European checkering? Isn't that fish scales with a mermaid and a Teutonic knight carved into the motif? ...
Please remember that the word used in German for checkering is "Fischhaut" - fish skin.
And I suppose the best rejoinder remains that, if you can't carve wood like that, it's best to just say it's not your taste (and move on to another gun). Carvers wouldn't be carving it if it didn't sell.
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Tony - your wood guy did his usual fine job. I can tell this is going to be a very nice gun when done.
