Wonderful and insightful comments guys, thanks!
I really appreciate the critique John. I need more of them. This happened to be a very plain gun with no figure. It's also a custom gun with mismatched forend and my personal gun, and since my tastes run a bit flamboyant and towards the baroque, I happen to like my grain a bit overdone. Really just a matter of personal taste. Being "correct" really wasn't a consideration in this particular case, and I purposely pushed the boundaries to get what I wanted. On other guns I do for clients however, it most certainly is.
Since this was my first attempt at any kind of engraving on a gun, that is definitely something I want to work on. Dry point gives a softer edge with burrs, and looks different than chiseled engraving. I'll keep working on it a bit and see if I can tighten it up and deepen some lines. Hopefully that will help. Point well taken though.
Gnomon, you are correct about dry point being the image printed from an incised, and not etched, plate. I was trying to find a term to describe incising on a plate without actually printing it. If you have a suggestion I would love to hear it.
Last edited by Mark Larson; 07/07/12 02:13 AM.
