For us guys who could not make it to CLA

[davec2]

Jerry,

First of all....fantastic engraving!!!  Second, what do the words under the native american mean?  Is it his name?

[George F.]

I belong to a flint team, not many of us left now, everybody's gone in different directions.  This weekend we traveled up to Maine with my son and Nephew. I came in dead last. My nephew who only shot for the 2nd  time even beat me I can't hit anything any more. Still it was better than staying home, the weather was great. ...Geo.

[T*O*F]

what do the words under the native american mean?  Is it his name?

It's Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.  His name means "Thunder rolling down the mountain."  He's the one who coined the phrase, "I will fight no more, forever."

[Long John]

I spent the weekend at the Whispering Pines Rendezvous with a bunch of friends.  I started working up a load for my Bucks County squirrel rifle at the range while every one else was shooting for score. 

This is one of the best rendezvous I have ever been to!  Everybody was super friendly, good-natured an just nice people to be with.  I burned over a pound of powder - that's how much we got to shoot!

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[jerrywh]

Dave.
  TOF is almost correct.  HIN MAH TOO YAH LAT KEKT IS Nez Perce for  [ thunder echoing over the mountains.]
   Al tho when Joseph was young he was baptized and given the name Joseph by the Henry Spalding mission at Lapwai in Idaho, he later renounced his Christianity. He did not like the name Joseph and said the white mans god was always angry.
   These portraits will go on the sides of a gun I am engraving framed in gold rococo. the lock will have a Indian scene and the gun is entitled the flight of the Nez Perce.
  Your engraving looks pretty good. I see you had a some trouble doing it. Most of the errors are not your fault. I think that metal is probably  manganese bronze. It is about the hardest metal to engrave because of it's irregularity and brittleness. Almost impossible to cut a straight line in it.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Dave C are you using a chasing hammer or a power graver??

[davec2]

Dr. Tim,

I am using a 35 year old Gravermeister for most of what I am doing now.  Tried some of the newer equipment at the FEGA show last January and, as you might expect, the new equipment is much easier to use.  But this is sort of like learning to shoot skeet with a .410 - if you can get pretty good with it, you will do even better when you get a 12 ga.  When my engraving is good enough to warrant it, I will get some better engraving gear.

Jerry,

My engraving is getting better, but it still looks like i did it with my left foot.  I don't get to practice every day.  In fact, sometimes it is a week or two between short bench settings and I did not realize how much dexterity you can lose in a few days.  When I was up there in Baker, it was very good to be able to work for a few hours, stop for a while, and then work for a few more each day. 

This working for a living is really cutting into my fun time !  You are also correct (as usual) about whatever the material is that TC makes their "brass" parts out of.  There seem to be hard and soft spots in it and the graver will skip or dig in all on its own.  I tried to cut the lines very light and then go back over them to even things out, but I haven't mastered that technique yet, obviously.  Nonetheless, most of the errors are indeed mine and not to be blamed on the material or the tools.  The bad news is, there are still errors.  The good news is that I can recognize them myself now ....usually right after I make a bad cut.  Well, that's the reason for practicing.

However, I must say, that if you are looking at the engraving with normal eye sight and not under a 20 power scope or as a blown up digital picture on a cunfuser screen, it looks OK.  Not great....but OK...for decoration on a store bought TC rifle.  Hope all is OK up there in God's country.

DC

[jerrywh]

Dave .
 I have cut that stuff before and it sort of like engraving pot metal.  Nothing like mild steel.

[Roger Fisher]

I went to a shoot Sat.  Whispering Pines, near Covington, Penna.

Shot at Whispering Pines 3 days - Drank some good beer/lied a lot - Shot fairly well - all in all a great 3 day weekend!

[Acer Saccharum]

Wow, Jerry, those portraits are really really well done. Is this new for you? Is this Bulino style engraving, or line work? Either way, mighty fine.

tom

[jerrywh]

Those portraits are bolino or banknote style engraving. partly line and partly dot shaded. Once a portrait is reduced to a small enough size the face must be done with dot shading. The hair is done with a regular 90 deg.. graver with a width of about .010 and a heal about .003 long.  All the faces are done by hand push or dots. Dot gravers don't have a heal nor do hand push gravers. They have what is called lift.  Lift is nothing but a heal that is very long-----1/8" or more. The heal is not functional and only serves to give clearance enough for your fingers under the handle.  I have only been doing bolino or bank note engraving for about 2 years. I did these two just to see what I needed to correct on the ones that go on the gun. I made some mistakes on Joseph but now I know what not to do on the gun.
  I covered them up pretty good. There is a iron inlay in the upper left hand corner scroll that covers a real bad flaw. It is totally impossible to see even if you knew exactly where it was.

[Jim Thomas]

I went to a shoot Sat.  Whispering Pines, near Covington, Penna.

Shot at Whispering Pines 3 days - Drank some good beer/lied a lot - Shot fairly well - all in all a great 3 day weekend!

Having unloaded the groceries into the kitchen,  I'm grateful to all who ate  making my job easier on the return.     Man! You guys sure ate alot of grub!   Not to mention all the meatballs and 7 dozen ears of corn.

I got to see an impressive collection of map pins,  along with a beautiful squirrel rifle in action ........and heard some guy play a mean guitar.