joseph engraver
Elite Cafe Member
Following John Ulrich’s footsteps...
Having copied many of his standard designs and some of his better ones, and having stood in the exact same spot at the factory where he did the original work, I feel a personal kinship with this engraver.
Perhaps his most famous gun is a model 1892 Winchester known to collectors as The Emperor of Japan rifle; it is considered to be “…the finest gold inlaid factory rifle of its time†(R.L.Wilson). I bought a beat up clunker at the Cody Gun show, took my prize back to the studio, tore it to pieces, filed and finished the metal, ordered 3x wood, fitted and finished it, then carved the wood as pictured in Wilson’s book. Then I did the rest of the engraving work as best I could.
It was when I started working on this project that I began to wonder. If! John and I were at the same level of proficiency. How long did it take him to engrave and inlay the frame and finish other parts? I did a time study, something that I never usually did. It ended up 40 hours for inletting and finishing the wood.
20 hours to do the carving and
144 hours for the engraving and inlay.
I know the John turned out some very fast commercial work and didn’t have scotch tape, or microscopes but I certainly learned a lot from him and his brother Conrad.
I believe that they were also thin on top; which brings me to this conclusion. My vote for the most intelligent baldy goes to Sam Alfano, not just for his artistic and teaching skills, but for putting together The Engravers Café which is a most wonderful medium of communication. Because of him we can interchange information and ideas with engravers the world over. My sombrero is off to Sam, Abigail and the Engravers Café.
The photos are the best I could find.
Having copied many of his standard designs and some of his better ones, and having stood in the exact same spot at the factory where he did the original work, I feel a personal kinship with this engraver.
Perhaps his most famous gun is a model 1892 Winchester known to collectors as The Emperor of Japan rifle; it is considered to be “…the finest gold inlaid factory rifle of its time†(R.L.Wilson). I bought a beat up clunker at the Cody Gun show, took my prize back to the studio, tore it to pieces, filed and finished the metal, ordered 3x wood, fitted and finished it, then carved the wood as pictured in Wilson’s book. Then I did the rest of the engraving work as best I could.
It was when I started working on this project that I began to wonder. If! John and I were at the same level of proficiency. How long did it take him to engrave and inlay the frame and finish other parts? I did a time study, something that I never usually did. It ended up 40 hours for inletting and finishing the wood.
20 hours to do the carving and
144 hours for the engraving and inlay.
I know the John turned out some very fast commercial work and didn’t have scotch tape, or microscopes but I certainly learned a lot from him and his brother Conrad.
I believe that they were also thin on top; which brings me to this conclusion. My vote for the most intelligent baldy goes to Sam Alfano, not just for his artistic and teaching skills, but for putting together The Engravers Café which is a most wonderful medium of communication. Because of him we can interchange information and ideas with engravers the world over. My sombrero is off to Sam, Abigail and the Engravers Café.
The photos are the best I could find.
Attachments
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Emperor of Japan mdl 1892.jpg -
Emperor of Japan 005.jpg
