Engraving is like....stove paint?

[Marcus Hunt]

Weiland is a fair wordsmith, not as good as McIntosh was, and not the highly skilled technical mind of Vic Venters who can convey his thoughts into remarkable "wordsmithing".

I still blame McIntosh for forcing the word "frame" into the vocabulary of gunmaking terms. Strange how Weiland uses the word frame and locks in quote "After the locks and frame were finished and polished “in the white” by the actioner and lock-maker,". I had a go at McIntosh over this as there are no "frame makers" in English fine shotgun or double rifle making, only "actioners" but he likened a double gun to a pistol which has a frame which is wrong. Double guns aren't pistols. But being looked upon as some kind of guru, McIntosh's influence can now be seen amongst other writers. It seems crazy that mistakes in American English get carried through into the language almost as gospel. Both aluminium and googol were originally misspelled and have entered common parlance as aluminum and Google, but when it comes to renaming parts of shotguns and rifles one man's influence and ignorance should not be allowed to ride roughshod over centuries of history! That is just arrogance. :no:

These writers, although entertaining, should not necessarily be looked upon as experts in any particular field as one week they could be writing about guns, the next fishing and the next fine wines. Often they are paid by the word so the more flowery and poetic the language, the more words are used and the more they get paid. I have nothing against this per se but I often find this style very boring than something concisely written.

I agree with Weiland's comments about very fine bulino not wearing at all well. But we engravers know that bulino refers to the tool used and therefore there are various types of bulino. The very fine Italian stuff used to be known as "punto" when I was an apprentice, describing "point work". There are many forms of "bulino" which are very durable when case hardened. Ignorance or lack of research on the writers part?

Likewise, he says that many of the finely engraved guns never go into the field. I was taught to cut as if everything I did would go into the field. Indeed, much of the pressure I find myself under is because clients have safaris booked and want to take their new rifles with them. Just because the stuff we do is expensive doesn't mean that it goes into a collection. Often use gives a gun/rifle character and patina that a mint condition piece lacks. As my everyday watch I wear my Panerai Luminor Submersible; some people are horrified at this but in my eyes some of the nicest examples are the worn ones with scratched cases and beat up straps. It shows they had a life and the same can be said about an awful lot of fine English shotguns and rifles which are working tools, not museum pieces.

 

[Weldon47]

Scott,

Apparently, we're all "stove painters" (GASP) whether we like it or not....so, you're in my friend!!

Marcus; relax, you're considered a member too!

Weldon

 

[mitch]

"Often they are paid by the word so the more flowery and poetic the language, the more words are used and the more they get paid."

hey, Marcus- if you replace 'words' with 'cuts & dots', that's my business model! and yes, i hear what you're saying about any outsider commenting on a specialized (sorry, 'specialised') trade such as ours. i strongly suspect the vast majority of these writers are only passingly acquainted with a very few (maybe just one) who actually practice the craft, and being ignorant themselves, there's no guarantee those few know engraver's pitch from shinola. we've ALL cringed at the plethora of articles over the years proclaiming the peerless talents of some mediocre hack. whaddaya gonna do?

to be fair to the late Mr. MacIntosh, with whom I enjoyed conversing on a few occasions, here in the States we generally refer to a 'frame' as the main bulk of the action body, sans any other working parts. an 'action' is usually taken to mean an entire functioning unit, sans barrel, stock, bottom metal, etc. with doubles, the distinctions get a little less well defined (for us Yanks, anyway), because the barrels are an integral part of the whole, as opposed to a bolt rifle (excuse me, magazine rifle) where the barrel simply screws in. it may have been a matter of trying to translate for his American audience- misguided, but well-intentioned. (however, if he was referring to a more or less complete action as merely a 'frame', than he richly deserves a posthumous flogging.)

one more point- the quality of writing in the hook & bullet press has rarely been up to general standards of the publishing industry at large, and the more technical and arcane the subject matter (i.e. really fine guns & engraving) the more it suffers by comparison. there are definitely some notable exceptions, but they are exactly that- exceptions. some of Mike's popularity and standing was no doubt due to a lack of strong competition, which was hardly his fault, and i would certainly argue he did raise the bar.

 

[Marcus Hunt]

Mitch, don't get me wrong, Mike was a good friend and we had some fun times in the past. I can remember the time I was staying with stocker, Dave Trevallion in Maine and McIntosh came to visit too. He took a week to make a turnscrew (screwdriver) for his Hussey shotgun. He was so proud of it until he went to use it and it was as soft as butter and it wouldn't harden either! Man, did we laugh about it! Then there was the time he went to get on a flight and stuffed his pipe in his backpack. He didn't realise it was still alight until someone informed him that smoke was pouring from his backpack. Daft bugger had set light to it! Luckily he hadn't got on the plane!!! Mike was a lovely man, and it was so sad to see what the evils of alcoholism can do to someone; what a waste of a great talent.

 

[highveldt]

Marcus;

Yes, it was sad to see Michael McIntosh depart this life. I remember him saying years ago that he had been tormented with depression most of his life. I have known many people who have also been tormented by depression and have turned to excessive alcohol to get some relief, when in the end it makes it worse. Some of them that I have encountered have ended their life at their own hand. Terrible stuff, depression.

Regards;

Steve