Non-Master bulino or scrimshaw.

Place a transfer or drawing on the metal, cover with clear tape.
With a very sharp Xacto carefully knife out the outline without hitting the metal.

Areas like the eyeballs, wet nose etc. where you want a bright white highlight prick minute dots through the tape to outline the whole nose or eye.
Using a very fine art brush paint the whole eye or nose with fingernail polish or equal.
These areas will be finished in the traditional way later.
Leave the tape over any larger areas to remain white.
Blast at 15-20 psi, remove the tape and clean any painted areas.
Cut the engraving using your normal method, you will find you can get a decent, but NOT MASTER quality image in reduced time with less cutting.
I have also used this method to do a fairly " quick and dirty " affordable scrimshaw.
Many of the high art engravers will disagree with this method and I point out again that this is not a substitute for fine quality master work.
It has uses where time and price are a prime consideration such as semi-production work.

I expect some fireworks and it isn't even the 4Th of July.
Best to you all and I sure hope Barry chimes in with his methods.

John, I am no Bulino expert.
In my work, which I learned working for companies like C. Sharps, Winchester, Colt, John Rigby, I have found the easier it is to view, the better.

I do know that in nature, there is no pure white.

Once I showed a piece on which I had done an etched and engraved line job to Ron Smith, the base had about a 1000 grit finish on it, he suggested I etch it just a bit, I tried it and it helped make it more visible.
The aluminum oxide blast does about the same.

The following pics are all at least 2 years old, this Parker is the oldest, I did it two exwives ago.
Here is the scene Ron suggested I etch a little to grey it, it is a about the size of a quarter:






Here is a bison with blasted background for contrast:





Here is an elephant which is blasted:



Elk, no blast, 400 grit finish:



Lion, no blast, etched background:



The last few years, I have sculpted and etched most everything, so it is a little grey by nature.











sculpted and blasted:

Wow, Barry more beautiful work and fine photographs.
Thank you for sharing them.
Your etching and blasting sure comes under the heading of fine art.
Especially the gold inlayed knife.
Blasting adds another layer of richness to the gold.
Best.

Whow
Barry and John thanks great info and photos , not to mention the fantastic work:beat up::beat up:

Barry looks very good and thanks John for explaining this kind of scenery.
I’m still busy to find out some things about scenes and bulino .
The problem for me seems to be the time that is needed to make a scene right, from white over greys to blacks, so there are two things to learn I think, having good control on the graver and knowing how to shade any animal one wishes to “draw” on the metal.

So it needs a lot of practicing, and as it takes a long time to see the result, it even takes more time to do it properly.

arnaud

Thank you John B! Another good one for the Tips Archive.

Most excellent Barry. I especially like the buttplate!

This is a great thread, John B and Barry!

Beautiful work, Barry, and informative from both of you.

Rod

I agree with Sam W. I too like the buttplate. Not often do I see a "Buffalo Jump" on artwork.

In the past I did a few electroless nickel finishes. The metal/engraving was blasted with 600 grit Aluminum oxide at 20 psi before plating to keep from getting that chrome look. One thing showed up real fast...the blasted surface mars very easily and if not reblasted, shows in the finish, which is forever so to speak. I will have a couple of guns with electroless nickel at Reno if anyone wants to see what it does.

Barry, On the elephant knife did you blast first and then cut the detail and extra shading or just how is that done? Mike

Thanks Sam, I thought about that rabbit you did a couple if times while I was on that plate.

castagnos&s said:

Barry, On the elephant knife did you blast first and then cut the detail and extra shading or just how is that done? Mike

Click to expand...

Mike, I blasted it in the middle of the process,,, I think. That was about ten years ago.
B

Barry,

Do you blast <I>before<?I> you engrave or afterwards? If after, how do you protect the engraving?

Mike