SAA Engraving

[Tom McArdle]

Hello all,

Here is a SAA I recently finished at work. The coverage is not extensive, but I tried to do an original design, and give it more attention than I normally am allowed to put into one of these. I derived the design elements from a picture of an engraved Colt Lightning rifle. The picture of the whole gun actually does not do it justice. In my mind, these are a beautiful pair of revolvers! I may try and adapt this concept with some vine and leaf elements for my own revolver that is getting built now.

Thanks for looking,

Tom

[Danny C]

Very Nice work
If that's all your putting on it (and it is fine that way), consider buffing to a mirror finish, the bullet slide recesses (and possibly the rotation notching). Sets it all off with a simple highlight (not the whole cylinder).

The opposite is also true - light sand blasting to a frosted finish of the bullet slide recesses.

Might want to try this on a practice cylinder - it is easy to fix by just buffing with course material if you don't like it, on the "good one".

[ron]

hi Tom .. you did well on this colt , it is unfortunate you couldn't let your artist abilities flaw , but when you are working for a co. who tells you what to do that is not possible ,,, that is why I work for myself .. good job Tom .. Ron p

[Tom McArdle]

Thanks Danny, those are excellent suggestions. They show the need to consider the whole gun, finishes, polish, and engraving as an entire concept. The engraving on this gun was sort of an "afterthought", so to speak.

Hi Ron. I agree wholeheartedly. maybe some day again...

take care, and thanks for the encouragement!

Tom

[Brian]

HeyTom, (and Ron too)

What holding fixtures are you using while engraving these single action parts? Or are you making up "temporaries" from one of the thermoplastics to fit each gun part as you do it?

Brian Marshall

[Tom McArdle]

Hi Brian,

I have a few blocks of wood that hold the parts, along with the angled aluminum plate tht came with the block's holding accessories. I have some grooves cut in the blocks to help grab the parts better, but better solution would be welcome. There is still more bounce than I like, but if I don't hack too hard, i can get by. These USFA guns are hard on tools.

take care,

Tom

[Zernike Au]

Hi Tom,
Thanks for showing your work. I can just

zernike

[le petit graveur]

I realy like the mvt on the cylinder , nice repeating ornament, simple and beautifull

[ron]

Brian and Tom .. here are some photos of a devise that I made and use to hold barrells and cylinders , also at times I will use it to hold frames , on the loading gate which can be a problem to hold I will tighten the loading gate screw all the way down , this will hold the gate in place as you engrave it .. I hope this helps .. Ron p

[ron]