The original plan was to take off the colors after hardening, leaving a gray finish. John at Classic Guns did such a beautiful job (the colors are light and the engraving is still easily visible) that I have a new plan...
Poor Mr. Hurst. This happens to him a lot. I even did it once or twice.
I had to promise to gray the rifle I am building now or he was gonna put on a pair of shoes and come up here...
It's the old rock and a hard place story. The gray shows off the artist's scratching to its best effect. On the other hand the colors are so pretty that it is hard to bring yourself to remove them. I think that scroll looks real good hidden down in the colors. The more you look the more you see. Kind of a delayed gratification.
Images like the dog on the lock plate are different. They really need to be gray to appreciate the incredibly fine detail that makes the image "alive". My 2 hundredths of a dollar says that you should gray it. Whilst it looks good the way it is, it will look good gray as well. And your dog will thank you.
Glenn
