TonyLeeFrost (@TonyLeeFrost)

For those who might be new to hand engraving: I am an engraver. Traditional hand engraving is actually carving. The tool that I used to engrave or carve is called a Graver. It is like a tiny miniature chisel. It is 3/32 of an inch by 3/32 of an inch and sharpened with various angles to create an extremely sharp and tough tip. This particular gun is made of a very hard stainless steel so this Graver is especially sharpened to be able to withstand those pressures involved in carving it. The little curly Q piece you see coming out from the tip is the metal that is being removed. Those little chips are as sharp as a surgeons scalpel and us engravers have fingers heavily calloused from years of thousands of tiny little cuts. Unlike modern engraving, traditional hand, engraving cuts are wide and cut at various angles, creating a faceted design reflecting light much like a diamond. Hand engraving is like a portrait with scores of brushstrokes. Modern laser engraving, for instance, is nothing but a cheap print!