Thread: The razor of all razors. At least to me.

Originally Posted by BobH

To me there is a big difference in the value of hand done engraving vs laser or machine done engraving. One is dependent on the craftsman's skill and the other on how good the set up man is. One is slow and labourious and the other is much quicker and easily repeatable. It is the difference between the engraving on an old Colt hogleg ordered as a custom hand engraved job and what passes for machine done engraving popular today. Not really the same thing or in the same class.

Bob

This man has a feel for craftsmanship. I was fortunate to sit under a 'smithing instructor who would take a few of the more promising students (not me) to teach them engraving. He was good. He showed me work from someone who was astounding. The price of the 'hogleg' was about $850. The engraving was $4600. This was in the '90s.

Originally Posted by pinklather

This man has a feel for craftsmanship. I was fortunate to sit under a 'smithing instructor who would take a few of the more promising students (not me) to teach them engraving. He was good. He showed me work from someone who was astounding. The price of the 'hogleg' was about $850. The engraving was $4600. This was in the '90s.

My point exactly, if you want hand engraving done well you have to pay for it. I did not mean to infer that you can't get it today. Most of us have to settle, if you want to call it that, for machine/laser engraving for economic reasons.

Bob