AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Gun Building => Topic started by: Justin Urbantas on May 11, 2018, 04:20:32 AM
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I finally decided it was time to put some engraving on a gun. I've built quite a few guns, and have been working on engraving practice pieces. I'm pleased with how it turned out. It's a .40 cal Lancaster with a 42" barrel. It's brass, but looks silver in the pics. I did it with hammer and graver. I picked up Shipper's engraving book, and I'm slowly working through it.
(https://preview.ibb.co/hxCBYy/4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/gZ3JDy)
(https://preview.ibb.co/j0tJDy/3.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dpW5ty)
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That's nice!!
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Ditto afgahnvet said. My ol tired hands couldn't be that steady anymore. Really clean work. Best regards, Dave F 8) 8)
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looks good!
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Very nice. Did you develop the design yourself? Well executed.
Mike
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Very nice. Did you develop the design yourself? Well executed.
Mike
I looked at some pics of original patch boxes, and changed and added a little here and there.
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Justin,
Nice job! Very well executed!
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I finally decided it was time to put some engraving on a gun. I've built quite a few guns, and have been working on engraving practice pieces. I'm pleased with how it turned out. It's a .40 cal Lancaster with a 42" barrel. It's brass, but looks silver in the pics. I did it with hammer and graver. I picked up Shipper's engraving book, and I'm slowly working through it.
(https://preview.ibb.co/hxCBYy/4.jpg) (https://ibb.co/gZ3JDy)
(https://preview.ibb.co/j0tJDy/3.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dpW5ty)
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Justin,
Awesome work! It takes a set to even take on engraving!
You really pulled it off !
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That looks quite nice!
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Satisfying, isn't it?
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Well done, looks just like the skill level of most colonial engravers. You should be very proud of it. Bet you can't wait to get to the next one though, right? It is addicting
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To be honest, it's not great but it is pretty good for a first gun and better than the first one I did. Keep practicing and study the very best engravers. The big difference between the very best and the average is the art work. I can teach a average person to cut steel in about 2 days but the art may take 20 years or a lifetime to learn. I have been engraving for over 20 years and am still learning. A person must learn what to do and what not to do. Your work is as good as some of the originals.
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I'm far from an expert but I think it's nice first time engraving.Its hard for me to put in words what I think sets great work above good or above average.To me it must not look to forced or put there on purpose,almost machine like,sterile if that makes sense.Thinking this is where details come in,to help mellow the lines,giving it depth,not so black and white.Thinking carving a stock has the same issues,things need to flow,have a warmth about it.Looking at this work the mechanics are there,time and with enough practice a flow develops along with artistic ability a person's work doesn't look like every move was done to avoid a mistake,be perfect,it's comes naturally,IMHO
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Good job!
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Dang! You did good! Kept it nice and simple, and did well for first time engraving. I am sure when my turn comes, it will not look as good as this, Justin.
Craig
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It's ahead of the skill level of many of the originals, and about par with many of the others. You did a smart thing by not trying to get too ambitious and create a design your skill level would not support. That's what can make a $300 gun out of a $1000 parts set. If you get more ambitious, you can pull it off there and put some shading in the cuts and volutes later on. That will give the engraving a great deal more depth and life. A big patch box like this with NO engraving on it really says that the gun is in an unfinished state, so good going.
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Hi,
It came out OK for a first go but you need to practice even cuts. I understand that there is a real urge to engrave scrolls and curves but to become a competent engraver you must practice straight even lines and then parallel lines. That will force you to learn tool control much better than scrolls.
dave
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Hi,
It came out OK for a first go but you need to practice even cuts. I understand that there is a real urge to engrave scrolls and curves but to become a competent engraver you must practice straight even lines and then parallel lines. That will force you to learn tool control much better than scrolls.
dave
What would you practice on? Just brass sheet? I tried holding the graver with 2 fingers like Shippers does, but I find holding it in 3 fingers and engraving right to left more natural.
