Some scratching of metal...

[NevadaBlue]

I am really hesitant to post this picture, it is such an obvious beginner's attempt at engraving... but here goes. This is the third chunk of metal I've attempted to engrave. I copied the pattern off a photograph of a little gun I found on the net and successfully transferred it to a practice plate.
Be gentle please, I have learned what little I know from watching Steve's videos and reading here. I'm using a PC.

[Ray Cover]

Don't be ashamed. Some of my first attempts with that old gravermiester I had looked worse.

We all start somewhere. Now you have made your start and it is decent start.

Now learn as much as you can about both design and technique and practice cutting as much as you can.

As long as you learn something on each practice piece and each one gets a little better than the last you are moving in the right direction.

THe most important piece of advise I can give is enjoy the process. Its supposed to be fun.

Ray

[Luckydollar]

That's a good start.
Now date that piece and keep it. In a few months pull it out and compare it to your newest piece. You will be amazed at your improvement.

Keep at it.

Luckydollar

[Herman Knives]

Yep, nothing to be ashamed of at all. Great start, keep going and have fun.

[Zernike Au]

It's a shame of me and it's regret that I haven't show my first plate here and now I don't know where is it!!!

Your engraving look good, it is not "scratching", it is a result of your hard work and it shows a lot of great engraving by you are coming soon. I like it, keep it and I would like to see more of your coming plate.

Thanks for the post again.

Zernike

[NevadaBlue]

Thank you all for the encouragement! I took Ray's advice and engraved a long tongued lion I found somewhere. He was fun to do. I'll be watching what goes on here and practising and hopefully getting better.

[powderhorn]

NevadaBlue;
Good start, but thats not your first. I know what my first ones were like. Now keep going, from here on, it's practice, practice, and get more creative.
For some good drawings, go to the school site here, and look for the heading copyright free, lots of good cutting there.
From another Silver Stater, keep going.

[NevadaBlue]

ok, here's my fun lion...

[Daniel Houwer]

Well, there's a Lion!
Nice one to! And although I am a beginner as well, 1 point if I may,
The tounge seems to come out of its cheek. And probably the original drawing had the same, but two litle line's would fix that I think.

Still nice engraving!

Greetz,

Daniel

[DEllis]

NevadaBlue,
Looks like a good start. Would you mind showing a pic of the gun you used as a pattern? It looks very familiar to me.Thanks.
Darcy

[NevadaBlue]

Daniel, yes, he does look rather tongue-in-cheek. Thanks for pointing that out. That was one of the areas where I didn't know what to do. It was black in the original I had and as you said, a couple of lines would improve it. I'll add that on the next one. I just had an idea... I'm going to number my practice plates as I do them, just for fun.

DEllis, here is the picture. I hope I didn't step on any toes, I collect photos from the net for reference and this one looked like something I could copy to get started.

[DEllis]

Cool! No toes stepped on at all........that is the rifle I built(from scratch) and engraved about a year ago. That's why the pattern looked so familiar. It is a falling block 45-70 of my own design.......built without the aid of a milling machine. It is the first gun I ever engraved too. Done with hammer and chisel........I made the chisel from a worn out chainsaw file. Thought you might be interested to know. My camera kicked the bucket or I would post some of my recent stuff.
Keep up the good work.
Darcy