Ruger

[JJ Roberts]

This is a Ruger I engraved 3/4 coverage.

 

[dimovengraving]

Beautiful work JJ Roberts

 

[John B.]

Great job JJ, thanks for sharing it.

 

[Marrinan]

I always enjoy seeing your work

 

[Brant]

Looks nice JJ.

How was that to cut?

 

[Leland Davis]

Very nice JJ I like it.

 

[Grayson]

Excellent!

 

[tdelewis]

Nice work! Ok I want to know how you did the loading gate? I also did a Ruger stainless as well as a blued one. I found that the loading gate and the recoil shield on both were as hard as glass. I didn't engrave them.

 

[quickcut07]

Great work J J . Looks awesome.

 

[JJ Roberts]

tde,I annealed the loading gate and then harden after engraving. J.J.

 

[Strelok]

Ruger loading gates are out of this world on the hardness scale. Combine that with the difficulty in securing them to cut and they can be frustrating. Great job!

 

[Big-Un]

Ruger loading gates are out of this world on the hardness scale. Combine that with the difficulty in securing them to cut and they can be frustrating. Great job!

Forgive my asking as I should know this, but how did you anneal the gate and regarded it? I have a small toaster oven in the studio and I'm wondering if that would do the job.
After it posted I noticed it quoted the wrong one, it was intended for JJ's post on annealing.

 

[Strelok]

I would like to know as well for future Vaqueros

 

[JJ Roberts]

I heat the loading gate cherry red let it cool polish engrave then heat not quit cherry red and squech in oil. J.J.

 

[Crazy Horse]

Just wondering about 2 things.

J.J., Did you remove the barrel to engrave and is it really necessary to re-harden the loading gate???

 

[Strelok]

I have heard of a method used to anneal that uses steel foil and a rolled up piece of copy paper. I don't know the specifics, but the piece needing to be annealed is placed in a steel foil pouch with the copy paper, then sealed and baked. A benefit to this method is that it also preserves whatever finish exists.

 

[John B.]

I have heard of a method used to anneal that uses steel foil and a rolled up piece of copy paper. I don't know the specifics, but the piece needing to be annealed is placed in a steel foil pouch with the copy paper, then sealed and baked. A benefit to this method is that it also preserves whatever finish exists.

Strelok,
The stainless steel wrap method you mention will work but it will not preserve the original finish. The idea behind the small piece of paper included in the wrap, usually a piece of cigarette paper, is that as it burns it consumes most of the oxygen in the wrap and limits the amount of oxidation of the enclosed part.
The part and package still need to reach critical temperature (red hot) and cool slowly to anneal the part.
A good way to obtain a slow cool is to bury the red hot package in crushed charcoal, clean dry sand or powdered carbon.

 

[JJ Roberts]

John,I never remove barrels on handguns only long guns,I don't know way louding gates are harden. J.J.

 

[Crazy Horse]

So I'll ask those who may know: Do loading gates on SA pistols need to be hardened? What difference would it make if they were annealed?

 

[Strelok]

Crazy Horse, I've asked that to myself many times