Question-If a revolver has mild pitting and sentimental value..is it reasonable that an engraver could cover,blend, hide the pitting and make the finished piece better than the original.

Of course the job would need to be within reason. Throwing $500 at a family heirloom is a little different than throwing several thousand at a $400 revolver.

Thoughts, suggestions, web links welcome

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Without actually seeing the pitting it would be difficult to give you a meaningful answer.

I suppose IF the pitting were not too bad, engraving might disguise the damage, but I doubt you would want to spend a whole lot of money on a pitted gun. I also doubt a reputable engraver would take on the job if it were anymore than just very minor pitting.

If it is a family heirloom you might want to just clean it up as best as possible (to keep it from getting any worse) and keep it in its original condition. It is what it is..............

Chief38

Surface preparation (polishing) is part of the engraving job.
Even a flat new firearm once stripped of it's blueing will reveal some less than flattering surface imperfections or less than spectacular polishing.
Though the older pre-war examples are amoung the best polished.

A used firearm has to go though some polishing. If the existing pitting is light, it will be polished off.

If too deep to be easily removed that way,,you have to decide if you want to go through the expense of further procedures to remove it (weld and polish)...
,,Or if the engraver is up to the task of building the design around the bad areas.

Some engravers don't want to be bothered with stuff like that and just want a clean canvas to work with.
A few will do that sort of challange work.

Pits and damage can be hidden in background matted areas, relief cut areas, hidden by inlays, or small individual marks or rough areas taken away or hidden with borders or even individual cuts sometimes if small enough.
It does take more time to figure and layout,,so the cost is generally going to be more.

Polishing prep work is costly too when extra time is alotted for removal of heavy or extensive pitting or damage.
If the engraver does the prep,,you'll likely pay their engravers rate for the metal polishing.
Sometimes (most times!) they aren't the ones doing it, instead farming it out to another gunsmith and just collecting the difference as a middleman fee.
Check before and sometimes getting the prep done yourself will save quite a bit.
But....Some won't work on a gun unless they do the prep!.
Snooty Bunch....!

Also figure the cost of rebluing the handgun and shipping a handgun (which isn't cheap) if the work isn't being done local.