Is anyone teaching beginners classes near Atlanta?

skylow

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Apr 2, 2015
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First I would like to say that I'm new to the site, and look forward to chatting with new people and topics. I guess tonight was story night because I ran on forever with my story. If you want to skip the story, skip to the next to last paragraph.

This all started with my love for guns. I have a fairly "modest" firearm collection, and I recently added a pistol to my collection that I've wanted for years, a stainless Colt Government 1911. I dropped a thousand on it, which is a lot of money to frivolously spend on something, for someone on my budget. Oh course I've seen a lot of custom engraved 1911's, and not long after, I decided to take the next step and get it custom engraved, it's only money right?

Well knowing next to nothing on the subject, I was pretty shocked by the first few quotes I received. I'm not cheap, and know that quality craftsmanship isn't ether, but I almost fainted when I saw a few of those quotes. I was sad thinking to myself, man I'm never going to be to afford that. To be fair, what I didn't realize at the time was that when I googled "custom hand engraving", most of the sites were for some of the top, most well known master engravers in the US.

After that, I did some research on the subject to figure out what my best options were. I have a pretty good grasp on everything now, which brings me to laser engraving, and I know this is probably a sour subject for most engravers, but their are definite pros and cons to consider. It can handle intricate, detailed designs for penny's on the dollar. I've watched a ton of video on laser engraving, and I must say it looks a little dodgy.

Laser work defiantly has a generic, manufactured look to it. I've seen good and bad, and must say that most designs lack the subtle differences in curvature, depth, and definition, especially in a relief design. It looks cheap and stamped on. So it came to me, I'm a pretty handy and somewhat artistic, I could learn a new, awesome hobby, and when I think I'm ready, do the work on my pistol myself. I would save some money, learn a new skill set, and have a more personal connect to it. How hard could this really be?

All that being said, I've had no luck finding anyone in my area that offers any kind of classes or tutoring. I've watched a lot of youtube videos, and realized that their are a ton of different tool options, materials, styles, and techniques. Having no idea what I'm doing, or where to start, I figured a few classes could help me in the right direction. Watching videos doesn't teach you anything if you don't know what your watching, I need to know what I'm doing. It would give me hands-on time to help me decide on my tool purchases, before I spend a lot of money, blindly buying a bunch of things, knowing nothing about them, then decide for whatever reason I don't like it and quit.

I live in metro Atlanta, but would be willing to travel if need be, nothing crazy far though. I would appreciate any offers or feedback, thanks for looking.
 

wdale.bass

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Dec 23, 2008
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Amarillo,Texas
grs in Emporia offers the classes you want.try a class first before purchasing a lot of equipment as it can be expensive and frustrating if you blow money you dont need to spend.1-800-835-3519
 

Dad of 3

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Branson,Missouri
Welcome to the site! I'm new as well. Ray Cover does classes in various area of the country. If you google his name his contact info and everything will come up. He offers a wide range of equipment from different manufactures so you can try at all not just one one manufacture. He is a member of this site as well. If you look close to the top of the page you will see a tab that says site search, you can find some answers to some of the questions I bet you have.
 

D Fulwood

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Jun 14, 2014
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Location
Macon, GA., USA
Howdy Skylow.

I'm a beginner too sorta. I live about 90 miles south of you in Macon. I was a scrimshaw artist, that is an engraver of ivory, horn and bone who has always wanted to be a gun engraver. Like you, the perceived tool costs for metal engraving stopped me (along with the lack of funds to pay for classes). Finally after reading a very old book on how the old English engravers worked I realized that very complex engraving has been going on for a thousand years with very simple inexpensive tools. The expensive engravers ball vice and the pneumatic power assist chisel tools and the like are modern inventions that are not necessary, especially for the beginner. These and many other tools may make the learning curve shorter and they definitely help the professional do better and faster work. If you are going to start as a hobby engraver you should start as a "hammer and chisel engraver". An H&C engraver is almost what it sounds like. All of the old timers had to work this way using little more than a hammer and a chisel or two and something to hold the work from sliding around. That can be a simple round block of wood like a 2 or 3 inch tall section of a large dried tree limb about 6" in diameter pushed up against a couple of lag bolts screwed into your work bench about 4" apart. This is called a "Pitch Block". Get some pitch from a jewelry supply company like GRS or Rio Grande. In a bind you can use hot glue instead to attach the item you are engraving to the block. Read about Pitch Blocks here http://www.engravingglossary.com/Hand Engraving Glossary P.htm. You might want to bookmark that page and read it in it's entirety. A homemade rig of a machinist vice bolted to half of a bowling ball or a shot putt ball is a good addition to the basic tools after you try the almost free pitch block.

You are lucky that you came along when there are great websites such as this one available to teach us. I struggled with it for years trying to learn on my own. There is a Tip Section here that you should check out. Especially read Sam's posts on tools for beginners here http://www.engraverscafe.com/showthread.php?18594-Hammer-amp-chisel-startup-kit and here http://www.engraverscafe.com/showthread.php?13891-Tool-List-for-Beginners.

Get the book "The Art of Engraving" by James B. Meek. (And later every other engraving book you can find and afford )

You will read here and in most books to sharpen the face of your gravers to 45 degrees and the heel to about 15 degrees. That is true for push gravers but for Hammer and Chisel the graver is held higher so you have to use 35-40 and about 20 for the heel because you hold the chisel handle higher than a push graver or pneumatic push graver does. You'll learn about sharpening as you read.

