doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Engraving?-Types and Quality

'I seen many offerings, and I am confused. I understand that cut engraving is more artistic and requires more artistic skill. Now there is also acid etching and laser engraving. The acid etching looks quite shallow but some of the laser engraving looks quite deep and apparently lends itself to automation/mass production. Question-is this really engraving? And are there various grades or ways to measure the quality and life of the work? Are there any standards?

Engraving implies that it was executed with a graver, which is the tool that the engraver uses to remove metal to render the desired effect. For that reason I do not call etching ,or laser work, engraving.

For etching and laser work i prefer the term adornment.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I cannot argue with your response-makes a lot of sense. Alternative adornment options - some of which looks quite nice at affordable prices!

I agree, and if you're not a purist some of the laser stuff can look quite nice. I have several shotguns that were done so at the factory and certainly am not embarrassed to use them in public.

None of it can come close to genuine hand-cut engraving however, IMO. I once had Gournet engrave a new damascus knife I had just bought. The engraving cost me more than the knife did, but I wouldn't take anything for it. I marvel at the abilities of Gournet and other top engravers.

As an aside, though I can appreciate the talent and work required to execute it I have never been able to warm up to the bulino style. The images are just "too real looking" for me, almost photographic.

The B Rizzini BR550 and S2000 I believe are laser and touched up a little by hand and for the money are hard to beat but on one of those guns I shouldn't have sold, a WJ Jeffery sidelock with deep scroll and dogs the engraving is marvelous. I don't think laser can do animals as good as hand cut can.

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Some long past etching is hard to tell from engraving and done very well. This is a Baker A grade.

Tamid, I have been interested in Baker guns for a while. That etching started in their A and B line in about 1892 and ended just before the turn of the century when engraver Frank Mason came on board. Some of the earliest etched patterns were quite elaborate, almost like an L C Smith Crown Grade. I have never found any original notes or descriptions of the etching process. I think some hard to get to areas of the receivers were hand engraved.