value, this is one of the reasons why. Most people have never held a sample of fine engraving art in their hands. Do your best to produce a product that will elevate you as an artist and in turn, engraving as a whole. Remember that engraving itself is not an art. It is merely the method by which we apply our art to metal objects. Work hard on learning to cut but work harder on learning to be an artist in metal. Good luck and keep the chips flying and your pencils sharp."
this is a plate from 2010 or so when I thought I was ready for the Colt in the safe. (Thank goodness I held off) This is a current 2017 project. Still a student but confident in the fundamentals and my work.
"Someone here asked about practice plates. The fact that you are using them means you are on the right track. Be SURE and date them. You'll use them to gauge progress later.
It should go something like this: Engrave your first practice plate. When you look at it you'll want to toss it in the rubbish bin. Keep it. Engrave the second plate and the cuts are getting cleaner. Somewhere between #10 and #15 or month 3 you'll look at the plate and think "YES! I've got this! Time for a pistol!" Mark and date this plate. At this point stifle your joy and refrain from taking grandpa's Colt from the safe.
3 months later you'll finish another plate and say YES. Now I think I REALLY have it! Your wife will agree. Facebook will applaud you. Take out the last marked plate to compare and it will hit you, "Holy crap I didn't have a clue back then! Glad I held off on the Colt".
Again, stifle your enthusiasm. Leave gun in safe. Repeat process.
By the 5th or 6th "Lightbulb" moment you should be cutting Spydercos or Buck knives. Summon all your willpower and leave that gun in the safe until you can sit down with a working professional gun engraver or have found one qualified to honestly critique you're work by email or photos. If all is right in the world he'll approve your sketches and You are off to the races. If not, you are likely close and your new mentor can give you some pointers to straighten you out. (Joining FEGA will offer you access to any number of fine craftsmen willing to help.)
Now you go home, take out the Colt and realize, wait a minute, there are a million nooks and crannies and a long round barrel to work around and everything you've cut to this point has been flat.
Put the gun away. Drive to Home Depot and buy some 3/4" mild steel tubing. Transfer some scrolls and start cutting again. Suddenly your graver won't stay put and keeps slipping. Rethink everything you thought you knew and start cutting your practice barrels. Inexpensive brass cone shaped plumb bobs are good as well.
When the slips stop its time to take out the Colt. Look it over very hard. Now put it away, again. Drive your local Academy and buy a Bond Derringer or a Ruger Single action and dive in. You'll make mistakes. You will thank me later for the advice to leave the Colt untouched for now. There are issues with cutting a gun that never even crossed your mind. Use this gun to find out what they are. Keep this gun. Think of it as your first practice plate with consequences.
Now that you can cut a gun, you'll spend the next few years learning to prep and polish them and develop the problem solving skills inherent to gun engraving that only come with experience.
I say all this not to discourage you or to preach, rather, I offer it a realistic view of the progression you might take and a prescription for avoiding the headache and heartache that many would be engravers experience. I can speak with authority as I've been there and made every mistake one can make along the way. Yes, I've learned from them but there are a few mistakes that I could have avoided all together. In particular there is a beater 1873 Winchester out there covered with something resembling leaves that I'd pay to take back, and a Bond Derringer deep in the safe that I'm waiting for a chance to sand out or destroy. When I cut each of those guns, I and everyone I knew were applauding my work and saying "Isn't it about time you cut a gun?" And so I did. In hindsight, I and my friends and family were in no way qualified to judge what constitutes quality hand engraving. One glance at my sketches and any half baked gun gouger would have stopped me in my tracks and set me straight to the betterment of the craft.
Remember that one day you may become a professional and I speak from experience when I say that trying to erase the tracks of poorly cut work from the historical record is increasingly difficult these days. The best solution is easy in principle but hard in practice. Strive to keep your ego in check and let a mentor/instructor/master guide you. Don't let the peanut gallery of engraving fans on Facebook convince you that you are something you are not. Pats on the back are encouraging but meaningless from the wrong folks and to your task at hand.
I've been on the jewelry bench for 30 years. I've used engravers proficiently for 20 of them, and I've cut steel for around 7 years now. It's only in the last few years that I feel I've started coming into my own as an engraver and have anything to offer in the way of advice. If I'd had proper instruction I could have cut my learning time in half and likely have avoided many costly mistakes.
I offer this with hope that none of you ever have to experience the awful feeling you get when you realize the gun you cut 6 months ago was utter rubbish and you can't take it back. There are no second chances with gun engraving. The gun you cut with your name attached will be around long after you are gone.
I feel we are in a renaissance period of engraving with new styles and techniques emerging every day and the more of us practicing the better. But just as quality work enhances our image as a whole, a few bad apples spoil the bunch and poorly engraved guns and knives reflect on us as artists and craftspeople. When you hear someone say that engraving will destroy a gun's value, this is one of the reasons why. Most people have never held a sample of fine engraving art in their hands. Do your best to produce a product that will elevate you as an artist and in turn, engraving as a whole. Remember that engraving itself is not an art. It is merely the method by which we apply our art to metal objects. Work hard on learning to cut but work harder on learning to be an artist in metal. Good luck and keep the chips flying and your pencils sharp."
this is a plate from 2010 or so when I thought I was ready for the Colt in the safe. (Thank goodness I held off) This is a current 2017 project. Still a student but confident in the fundamentals and my work.