When I first met Michael Chang he lived in Monterey Park, which is a suburb of Los Angeles, Mike was born in mainland China and as a young man had fought with the forces of Chiang Kai-Shek against the Japanese and later against the Chinese Communists. Mike had to flee to Formosa with the other Chinese Nationalists and in the early 1950’s was allowed to come to America, he told me at that time, that if he tried to return to mainland China, he would be arrested and imprisoned, however years later after Mao died, all was forgiven and he was allowed to return home to visit his friends and relatives. Mike was a master wood carver and specialized in checkering, but could do all sorts of gunsmithing work including metal engraving. Like Engilbert Olafsson, Mike Chang had gone to work at Roy Weatherby’s shop where he was taught the gunsmithing trade. Mike showed me several pictures of him sitting at his checkering cradle at Weatherby’s in South Gate, but explained that none of Weatherby’s catalogs or advertisements ever showed the workmen’s faces, just their hands. Like Engilbert, Mike was a fine craftsman and capable of producing the finest quality of work. One time when I was visiting Mike, he was working on an old European bolt action rifle that he had restocked for a customer with carved a hawk on the right hand side of the stock. Normally, the stock carving I’ve seen is not well executed or very tasteful, however this was beautifully done and the hawk almost looked alive, it was a wonderful job and Mike told me that he had breathed life into it. I later saw the rifle on display at the Pomona gun show, I’m sure it’s still out there somewhere.
