Antelope & Elk Bulino

[Weldon47]

I thought I would post these on a separate thread since they were kind of hidden on another one & many may not see them.
This was on a Ruger #1 (it was so hard it was miserable to do).
My version of bulino on the heads (flush & not raised like I usually like to do). They are surrounded by what I will name Texas Hill Country scroll.

Hope you enjoy,

WL

 

[quickcut07]

Beautiful job . I really like how the antelope is poking his head through to the forground. Both are great extremly well done pieces as always. Thanks for taking the time to show your work.
Eric

 

[Peter E]

Both of them are really nice. You do some great work Weldon.

Thanks for posting them,
Peter

 

[BrianPowley]

Nice work Weldon.
Gonna nickle plate it?

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Hi Weldon

Fabulous engraving!!!! I just love your Texas Hill Country scroll. Fantastic!!

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Tim Herman]

Weldon, great work. I love the effect of your crosshatching in a circular pattern around the bulb centers of the flowers on the antelope side! Very cool effect! Thanks for showing.

 

[Weldon47]

Thank you fellow engravers!
Brian - no nickel plating on this one (you know my plating is top secret, right!)

Tim - Thank you and I sincerely hope you are doing well!

WL

 

[BrianPowley]

Weldon....Sorry, I forgot about the top secret nickle plating...I won't mention it again.

 

[Dulltool]

Weldon,
You make me want to dump my tools in the trash... You are the best.

 

[John B.]

I loved them in the other post and the more I look at them the richer they get.

Best, John B.

 

[Weldon47]

Thank you, Dennis!
I had the opportunity to meet (and hear) Itailian guitar virtuoso Beppe Gambetta up close and personal at a house concert earlier this month and had the same feeling about my guitar. Right before smashing my favorite Taylor 614CE to smithereens and stomping on my fingers, I realized that I'm me and I won't ever be like someone else. Instead of attempting to be just like Beppe, I resolved to be the best that I can be and do the best I am capable of whether I'm picking guitar or engraving or whatever. Pretty much all I can do is (or try hard to) give 100% every day, keep the right perspective & attitude and keep at it & keep learning!
(By the way, I feel the same way when I look at Phil Coggins (and a whole lot of others) work!!)

WL

 

[Dulltool]

Weldon,
So you are saying that I have no hope???..... Just kidding. I do sure like your "Texas hill country" scroll. It's what I had in my head when I started on this path. To my eye it just doesn't get any better that this.... I feel you managed to capture the old west in it's entire essence in this one design.

 

[herrnusser]

Class A work

 

[bailey bradshaw]

How was the steel to engrave? I have my Dad's Ruger No1, and plan to engrave it in a tribute to him ( He passed away three yrs ago). I've been puttin git off as I have heard they need to annealed to engrave them.

 

[Mike Cirelli]

Good job Weldon. Very nice bulino work.

 

[Roger Bleile]

How was the steel to engrave? I have my Dad's Ruger No1, and plan to engrave it in a tribute to him ( He passed away three yrs ago). I've been puttin git off as I have heard they need to annealed to engrave them.

Bailey,

You asked Weldon but I will take the liberty of interjecting my own experience with the Ruger #1. I have found them to vary a good deal from gun to gun. I should add that I have only ever worked on the blued steel and not on the stainless models. Several I have done were fairly hard but not anything that cobalt or carbide gravers could not handle with routine sharpening. However I did one in 1981 that required quite a bit of relief sculpted scroll and that receiver was terribly hard. I had to constantly resharpen dull and broken points even on the bank note scenes. This particular gun was a .375 H&H however that should have not mattered since it was custom barreled (no problem with the barrel). I have also found that the opening lever of all #1's I've worked on was exceptionally hard. I don't believe you can get Ruger to anneal and reharden their products as Paul Lantuch indicated in another thread. If you have access to a heat treater that is reliable, annealing then rehardening the receiver and lever may be the way to go. Hopefully Weldon and other engravers can chime in here with their experience since the #1 is a popular gun for engraving due to its classic looks and frequent use on custom jobs.

Roger

 

[Weldon47]

Hi Bailey, sorry for the delay! Roger, thank you for sharing your insight!!

While I like their stuff, I have found Ruger products to be some of the hardest out there, making them most unpleasant (for a hammer & chisel guy) to engrave. (Note: When using super-hard gravers, the H&C method will break or shear points off a whole lot faster than air powered equipment will. I believe this is because of the very smooth application of power with air. In comparison, the H&C impact is much more intense). This one wasn't the hardest I've ever done - but it was close. The ultimate winner of my own personal hardest contest was a Red Label O/U in stainless steel. It was for a presentation and I had to do a whole bunch of lettering on one side and a company seal on the other. I think I spent more time sharpening tools than I actually did engraving on it.
It is my understanding that Ruger will not take in their own guns for engraving after they have been sold (and I think that info is on their website). That means if you want a factory engraved Ruger, you have to order it that way. I assume that they do not want the liability of annealing their product and therefore, neither do I!!

The best advice I can give here (and I know this has been mentioned before but it is worth repeating), is to check for hardness with a graver. Do this is an inconspicuous spot where you can make a cut or two or three and see how the steel feels (and what it does to your chisel) before you stick your neck out too far.
Roger is also correct that the levers are pretty hard, harder in fact than the action in most cases. It can really be a pain to jump into something like this only to find that you can barely make a scratch on it. Lastly: I have not experienced "spot hardening" on a Ruger but I have encountered this on other makes. That is where a small spot or area is made a whole lot harder than the surrounding metal for wear resistance and so on. Browning Hi Power slides come to mind there. Not realizing that beforehand can really screw things up for you, so watch out for that too.

Annealing case hardened (think vintage type weaponry here) isn't too complicated.
However, annealing modern steels can open up a completely different can of worms, each with it's own quirk and associated problem(s)!
IMHO, If you don't know exactly what you are doing when annealing a firearm part, then it is best left to those who do!

WL

 

[cowboy_silversmith]

Weldon~ I really like the boldness expressed in your scroll work. The Bulino is great too!

Best regards,
Greg Pauline

 

[Weldon47]

Thank you, Greg; you did some nice work on that last buckle you posted recently too!

WL