That Ruger stainless steel is some tough stuff. I used carbide gravers, 90 degrees with a 50 degree face. After each petal of a flower I had to change to a sharp graver. I tried slowing down, speeding up, H&C, switching to HSS gravers and nothing helped. So I just did a lot of sharpening.

Engraved Ruger cylinder.

Just looked at my timesheet and it took 4 hours of cutting to complete the cylinder. I did not count the sharpening time. That was probably another 3 – 4 hours.

Next was the loading gate. I knew this would be a more challenging part to engrave because of the dome shape of the part. Design was drawn directly on the part and I started with the carbide graves at 90 degrees and 50 degree face. I placed the graver tip onto the loading gate and applied power and watched the sharp point of the graver explode! I’d never had a graver actually break so dramatically before so my first thought was “it must be a defective graver”. So I put a newly sharpened graver into the hand piece and tried again. Almost the same effect but not as dramatic. This is some very hard stainless steel. I changed my starting technique and started making cuts. Even short straight lines were very difficult to cut and required multiple sharpenings. The design is one half of a flower with five petals. Checking the timesheet for this small part shows two and one half hours. I actually broke 16 graver tips on the first petal! Then spent about an hour sharpening them all again. When I think about how tough the cylinder steel was I laughed because it was “soft” compared to this loading gate.

Ruger Loading Gate - engraved.

The flower petals turned out nice but the shading was really not as nice as I would have liked. I may go back and add a few more shading lines to give it a bit more depth.

The gun owner stopped by yesterday for his first hands on look at the project. I was very relieved to see him smile when I handed him the receiver to look at. He loved how the design is turning out. So I am a very “Happy Camper”!

I’m about halfway finished with the other side of the receiver and have the other side of the loading gate and the Barrel yet to do. I’m sure that this will be a at least four more hours of engraving work. When I gave my customer an estimate of the time needed I really missed the mark as I expected this to take a total of 5 or 6 hours and it looks like it will be more like 13 hours before it is finished.

I’m going to have to start calling this a “Hobby” because I sure can’t make any money working this slow. Since this is my first Vaquero experience I clearly underestimated the time needed for the “hard parts”. And since I still have this one’s twin yet to do I think I will be able to do it faster. Knowing what to expect and having the design patterns already will surely speed up all aspects of the next one.

Time to get to work, stay tuned for the next update…

The issue here is my jig that holds the frame is too small to hold both parts. Both parts must be reassembled in order for the engraving lines to match up exactly.

I’m thinking that while I have the frame all mounted in the jig I will just flip it over and start the other side of the frame. Then after completing that side up to the point where I need the pistol frame attached to continue, I will tackle the two parts assembled.

Not how I would normally do a project but these Bisley pistols are really large and the design does not normally flow across two parts. This should be a nice challenge.

Here’s an update photo of the frame scrolls.

Serial number side of Vaquero frame.

So after writing that first part of this post I went back to the bench and looked at the two parts. The Bisley model is a BIG hand gun and It just looked too large for my jig that holds the parts for engraving. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I could index the two parts so when they were put together the scroll lines would line up.

I was looking at the two parts and just tried to hold them together. To my amazement I could fit them together in the jig. So I dug out the screws and reassembled the pistol while on the jig. It fit together with about 1 mm of clearance. So the indexing problem just disappeared. I went over to the vise, placed the jig with the two parts into the vise and got to engraving.

Still amazed that I was able to get all that under the microscope and held securely. Check out the photo.

Ruger frame and pistol grip engraved.

Grip and Frame design.

You can see in the photo’s the design on the parts, frame only mounted into a jig that holds the frame for engraving and the jig with frame held in the engraving vise.

I’m using 105 degree graver with a 55 degree face. Anxious to get started and bring this design to life.

Hope you all like it so far…

Ruger frame in holding jig.

and here’s the whole jig in the engraving vise ready to start engraving.

Vaquero frame ready for engraving.

Now to quit blogging and start making steel chips fly.

Now, I had to purchase sheet silver, cut out the oval and dome it myself. Cutting it out is not a problem but it does take a bit of time to saw the 16 gauge silver by hand. The dome shape is a key element of this style buckle so I had to build the tools to do the dome.

My first attempt was with a 16 inch log. I cut out a dome the proper size out of the end and after about three hours of slow sanding I had a good shape. I used a steel punch with a large (1.5 inch) head for the matching half. Looked like it would work.

Using a piece of scrap silver I gave it a go. Whack. The dome was just about perfect except that the silver took on every tiny bit of the wood grain from the wood bowl shape. That will not work as it will ruin the engraving.

Next I went to my pitch bowl. While usually for silver forming I thought if I started with the pitch in the dome shape that the silver would conform to that shape and no further.

I used an old western trophy buckle to form the warm pitch and carefully removed it after it had cooled and hardened. This looked very good. Another piece of scrap silver and another whack. Good results. Now for the real piece.

I positioned the engraved silver onto the pitch bowl, placed the entire thing on the floor for a good solid base and gave it a firm whack with a heavy hammer. It formed perfectly on about 85% of the blank and creased on the remainder. Not what I wanted or expected.

So I spent the next few hours annealing and hitting the buckle with various sized hammers until it finally had the right amount of dome. Probably spent 8 hours over three days trying to get this into the correct shape.

With the buckle domed I twisted silver wire into rope and soldered it into an oval shape, and attached it to the buckle. The belt attachment and prong went on next without a hitch.

Spent two hours polishing the finished buckle and it is finished. At last.

I learned a few lessons on this project. 1. make sure the silver is available before you agree to do a project. 2. You can never have too many tools. I needed a hydraulic press to form this buckle not a hammer. 3.  I learned to overcome my fear of failure.