Be prepared to read a lot and to draw thousands of scrolls for practice before you start. As a matter of fact' all you need right now is a good 0.3 or 0.5 mm mechanical pencil or a bunch of good wooden ones. After that you get to engrave dozens if not hundreds of practice plates before you touch a gun.

This is not nearly as easy it looks. Hand engraving requires dedication, determination, patience, talent, knowledge, and lots and lots of practice. That's why it is expensive. Most folks don't realize that it takes an engraver over a week, sometimes months to engrave a gun. Swapping a week or two of your salary for a week or two of the engravers time seems like a very fair deal if you understand that he has studied as much or more than your family doctor has. His time should be considered almost as valuable. If you just want the one engraved gun you would be better off emotionally and probably financially by just paying the price to an established engraver. If on the other hand you are in love with engraving, you are at the right place to start learning.

If you can afford classes, by all means take them. They are money very well spent.

Good Luck,
Donnie
 

skylow

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Apr 2, 2015
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Thanks for the advice guys. I looked up Ray Cover and he has a 3 day class in June, but it's a little too pricey for me, 1K. After doing so much research on the subject, I do have a genuine interest in learning, I've painted and drawn since I was a kid. And as I got older, I've done all sorts of art, sculpture, abstract, screen printing, which involved using several techniques of etching, I can make art out of junk. I've always been hands on too, being able to build, fix, refinish, and restore almost anything. If I don't know, I will watch youtube and read forums until I figure it out. I figured that I was probably going to have to go alone on this one, I just thought that their would be more demand, and people offering classes, especially in the city. I read the start-up forum, and I think I have a pretty good head start. I already have a small shop set-up with a bench set-up, nothing special, a small shed with general tools and equipment, but I'm able to do some light fabrication. I've browsed prices a little bit, and I think that I could start off pretty cheap. I was thinking an entry level pneumatic, and a high speed diamond tip pen would be my 2 big items. Practice plates, sharpening stone and maybe some templates and transfer. I was also wondering about bits, I'm sure I need more than a flat #40, but I'm sure they make sets. Keep the advice coming guys!
 

DKanger

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Montgomery Community College has their NRA summer sessions coming up. They are in Troy, NC. Tuition is minimal for what you get and I think you can get student housing and meals on campus fairly cheap.

Scroll down the listings until you come to Jess Houser's class on metal engraving. It's a 10day course M-F with weekends off. It's the best bargain you'll find close to you.

https://www.montgomery.edu/nra-registration-information/nra-courses.html
 

dogcatcher

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I see that D Fulwood covered all of the bases for a beginner. You have to do a lot of "homework" before you get started, Meeks book was the best purchase I have made, then next was a several mechanical pencils and sketch books.
 

dlilazteca

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By the time your done with class and buy most of the tool you need to engrave you most likely will have spent more than just having it engraved, like you mention lasers are cheaper but in my opinion and its only mine if you do that to a Colt you might as well buy yourself a Rock Island armory and laser that.

Hand engraving will raise the value of the Colt laser engraving will devalue it. See the tips section on starting out cheap

Saludos,
Carlos
 
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fegarex

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I hate to say this but your reasoning is like becoming a pilot because the air fares are too much. To become decent at engraving you need to spend time or money or both. I would suggest you work harder at the job you do now to afford engraving on the gun.
I am NOT discouraging anyone not to learn engraving as I teach it and love it but I have a feeling you will just be throwing good money after bad to discover that the prices quoted you weren't as bad as you originally thought.
 

KCSteve

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As the others have said, engraving is far too costly in time and money to work out the way you initially thought it would.
It is a lot of fun though. :)

Scott Pilkington is less than two hours from you in Monteagle, TN and has offered instruction in the past. He'd also be a good choice if you decide to just get your gun engraved.
 

Sam

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The difference between hand engraving and laser engraving is the same difference between chicken salad and chicken do-do.

A basic engraving class can cost you $800+ and save you an enormous amount of trial and error. If you're serious about learning, a class will be your best investment.

The tools can cost a couple of hundred dollars or $5000+ depending on whether you work with H&C, pneumatic, have a microscope, etc. Search for and read the Ken Hunt thread and see his work when he was a teenager working with nothing more than a hand graver, sharpening stone, and a steel practice plate. Ken had (has) artistic talent and determination and the work he produced in his first months of apprenticeship in the early 1950s is remarkable. Good work can be done shoestring budget. Fancy modern gear won't produce fancier work, but it can slice the learning curve and get a beginner in the game faster.
 

Beathard

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I thought I could engrave my own gun instead of buying a $6000 engraved one. So what did I do? I spent $12,000 and 5 years learning to engrave. I still don't have an engraved shotgun, but I do have a new engraving career never works out the way people think.
 

atexascowboy2011

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When I saw a pair of handmade spurs I thought I could knock out a pair in 8 or so hours.
4 YEARS later I completed my first pair. Was it my only pair, nope.
I'm a spur junkie now.
To me the journey is the fun part, not just the destination.
 

CJ Allan

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I Teach "One-on-One" Motorcycle engraving at my Home/Studio in Hazel KY
This is a Basic class & will get you up & running in a short time..
Ya can check it out on Face book.... CJ Allan "Hand Engraver"

I ONLY take 12 students each year (one a month)...Because i give my time to Wounded Warriors...
Vets & Active duty Military get Good discounts.......

If you or anyone else is interested give me a Holler......
 
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