Poker tourney buckle

[cowboy_silversmith]

Here is a buckle I just finished. Not a lot of hand engraving but lots of fun for silver soldering. All letters and cards were hand sawed with a 4/0 jewelers saw blade.

Best regards,
Greg Pauline

 

[Peter E]

VERY clean and nicely done.

Peter

 

[webad2006]

Greg,

Another great looking buckle, work like yours really inspires me.

Bill.

 

[D.DOUGLAS]

Greg, very fine looking buckle. May i ask about the color and how it was added? I would enter the tounament if that was the prize for shure. Doug

 

[Brian Hochstrat]

Greg, awesome job. The whole buckle is cleanly done, soldering, cutting, everything. Thanks for posting it. Brian

 

[Mike Cirelli]

Great Work. As Brian says everythings good about it. That's a lot of time cutting all the letters. Are they gold?
Again excellent.
mike

 

[Darren]

Very nice Greg!
For those that might not realize, like myself, Greg does all of his
bright cut engraving with traditional hand push gravers.
Looking good Greg.
BTW, I really like how you got the forehead and eyeballs on the Diamond. hehehe

 

[cowboy_silversmith]

Thank you everyone for your wonderful compliments! Doug, I sawed out the shapes of the suits, then deeply stippled the background and then applied flat black & flat red enamel model paint. Mike, All the lettering is fabricated using 22 gauge 1/10 10K gold fill. The gold mics out at approximatley 3 thousandths. If left to me I would always prefer to work in solid karat gold. Yep, guilty as charged. Darren speaks the truth about us being from the old school of push gravers. However I do use a gravermax for bevel cutting of overlayed scrolls and letters and the like. I am also spending time with the gravermax to learn relief engraving. That's what first drew me to this site in the first place, the gun & knife engraving and the talented people who are able to execute such fine detail in their work.

Best regards,
Greg Pauline

 

[Norm Harris Jr.]

Hello Greg

Have been admiring your work since the first piece you posted, being an aspiring cowboy engraver myself
I have really enjoyed your pictures and tips. Keep it up please.

Norm Harris, Jr.

 

[Patternweldor]

Hi Greg... Another beautiful buckle...I really appreciate the complexity of the construction of these, every step of the way, you have challenges, that can make or break the piece... I really want to thank-you for taking the time to post these.... I hope the receiver of this, treasures it also...

Fantastic work...
Chris.

 

[monk]

i'd play poker to win one of your buckles. they could keep the prize money. that's an exceptionally beautiful work.

 

[Brian Marshall]

Darren & Greg,

I once belonged to the elite fraternity who hand push their engraving. Did it that way for 18 years. In my case, either because I was not using my body correctly or perhaps I was not blessed with sound hands to begin with - it cost me.

Over those years I had 5 carpal tunnel surgeries (4 from the engraving) 2 elbow releases, and shoulder surgery.

Other disabilities came along in '86, so I've been using power assist for the past 20 years. I only wish that we had had the quality of tools available then that we have now... Might have saved me some misery.

Hope you guys are being careful... Switch over to power at the first sign that your hands are failing! It can be pretty miserable...

My experience, my opinion - worth what you've paid for it...

Brian P. Marshall
Stockton Jewelry Arts School
Stockton, CA, USA
209-477-0550
instructor@jewelryartschool.com

 

[bitmaker]

Greg,
Do you use model paint for the letters in the banner too? I just did an all around bit for a rodeo and had a heck of a time with the paint in the letters.

 

[cowboy_silversmith]

Norm, Chris & monk ... Thank you for the compliments and inspiring me to continue posting. I really appreciate it. bitmaker, I used a pantograph .020 spindle cutter at a depth of .012 for the lettering in that particular banner. I then fill in the lettering with gloss black model paint. The next day when the paint has dried, I clean up the excess with acetone. For this I use a Viva brand paper towel folded over several times. I lightly dip the hardened folded edge into acetone and gently wipe a few letters. I fold the Viva again to present a fresh new edge and repeat the wiping process. If there are any residual streaks left by the acetone, I wipe it with a seperate clean Viva towel folded in the same manner. Be careful not to press to hard or wipe to fast because the paper towel can leave light scratches on a highly polished silver surface. Brian Marshall, Thank you for the warranted advice. It has always been at the back of my mind that such an injury is possible and that all due considerations should be taken to avoid such a serious injury in our craft.

Best Regards,
Greg Pauline

 

[Bill Tokyo]

Pretty inspiring

This is really the place to come to see what the standard is of really good work.

Did you use a microscope to cut out those letters? About how high are they overall?

Look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

Bill

 

[cowboy_silversmith]

Bill... The letters are sawn from 22 gauge (.025) sheet stock. I used to do everything with the naked eye but then when I hit 43-44 things started to blur. I now wear 2X visors when I saw.

Best regards,
Greg Pauline

 

[Steve223]

Very Nice!!! i sure like lookin at yalls work, I start gettin a little discourged and i can come here and look and get inspired.
Thanks Greg

 

[Steve223]

Hey Bit Maker would you show us an over all picture of that bit?

 

[jlseymour]

Greg,
I've broken A-many saw blades and your Sawing and fabrication is Fantastic!!!

Fab is so rewarding...
JL Seymour

 

[Ron Smith]

Greg, Accuracy to perfection! xceptional!.........Bravo! Excellent Photos too!