It was recently revealed here that some gunsmiths farm-out or sub-contract parts of their work. Or they utilize the services of lower wage employees. If you are on a tight budget, or restoring a lower grade gun that may not be worth the high price of a full blown restoration, it might be wise to eliminate the middle-man and try to hire some of those same outworkers yourself.
I do find it disturbing to learn that some of those guys who post nice photos of restored or refinished guns may be taking credit for parts of the work that they themselves didn't perform. I almost never see attribution for those sub-contractors or employees who do some of the less glamorous or less profitable gunsmithing tasks. If they gave proper credit or attribution, fine. Otherwise, it seems like something similar to plagiarism. And it comes at the expense of an unwary customer who thinks his high dollar gunsmith is doing all the work on his gun.
