Somewhere I've read that action bars cracked in the smaller gauge Flues (thin walls) but I've seen a lot of 12s and 16s that seem to be going strong in the takes a lickin and keeps on kickin dept. Engraving a graded Flues must have been like painting a bus. Early Ithaca engraving (the flash bravura get er did school) can be pretty flamboyant altho there seemed to be some choking up on the tool over birds and dogs. But who's seen a decent bird on a Parker? At least they knew how to move metal with a graver rather than a scratch awl and it shows! The Flues SBT is also a wonderful expression of young America. Mixes sophistication with naivete in the art dept. NIDs seem to me to be curiously unattractive even in the highest grades and I don't have a clue why?
jack