Steven Pressfield’s book “The War of Art” is a great book. Aimed at writers it also serves artist of all media. Sometimes I am frozen into inactivity by my self imposed fear of failure. “The War of Art” walks you through overcoming that fear, helps you recognize “resistance” and allows you to build the courage to give it a “Whack” when a whack is needed. Like many people I am my own worst critic. If it is not perfect in my eye than it must be trashed and started over. With Pressfield’s help and use of my “Quality Control” expert (Wife) I am learning not to be so critical. After all only God is perfect so I must stop trying to compete with Him.

I’m delivering the buckle to Travis Luz as soon as I post this update. Travis is a Master leather Craftsman and he will now make a custom belt to fit this buckle. I’ve been wearing one of Travis’s belts for 8 years and it is so comfortable that it is the only belt I wear. Check out JTLleather.com.

Who Dares Wins silver engraved buckle

First is that this large part is a pain to figure out the best way to hold it for engraving. Finally settled on a bunch of leather stacked against the grip. Still allowed a bit of movement but for the most part it held tight.

Second issue was the back strap had a section that was very hard. No matter how slow I pushed, the tip of the graver kept breaking. After six re-sharpenings I got through that section and back into better metal.

I transferred the customers name onto the back strap and was just getting ready to start cutting when it dawned on me that the name could be larger. So I started all over again, Cleaned the metal, transferred a larger name and it fit perfectly. Just the right border top and bottom and the script font looks great with the scrolls.

I’ll take a photo of this in the morning. Lighting is just not right for a good photo.

Stay tuned for more…

I mounted the grip frame in GRS Thermolock and as it cooled and hardened I started drawing the design on the trigger guard. By the time I had the drawing complete the mounting was cool and firm.

I started the timer and made the first cut. I’m using a 105 degree graver with a 50 degree face. Cut through the Ruger stainless steel like it was silver.

I use a 15 minute timer for two reasons. I can work in 15 minute increments so I take frequent short breaks. My eye’s avoid the strain and my hands get a brief rest. I also make a hash-mark on the work order each time the alarm goes off. At the completion of the job I simple count the hash-marks and multiply by 15 to get the exact time I spent on the engraving. In the photo you can see 1/4 of a flower, this took 25 minutes to complete.

Vaquero grip frame

The owner is also a musician and I’m saving the bottom of the pistol grip for a few musical surprises for him.

As soon as these designs are approved I’m ready to get started. I’m planning on about 14 hours per pistol and I hope that will work. Curved surfaces like the cylinder can really slow you down and the constant readjusting and repositioning of the cylinder will surely eat up a bunch of time. So we kept the cylinder design pretty simple to help keep the work within budget.

Well, I tried to load the design drawings in here but the file is WAY too big. So you will just have to wait and see each part get engraved.

Ruger Vaquero disassembled

Met with Travis Luz of JTL Leather this morning to plan the belt attachment points for the back of the buckle. With the measurements and proper locations I’m ready to dome the silver, attach the rope edge and the belt attachments.

It will start to really look like a buckle soon.

Engraved Regimental logo on sterling silver buckle blank

Today the weather outside is terrible. Wind gusting to 70 mph, 7 inches of snow drifting to 18+ inches. The best thing about bad weather is that all my ranch tasks get to wait for better weather and I can spend the entire day working at the engraving bench.

So first up is the progress we are making on the Vaquero’s. We met and poured over the pistol trying to find that blend of perfect design and budget. We settled on a frame design and back strap. I’m drawing a flower design for the loading gate (both sides) and about 2 inches of scroll for the barrel. The barrel scroll will complement the frame scroll. And the trigger guard will have a 1/4 flower in it’s corner and it will match the loading gate flower. And finally the cylinder is being designed to have a flower and scroll alternate as you go around the cylinder.

This is a Bisley model Vaquero so it is nice and BIG with plenty of room to design and engrave. And since this one is part of a matched pair I’ll get to double my fun and do the same design on the next pistol. The pistols will be “Right” and Left” hand specific with the design of the back strap laid out for each hand.

Ruger Vaquero "Bisley" with rough design.

Also on the bench is a solid Silver trophy style buckle. This buckle has his Regimental motto  engraved deeply into the silver. I’ve started engraving this in between design drawings and it is coming out just great. With a logo like this there is little room for artistic interpretation so I’m simple trying to copy it exactly and use shading of my own design to give it depth and dimension.

Regimental motto Trophy Buckle

The silver is 18 gauge silver and is 3.75 X 2.75 inches.

After engraving I will add a silver rope edge and dome the buckle. Once all that is complete I will work with Master Leather Craftsman, Travis Luz to fabricate the belt attachment points on the back of the buckle. Travis is making a custom belt for this buckle. Check out Travis’s work at www.JTLleather.com

Should finish this today and get it over to Travis for the leather work.

Then, all I need to do is wait for the Spyderco delivery of a Cara Cara model Byrd knife.

Here is the rough design drawing. The flower will definitely change to fill the space allotted  and of course all the scrolls on the front side will have leaves with shading and back grounding. The VL is his brand and it too will be slightly larger than shown. On the reverse side are a few scrolls drawn around the pocket clip and encircling a nasty looking scorpion. I’m going to work this knife into the project line ahead of the pistols while the pistols are at the gunsmith’s for dis-assembly. Looks like 5+ hours of engraving. So the knife should be easy to complete before the pistols are returned.

Spyderco Byrd Cara Cara model

I use Ron Curmano of Accuracy Guns for all my disassembly and reassembly of firearms. I always have a few parts left over when I try to assemble firearms myself. So it is best to leave the working gun parts to the professionals.

Well, my lunch hour is over and I can see the GRS Thermolock has hardened and the silver buckle is ready for me to complete the letter engraving so it is time to get back to the bench…