Question: Polymer frame?

[don hicks]

I don't know why everyone is against putting lip stick on a pig. I watched an infomercial yesterday and these ladies where air brushing their faces.( 3 easy payments of $19.95 ) Guess anything or anyone can be made more attractive with the right materials and equipment.
Cheers
Don:

 

[Gemsetterchris]

Guess anything or anyone can be made more attractive with the right materials and equipment.
Cheers
Don:

 

[atexascowboy2011]

You'd be surprised at what a fifth of Patron can do for a woman's looks !
Now all she needs is some of that lipstick Roger was talking about .

 

[Ed Westerly]

Always remember, when you put lipstick on a pig, it may still be a pig, but it's a slightly prettier pig!!

 

[KCSteve]

I suspect that Phil has probable done a project or two in the last several years that he considered 'lipstick on a pig' projects. But I also suspect that those projects were very high quality and work that most people would be proud to own. Perhaps not proud to show off, but proud to own.

Marcus has the great line about never cutting the quality of your work to meet a budget, just the quantity. If I were good enough to be working on guns and got talked into working on a modern tactical gun I like to think that I would do the best job possible given the limitations.

Unlike some of the others, I'll do work I don't like to get the money I do like.

 

[Sam]

Your Cafe Administrator once engraved monograms on his and hers toilet paper holders, so I don't have any room to talk. In my defense though, they were handmade and of exceptional quality and were gold plated afterwards...kind of like that Glock.

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Sam, Sam, Sam...........whip your face with buzzard guts.

So these toilet paper holders were the Purdey and Holland & Holland of toilet accessories. The mind boggles

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Sam]

Sam, Sam, Sam...........whip your face with buzzard guts.

So these toilet paper holders were the Purdey and Holland & Holland of toilet accessories. The mind boggles

Cheers
Andrew

Kind of, Andrew. They went in a New Orleans mansion which was owned by the owner of New Orleans Arms Co. He made 'em in our workshop and I engraved and gold plated them

 

[DakotaDocMartin]

Kind of, Andrew. They went in a New Orleans mansion which was owned by the owner of New Orleans Arms Co. He made 'em in our workshop and I engraved and gold plated them

I wonder if they use regular ole Charmin or Quilted Northern on them? Maybe they have their arsewipe custom made too. Sheesh!

 

[LVVP]

Always remember, when you put lipstick on a pig, it may still be a pig, but it's a slightly prettier pig!!

100 % agree, thanks

 

[mvangle]

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Demagnetizer/181256143031 $67.00

 

[dogcatcher]

If you are hungry enough you will do a lot of things you may not want to do so you can bring in money to put food on the table. That include engraving Mattel firearms.

 

[BKJ]

Kind of, Andrew. They went in a New Orleans mansion which was owned by the owner of New Orleans Arms Co. He made 'em in our workshop and I engraved and gold plated them

Ya but did you sign them? :clapping:

 

[LVVP]

Van Angle,

Thank you for the link

 

[Gemsetterchris]

Just a last thought on the subject..

I`d say any object/material could theoretically be enhanced somehow by quality "engraving", maybe it`s just a case of finding the right kind of pattern, wether scrollwork or something totally different that actually suits the item.

Modern designs of things don`t always look that great, maybe that`s just a manufacturing/budget thing...but I can`t really see why it would harm a reputation but more likely enhance it..being able to adapt a style of work to any item.

Sounds abit nostalgic & romantic, the idea of sticking to tradition (Roger), but things are changing & whilst keeping that up wherever possible I reckon engravers (and others) need to adapt abit for the future as it changes.

Abit like working on victorian & art deco jewellery, sometimes I`m still replicating that with old mine cut stones but you can`t survive on it alone these days, have to be able to adjust to whatever is wanted...that puts me in a better position than someone that only sticks to one style.

