Post-purchase engraving

idiot101

idiot101

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Has anyone ever taken a rifle they already owned to get engraved?

I have a Chapuis double rifle with some rather early laser engraving, which unfortunately looks like early laser engraving. And, being a tinkerer of things I naturally enough thought "I like this, but it would be better if" which led me down the rabbit hole of engraving after-the-fact.

There is a company: Fox&Co Bespoke that I came across which does hand finished lazer engraving. A two man team, one apprenticed at Holland and Holland, the other had a career at Westley Richards and so I asked whether they could redo it in a tight classic scroll all over. They can of course for £3.6k design and engrave a totally custom piece exactly to my tastes including family crests, names, whatever really. Unfortunately that’ll have to wait for me - I’m not rich yet and £3.6k is still a lot to spend.

But it made me wonder - is this a thing? I thought of it, and someone has a business doing it so it must be.

Well, fellow members, has anyone done this? How did it turn out? are you glad you did?

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So I am thinking that unless it laser engraved plus hand engraved it will always look too uniform and laser engraved. Hand engraving costs a lot, because there aren’t enough engravers and skills craftspeople are hard to find. I have found a good hand engraver who is reasonable. But something like the picture on the bottom is still going to be a lot.
 
The price is quite absurd. It is more than double what hand engraving ought to cost (on a trade basis).

You are entering the gun-owner's trap of making a silk purse out of a pig's ear.

Most engravers will be doubtful if the gun has already been case hardened.

Bear in mind that personal engraving will diminish the second-hand value of the gun. Best to stick with acanthus scroll.

Talk to Andy Miles: http://www.andymiles.org/ : that's the horse's mouth. Otherwise Mark Crudgington at George Gibbs or Paul Roberts at J. Roberts.
 
Major Bonkers said:
The price is quite absurd. It is more than double what hand engraving ought to cost (on a trade basis).

You are entering the gun-owner's trap of making a silk purse out of a pig's ear.

Most engravers will be doubtful if the gun has already been case hardened.

Bear in mind that personal engraving will diminish the second-hand value of the gun. Best to stick with acanthus scroll.

Talk to Andy Miles: http://www.andymiles.org/ : that's the horse's mouth. Otherwise Mark Crudgington at George Gibbs or Paul Roberts at J. Roberts.
Click to expand...
Thank you Major, I'm glad I ran it past the members here. I'll reach out to your suggestions and check feasibility once it's back from France
 
If the rifle already means something to you and you hunt with it regularly, do it when you can swing it. £3.6k for full custom is steep but turns it into a one-of-one piece with your crests, names, or favorite animals. Even a more modest scroll refresh makes a huge difference on doubles like Chapuis. It's a "tinkerer" upgrade that actually adds lasting value and joy every time you pick it up.
 
"picking up' engraving is common practice in the restoration biz. That is - recutting worn down or damaged engraving.
I've had this done to some guns - even to the point of striking off the entire surface and the original engraving recut or new engraving added to a plain action. That was a Jeffery Farq so a flat surface.
There are a few engravers in the US whom do this work - wouldn't be a bad idea to check out https://acgg.org/ and make some inquiries.
If in England, there are still engravers doing work for makers who don't have in house engravers which is most of them.
 
I thought about doing this to my SO4 but the colour hardening put a stop to it.
 
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