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Hi,
It came out OK for a first go but you need to practice even cuts. I understand that there is a real urge to engrave scrolls and curves but to become a competent engraver you must practice straight even lines and then parallel lines. That will force you to learn tool control much better than scrolls.
dave
What would you practice on? Just brass sheet? I tried holding the graver with 2 fingers like Shippers does, but I find holding it in 3 fingers and engraving right to left more natural.
Yes,
get some brass sheet and practice, practice. Scrap brass can be found, or order some sheet from one of the suppliers. .040 or .045 thick will work, and you can practice on both sides.
I'm a beginning engraver myself, and so I am super critical of my own work and can see many of the errors I make in your patch box.
Yours looks decent from a distance, and is a good first effort. When you look closer, you can see variances in depth, and straight-ish lines (or uneven curves) where there should be smooth curves. The slightly awkward curves could be due to your engraving skill, or your drawing of the design. Hard to tell after the fact.
This is not meant to be over-critical, just constructive. If you look through the ALR archives, you will see examples of very good engraving, and also not very good engraving. What nearly all of them share is a good design. On the not so good engraving, the errors apparent are often similar to your errors, but smaller: however, the overall design in still pleasing to the eye, despite the small errors in execution.
Be proud of what you did, and then practice!
Cheers,
Norm
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Nicely done. Engraving is as exciting and satisfying as carving and it adds dimension to the whole piece. The hard reality for many of us is that just as we begin to get good at it , our eyes start to get old.
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What would you practice on? Just brass sheet? I tried holding the graver with 2 fingers like Shippers does, but I find holding it in 3 fingers and engraving right to left more natural.
It may sound counter-intuitive, but try practicing on a sheet of Cold rolled steel, instead of brass. Its smooth, cuts easy, and is cheap!
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Much of what Smart Dog says is true about consistent cutting depth. This becomes obvious on longer cuts. But on your work it shows up to some degree on the short cuts as well. This can be minimilized if you practice tilting the graver a little to give your cuts a bit of flare on the outward sides of the curved cuts. Because it varies the line width of the cuts the slight depth changes aren’t as obvious.
Also filling in backgrounds with short stop cuts, cross hatch, of even some wriggle work, makes it harder for the eye to pick small idiosyncrasies.
Hungry Horse
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I have been engraving for over 20 years and am still learning.
True masters of any craft go to their grave still learning. Those that think they "know it all" and no longer have anything to learn never reach master class.
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Congratulations on your first engraving! Way better than my first. All of the critiques posted are right on, but my take is that your problem is the basic drawing of your designs, much less your cutting out of your Lancaster/Dickert patch box. Remember to use the eraser end of your pencil at least 3 times more than the lead end. I have found that drawing and re-drawing over and over again, in some strange way, guides my graver. PAA
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thanks for the tips. I wasn't the happiest with the pre-cut patchbox. I will try some of the ones from MBS next time.
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Peter, what you said about the pencil guiding the graver makes perfect sense to me. When I'm engraving a gun, in my waking minutes of the morning, I see in my mind's eye, patterns, scrolls, tendrils, leaves and vines. It is an unconscious thing, but a blessing. I think the more you immerse yourself into engraving, the more that will happen, and the more interesting your designs will evolve.
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One of the things that has helped me with my own engraving is the digital camera (or now my phone camera). For whatever reason, things that look OK to my eye in person all of a sudden don't look so good when I take a picture and look at it on the computer screen much larger than real life. The camera's eye is unflinching when it comes to displaying errors and it has been hugely useful to me to look at a picture of the drawn design after I think it looks good and I'm ready to start cutting metal. I almost always see something in the photo that I didn't see first hand and that needs improvement.
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Dave, this is an excellent suggestion!
Bob
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That's why your stuff looks as good as it does Dave! The same can be said for carving as far as a technique goes. a 1" x 1" area blown up on a computer to 6" x 6" sure shows a bunch of warts you didn't know about before doesn't it?