Information Requested for Revision of FEGA How-To Handbook

[AllenClapp]

Announcement of Revision of FEGA How-To Handbook​

The Firearms Engravers Guild of America created its How-To Handbook to be of service to engraver members early in its life and has revised it several times with additional member-supplied information. An in-depth revision is now beginning, and your feedback is requested.

The FEGA How-To Handbook contains tips from FEGA members on subjects of interest to engravers of firearms, knives, jewelry, and other objects. The Handbook is free to FEGA members and available for purchase by nonmembers from the SHOP section and BOOK tab on the FEGA website www.fega.com. If you do not yet have a copy, you will beat yourself about the head and shoulders with limp noodles when you see what you have been missing.

Regardless of whether you are a FEGA member or not, we solicit your feedback on subjects that you would like to see added to the handbook or expanded during this revision.

If you are a FEGA member, we solicit your contributions of tips, tricks, and discussions to be added to the handbook. Your contributions will be acknowledged by name, unless you indicate that you prefer to remain anonymous.

The 2025 FEGA How-To Handbook editor is FEGA member Allen Clapp. All correspondence should be sent to fegahandbookeditor@gmail.com.

The current edition has the following chapters. We solicit suggestions from both FEGA members and nonmembers for new chapters, new subchapters, and expansion of current discussions.

• Introduction
• Engraving Reference Materials & Supplies
• Engraving Design
• Engraving Tools and Tool Techniques
• Engraving Tricks and Techniques
• The Business of Engraving
• Precious Metals
• Glossary
• Additional List of Suppliers
• The Internet
• Firearms Drawings
• Appendix

We know that the availability and use of tools and techniques have progressed since the last edition, and we need to add information on them. For example, the current edition addresses the use of Optivisors but not microscopes which are regularly used by many engravers today [so we plan to add discussions of microscope use]. What other subjects should we add? What processes need new or additional discussion?

We regularly see questions about the best graver geometry for various engraving tasks on engraving forums, so we need to update those discussions.

Today, there are several online forums for engravers. Some are specialty forums and some are more general. We need to add information on online forums that are appropriate for firearm, knife, and jewelry engravers, so we are soliciting information on those, including the URL, subjects, criteria for joining, etc.

The current edition has limited information on the relative hardness of some firearms. We need to expand this information. In many cases, the areas that are so hard that they are difficult to engrave are limited for some models, so information that would allow an engraver to plan around those areas would be useful.

The current edition includes a limited number of outlines of commonly engraved firearms. We would welcome additional outlines that engravers could use to plan designs. We plan to update the discussion of how to make your own outlines.

Some of the source information for precious metals, tools, equipment, supplies, etc., are outdated in the current handbook. We will be updating contact information for those still in business and we need information from you on where you typically buy your tools and input materials.

We plan to expand the discussions of the business of engraving. We have some positive tips in mind and can use more. However, it could also be useful to add discussions of situations to avoid.

We thank you for your helpful suggestions and participation in this revision.

Allen Clapp
FEGA How-To Handbook Editor
fegahandbookeditor@gmail.com