Scrimshaw: Ron Jr. Scrimshaw

[Ron Jr.]

Hello everyone,

We all ready for spring? Summer is more like a winter here in AZ for me. Stuck inside because it's too hot to do anything outside but at least I get a lot of work done

Here is a pre ban ivory 1911 grip with a crouching growling tiger for your perusal, hope you enjoy.

 

[JohnR]

Wow! You do unbelievable work Ron. Thanks for showing us......John

 

[Doc Mark]

So now are you going to put a "Hidden Dragon" on the other grip? Sorry, I just couldn't help myself! Excellent scrim.

 

[Roger Bleile]

Ron,

Another excellent piece of work!

Can you give me an idea of how durable your scrimshaw is? If someone used the gun every month in competition or carried the pistol concealed under a coat or shirt, would the fine aspects of your work degrade rapidly? I have always had the idea that the really fine scrim like you and Katherine do on grips is mostly for "safe queen" guns but I don't have any facts to base that on. Maybe it is more durable than I think.

Thanks,

Roger

 

[Ron Jr.]

Ron,

Another excellent piece of work!

Can you give me an idea of how durable your scrimshaw is? If someone used the gun every month in competition or carried the pistol concealed under a coat or shirt, would the fine aspects of your work degrade rapidly? I have always had the idea that the really fine scrim like you and Katherine do on grips is mostly for "safe queen" guns but I don't have any facts to base that on. Maybe it is more durable than I think.

Thanks,

Roger

Thanks Roger.

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your question with any certainty Roger. I know little craters are created when you stipple scrim so I imagine they would wear down with time and the dots would not hold as much ink. I think scratch scrim would hold up much better to heavy use, you see it done on powder horns that are handled all the time yet the work has lasted on some for a hundred years or more.
I think I'll make a necklace pendant and put some scrim on it and see how it holds up. My hands are always "fiddling" with anything within reach so it will be a good guinea pig to test its resilience. Give me some time and I'll post my findings.

 

[AndrosCreations]

That's a beauty, Ron! Besides the flawless scrim... the tiger's expression is pleasing...

 

[mtgraver]

As always Ron a true pleasure to view your work. I love the tonal quality you bring to your art.
I cut on cow horn with a little knife I made along with a burin or two. Some folks use a #11 Xacto blade. The cuts can be fairly deep and if the surface is softened a little the depth can be increased. I use cuts not scratches as some of the old work was done on other materials. I would think that the delicate stippling you do wouldn't last very long with repeated use but I think your test idea will help on that assumption. But I had a thought if the scrim was used on grips whether a hard coat of lacquer would help retain the scrim? I've handled a number of old horns that have had the engraving worn out where carried. The real question is how much was it carried? Most old horns had most, if not all, of the engraving visible even in the wear areas so the question of how much a horn was carried would be interesting to know.
Mark

 

[Doc Mark]

Roger, I scrimmed an ivory scaled Swiss Army knife 30 years ago. I carried it every day in my pocket (the pocket without any change rattling around in it) for 25 of those years. The image is a mere ghost of it's former self and this was done with incised lines, not dots. A finely detailed grip like Ron's would lose much of the detail fairly quickly, in my opinion.

Since these are 1911 grips, you could have the fine grips for show and change them quickly to more practical ones for shooting.

 

[Roger Bleile]

Thanks for the feedback on my question guys. I'm thinking the fine scrim is probably not prictical for cowboy action shooting.

RB

 

[Darrel Morris]

Nice work Ron. The tiger is beautiful and the expression is truly fierce.
Roger; It has been my experience that stipple scrim is strictly for display pieces. By all means have a nice set of grips scrimmed for your favorite gun, but have a working set to use for actually shooting it.