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I think this is the reason we own more than one gun.

I had a gun away for more than two years, but its return was worth it. Quality takes time and sometimes you have to suspend disbelief. That said in order to suspend disbelief the gunsmith has got to have enough reputation (track record) to justify some faith and confidence.

In the next year I will have two of my four gun battery away for work and I doubt I will see them for some time to come. Though I hope and prayer for less than two years.

I presently have a fine gun at a smith up north. Completion date was never agreed upon but he indicated it was a couple of month job. It has been six months now. Now to his benefit it has been a very harsh winter up in New Hampshire. Making it difficult for him to work in his shop. He does answer my calls and has assured me he will have it done by the time the Southern Side by Side event comes around but we will see. I have now put his town on my I phone weather bug and check it daily.
I have another gunsmith who lives in my state and I promise him a 5 t/h of liquor if he gets it done fast.
but both these guys are excellent gunsmiths and I would rather wait a little bit longer and have a first class job instead of a rush job.
I shoot with an older gentleman that broke a top lever spring in his Purdey hammer gun. He waited a long time and every week when we were shooting I would ask him about it. His answer to me was "Never worry and call your gunsmith".

Be reminded that if a gun is in a gunsmith's shop, it because the owner couldn't do the work himself.I recall the jacket on Gunsmith's Kinks, where the customer told the gunsmith "Of course I want it today, if I had wanted it tomorrow, I would have brought it in tomorrow".
Mike

i had a friend who had a handgun at the shop of someone who was supposed to be one of the best for customizing one of that particular guns

the expected completion date was long past, so he wrote him what he thought was a polite letter(pre email days) and asked when he could expect it to be returned.

a week or so later - he got a box- with all the parts and a note complaining about his impatience

I always remember the quote - even if i do not remember who said it

"just because no one understands you - doesn't mean you are an artist"

A number of years ago I send a gunsmith in calf.
This guy was doing work for a number of movie stars
I needed some stock refinishing. Just a clean up
I spoke to him on the phone and he said 2 weeks
I sent the gun 2 day air
After 2 weeks I called him just to check in, not expecting that it would be done. I said to him how do think it would turn out. He told me he never opened the box yet. If had been there 2 weeks and never opened the box. So after almost 3 months told him to pack it up and put a bill in the box for the work you did, if any a I will send you a check

I got it back

I am lucky now I have sorted out the great ones from the bad ones


John

Here's the thing about donkeys who think of themselves as artists.... if they need 2 years to do their art, they need to tell you they need 2 years. Telling you they need 2 weeks then taking two years? That's not artistry - that's being a cobbler.

I had two deer heads in to taxidermist for mounting. My first time using this guy, but I had known him for several years, and his work was good enough to give him these mounts to do, but not the best I had seen. He indicated that it would take him about 6 months to do both mounts. I paid him half down in deposit. Well at six months, I asked him how was progress, he had not rcvd the skins back from the tanner yet he said. At about nine months I pinged him for an update, some other excuse was given. Next hunting season arrived, and I figured if not done by then, it would have to wait until after that season was over, which as expected no new progress. I continued to be patient and not show him any angst. Come that spring, more than a year had past, I determined to monitor more closely, always being courteous when seeing him and making my inquiry. Always some excuss, but by then he was starting to appologize and say how he appreciated my patience. Long story short, at about the two year waiting point, we agreed I would take back all he had which included two mount blocks, tanned hides, and horns. Cost me most of the deposit, but at least I had my stuff. Went elsewhere and had them done within 2 months. Still friends more or less with the other guy, but he will never get my reccomendation for work. Again, I think if I had become nasty or less than courteous, I might not have seen them horns again.

Gunsmithing is small business, one-man operations or small shops. I'm small business too, so I understand the commitment and problems of keeping things going. That said, customers have to be treated right and honestly. Getting in a more interesting project isn't an excuse. Saying two weeks and taking nine months ain't getting it. No excuse for that.

I don't know how you filter them out. I left a gun with a smith at the Grand American one year and the gun was waiting for me, done right, when I got home. I've had other smiths, well regarded, spend over a year lying about the progress on what should have been a ten-day turnaround

Of course major work/restoration can take a long time and be worth it.

On the other hand I had a relatively small job that I gave to a gunsmith who said "several weeks". Eight months and many phone calls later I demanded my gun back and it took another two months for him to return it. I then gave the gun to another gunsmith who gave me no promise of a completion date - one week later to the day I got the call that the gun was ready and, indeed, it was fixed. Guess who gets my money in the future.

I've been self-employed for 35 years. In addition to performing quality work, honestly dealing with customers and timely delivery of services yields long-term success.

This topic crops up here from time to time. The solution seems so obvious. When two weeks becomes two months, if there is no verifiable and justifiable reason, you pick up the gun and take your business elsewhere. That smith does not deserve your business or your money. When two weeks becomes two years, that is way beyond unacceptable in almost any circumstance, unless he's doing the job for free.

As Mike (Der Ami) pointed out, customers can be just as unreasonable, expecting a gunsmith to perform miracles because they waited until the day before hunting season to have a repair done. They deserve to be shown the way to the door.

Don't we see the work of extremely talented gunsmiths like Dewey Vicknair right here, who manages to build complete and gorgeous guns from scratch, or perform extensive modifications which border on fine artwork, in far less time than some of these irresponsible guys can manage to do a bluing or checkering job?

You can't easily be held hostage like this if you simply refuse to be a victim.