First I would like to say that I'm new to the site, and look forward to chatting with new people and topics. I guess tonight was story night because I ran on forever with my story. If you want to skip the story, skip to the next to last paragraph.
This all started with my love for guns. I have a fairly "modest" firearm collection, and I recently added a pistol to my collection that I've wanted for years, a stainless Colt Government 1911. I dropped a thousand on it, which is a lot of money to frivolously spend on something, for someone on my budget. Oh course I've seen a lot of custom engraved 1911's, and not long after, I decided to take the next step and get it custom engraved, it's only money right?
Well knowing next to nothing on the subject, I was pretty shocked by the first few quotes I received. I'm not cheap, and know that quality craftsmanship isn't ether, but I almost fainted when I saw a few of those quotes. I was sad thinking to myself, man I'm never going to be to afford that. To be fair, what I didn't realize at the time was that when I googled "custom hand engraving", most of the sites were for some of the top, most well known master engravers in the US.
After that, I did some research on the subject to figure out what my best options were. I have a pretty good grasp on everything now, which brings me to laser engraving, and I know this is probably a sour subject for most engravers, but their are definite pros and cons to consider. It can handle intricate, detailed designs for penny's on the dollar. I've watched a ton of video on laser engraving, and I must say it looks a little dodgy.
Laser work defiantly has a generic, manufactured look to it. I've seen good and bad, and must say that most designs lack the subtle differences in curvature, depth, and definition, especially in a relief design. It looks cheap and stamped on. So it came to me, I'm a pretty handy and somewhat artistic, I could learn a new, awesome hobby, and when I think I'm ready, do the work on my pistol myself. I would save some money, learn a new skill set, and have a more personal connect to it. How hard could this really be?
All that being said, I've had no luck finding anyone in my area that offers any kind of classes or tutoring. I've watched a lot of youtube videos, and realized that their are a ton of different tool options, materials, styles, and techniques. Having no idea what I'm doing, or where to start, I figured a few classes could help me in the right direction. Watching videos doesn't teach you anything if you don't know what your watching, I need to know what I'm doing. It would give me hands-on time to help me decide on my tool purchases, before I spend a lot of money, blindly buying a bunch of things, knowing nothing about them, then decide for whatever reason I don't like it and quit.
I live in metro Atlanta, but would be willing to travel if need be, nothing crazy far though. I would appreciate any offers or feedback, thanks for looking.
This all started with my love for guns. I have a fairly "modest" firearm collection, and I recently added a pistol to my collection that I've wanted for years, a stainless Colt Government 1911. I dropped a thousand on it, which is a lot of money to frivolously spend on something, for someone on my budget. Oh course I've seen a lot of custom engraved 1911's, and not long after, I decided to take the next step and get it custom engraved, it's only money right?
Well knowing next to nothing on the subject, I was pretty shocked by the first few quotes I received. I'm not cheap, and know that quality craftsmanship isn't ether, but I almost fainted when I saw a few of those quotes. I was sad thinking to myself, man I'm never going to be to afford that. To be fair, what I didn't realize at the time was that when I googled "custom hand engraving", most of the sites were for some of the top, most well known master engravers in the US.
After that, I did some research on the subject to figure out what my best options were. I have a pretty good grasp on everything now, which brings me to laser engraving, and I know this is probably a sour subject for most engravers, but their are definite pros and cons to consider. It can handle intricate, detailed designs for penny's on the dollar. I've watched a ton of video on laser engraving, and I must say it looks a little dodgy.
Laser work defiantly has a generic, manufactured look to it. I've seen good and bad, and must say that most designs lack the subtle differences in curvature, depth, and definition, especially in a relief design. It looks cheap and stamped on. So it came to me, I'm a pretty handy and somewhat artistic, I could learn a new, awesome hobby, and when I think I'm ready, do the work on my pistol myself. I would save some money, learn a new skill set, and have a more personal connect to it. How hard could this really be?
All that being said, I've had no luck finding anyone in my area that offers any kind of classes or tutoring. I've watched a lot of youtube videos, and realized that their are a ton of different tool options, materials, styles, and techniques. Having no idea what I'm doing, or where to start, I figured a few classes could help me in the right direction. Watching videos doesn't teach you anything if you don't know what your watching, I need to know what I'm doing. It would give me hands-on time to help me decide on my tool purchases, before I spend a lot of money, blindly buying a bunch of things, knowing nothing about them, then decide for whatever reason I don't like it and quit.
I live in metro Atlanta, but would be willing to travel if need be, nothing crazy far though. I would appreciate any offers or feedback, thanks for looking.