Well here it is, my first real gun part. As you can see by the photos this is just stage one and there is quite a bit of engraving to go before the job is finished. All good fun with plenty of challenges ahead.

The first photo is what the action looked like before I attacked it . I discovered that it’s virtually impossible to find old shotgun actions without any engraving on them. The original engraving was all taken off by a friend of mine that’s a professional polisher. Then the gravers wouldn’t even dent the surface (Which caused me to let rip with a long line of swear words that would have made an army drill sergeant blush!!!!!) So…. I got a friend of mine that’s a welder to heat the whole thing up and anneal it so that the gravers could do their work. Now I have to get all the fire scale off each part before I engrave them. What a mission and a half that is, but a great training ground.

The second photo has some of the pencil drawings as a background. In my day job as a signwriter everything we do is big, bigger or huge. So it is quite a different mind set to go in the opposite direction, small, smaller and tiny. This is where I have to thank John Barraclough for helping me with the development drawings to keep everything flowing and down to “gun proportions” and curb my natural instinct to make everything big.

This is the smallest scroll work I have done so far in my engraving journey which started 12 months ago this week. As usual there is plenty of room for improvement and a lifetimes worth of learning ahead of me.

Cheers
Andrew Biggs


Andrew Biggs
7/19/2006 9:53:41 PM

Andrew Biggs
7/19/2006 9:54:23 PM

Andrew Biggs
7/19/2006 9:55:02 PM

Andrew,

Fantastic work. Well done.
Post these pics over at www.letterhead.com
They'll get a kick out of them.

David O'Hanlon
7/19/2006 10:26:21 PM

Andrew,
VERY NICE!!!
Nice smooth, flowing layout. Nice touches in the design. Keep us posted on the rest of the project!

Rex Pedersen
7/20/2006 7:37:07 AM

Looks really nice Andrew. I especially like the Eagle and the fern on the bolster in your drawing. Lets see more of it as you go along.
Have you tried to make a rubber mold and plastic castings of any of your work? It's really a greatway to record finished work and I'm sure the gang in Reno would love to get some from you.

Martin Rabeno
7/20/2006 8:48:26 AM

Hi Guys

Thanks for those really nice comments. Yip, I'll keep you posted with all the bit's and pieces as they're finished. I can see each piece is going to bring its own challenges, not only for engraving but things like work holding, transferring and anything else that pops up unexpectedly. That's why I did the side plate first as I figured that looked the flatest.

Marty....I saw some stuff in the model shop the other day that I think makes the molds and castings. I'll check it out tommorrow.

Once again, thanks for the comments
Andrew

Andrew Biggs
7/23/2006 4:46:16 AM

So, Andrew, what kind of modeling do you do? S

Sam Welch
7/23/2006 7:59:51 AM

Hi Sam
I don't really do any modelling as such. It's just that the model shop is a handy place to get bits and pieces. Although in saying that, I have and still do occasionally make lead soldiers from the Napoleonic era. A fascinating time in European history with some remarkable characters. I purchased the moulds from a place in the UK. I think it's one of those things from my childhood days as I also have a collection of about 500 of them. The plastic ones don't really interest me at all. The big problem with making and collecting anything is where to put it all. Or more importantley, where to put it and keep your wife/partner happy at the same time!!!!!

Cheers
Andrew

Andrew Biggs
7/23/2006 5:44:20 PM

Andrew, very nice job you have going there. I went through the "scale" cleaning process...once! What is the make and gauge of the gun? Look forward to seeing the rest done. Regards...

Sam Welch
7/28/2006 8:03:36 AM

Thanks Sam

The action is a 12 guage shotgun made by Henry Pieper from Leige. I found a really easy way to get the fire scale off........give it to someone else to do!!!!!

Cheers
Andrew

Andrew Biggs
7/28/2006 8:28:23 PM