 

[Roger Bleile]

All I can say Chris is that the gun trade is quite different from the jewelry business in many ways. Gun collectors by and large are traditionalists. Unless it is marked Tiffany, Cartier, or Faberge, jewelry is sold on the secondary market, for the melt value or value of the gems regardless of the craftsmanship of the piece. In the past, great works by goldsmiths like Benvenuto Cellini have been broken down and recycled. What a shame!

Maybe the gun trade is different in Finland than it is here, the UK, Germany, Austria, Belgium, and Italy. In those places the engraver's reputation is of high value to the buyer. Just go to a gun auction site and see how a gun is touted and valued higher if it was engraved by Ken Hunt or Phil Coggan.

Personally, I have done lots of relatively inexpensive jobs for people on a budget, so accordingly nobody comes to me to engrave a Purdey. That's OK as there are many levels in gun engraving where one can make a living. There's not many guns I won't engrave unless I know they are too hard but I don't want to get the reputation of engraving guns that look like they will be carried by some narcotrafficante or in other ways in bad taste, such as pornography, Nazi symbols, and so forth.

Most of us gun engravers in the US have enough work that we can be a little choosy in what we work on. I am in communication with gun and knife engravers all over the US as well as Europe and every engraver with a long established reputation has a backlog of work from six months to three years so they don't have to take in work that is distasteful to them. I may be wrong but I don't think the jewelry trade works that way. In fact, since 2008, hundreds of jewelers in the US have gone out of business. Hopefully things will rebound for them.

 

[dlilazteca]

Just any FYI most Narco's carry 38 super Colts. Not that i know them, but thier weapons that are confiscated are always put on display, to include whatever they were cought with. And don't we all engrave 1911. Now that you are familiarized with that notion, are you gong to stop engraving a 1911? I think not. I have yet to see an engraved firearm confiscated from a narco that's not an AK or a 1911. So where does the association with Glocks and narcos come from, really? Or is that how you categorize something you don't like, or don't accept, so you have to associate it with something bad?

So one should associate all who engrave 1911 on the black list for engraving the firearm that most narcos carry, shame, shame on you. (social status drop, OMG)

You see makes no sense. ... just engrave do the best job, the best you can, that is what counts.

Just think about Mexicanengraver here on the forum, when is the last time you saw a glock, there all 1911, guns are illegal in México, except for special permissions on 22cal.

I don't have to like what you engrave others don't have to like what I engrave, what I think we should all do is respect each other's works and views, how about that for an idea?

 

[Brian Marshall]

FEGA itself has changed a lot over the years. It was more or less forced to, or there would have been another guild.


Formed by a small group of Anglo North American males who engraved guns...

To a bit more "open" to other engravers and then quietly becoming "international".

Just 15 years ago, there were no international members and a table without guns on it would not have been allowed at the show.


B.

 

[Southern Custom]

I see nothing wrong with taking a job like this, but, and it's a big but, it's hard to remain anonymous in our modern world. In a world where people instantly post what they are having for dinner on facebook, you can be sure that your work will be posted far and wide for all to see. Everyone want's to show off what their personal "Master Engraver" cut for them, be it a lettering job or a full coverage gun. It's all a matter of what you are willing to take on and as previously mentioned, doing the best work you can with the budget they have. The world of collectors is very small and a guy could starve while trying to break into that niche market. While I wouldn't take it on myself, jobs like this are a way to fill the void and you could possibly gain some skill and knowledge that could be applied later down the road.
In my opinion, by the time you are ready to engrave a Purdy, people will have long forgotten about the polymer frames you cut back when. I may be wrong.
Oh, and since you are talking Glocks. there is a company called Lone Wolf Industries that specializes in stainless Glock slides. They are 416 steel and cut nicely. Always a good option for a customer that wants an engraved Glock slide.
Good luck!
Layne

 

[atexascowboy2011]

Back to your initial question, order some seconds from the manufacturer and experiment. Tell them what you want to do and they may even give them to you.