Back to basics, he says.... I live for the DAY my "basic" looks like that!!
Mike, your work looks really good too! Seeing what you've been able to do in such a short time has me really tempted to go on ahead and get into the one
pneumatics... I'm bad about trying to run before I can even crawl though...
My work looks really good to a beginner... To the more sophisticated eyes of the well-established craftsmen on this forum, it looks OK, for a beginner. Also remember, that MY short time probably has a LOT more hours invested than YOUR short time. You most likely have a job, and a boss, and precious little time to work on it, and at my shop I AM the boss, I have employees that do much of the work around there, while I while away the hours practicing engraving. If we compared HOURS, instead of MONTHS, you'll see what I mean.
We're at risk of hijacking the thread, here, but I think your approach of getting some facility with hand pushing is going to pay MASSIVE dividends when you finally get that pneumatic hand-piece. Every minute you spend pushing that graver around is develop skills that cannot be attained any other way. Keep it up!