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Full Coverage Engraved Model 60
- Thread starter RKmesa
- Start date
Norvell Foster is the engraver.
He regularly used stamps to sign his work for some reason.
Usually multiple 'word' stamps to form the signiture.
One stamp will be 'Engraved By' or 'By'
Another will be 'N.C Foster'
Then another 'S.A. Tex' (sometimes just 'Tex')
Another with the yr engraved. This one will be in separate hand stamps
That's what was done here. The NC Foster is one separate stamp
The 'By' is a separate stamp
The 'S.A. Tex' is one separate stamp as well
The date is done with single separate hand stamps.
Some of his work shows different Fonts for the separate words but all in the same signiture line.
The name at times a Script/Signiture style.
The date again using separate hand stamps and usually a standard block letter style. Likely an off the shelf set of stamps.
I don't know if he made the stamps, if he just didn't care to do lettering?
A well known secret among engravers,,,not all of them like doing Lettering, not all of them can do it well. It's an art in itself.
..But then again so is die cutting to make those stamps..
The rather bold hollow point or Dot punch background within the scrolls is a popular style. You find it in the American Scroll Style or Nimschke Style and others of course.
The dots are not supposed to overlap when done in that style, they are supposed to lay next to each other and edges touch to cover the surface.
It takes a bit longer to apply the background matting tecture that way as opposed to 'stippling' where you run the same hollow point punch randomly over the area to matte it. Two slightly different effects.
A smaller dia hollow punch would make for a less dramatic background as well.
Lots of ways to do stuff.
Winchester, Remington and others used the former method of laying down the matting with the hollow punch generally. The punch dots lying next to each other and touching but not overlapping.
If you are using it to mat a relief background where you have cut away the steel to lower it, you almost have to use the stippling method. As the surface is now full of chisel paths and the punch will flatten and smooth the surface as well as add the even beaded look.
Most engravers buy their hollow punches now. When they are flattened out from use, they are thrown away.
I was shown how to make them from drill rod with a file and a flat graver to make the cup point. Heat treat them ect.
They last a long time unless you work on steel harder than the punch itself of course and some of the modern stuff is terrible to engrave.
I usually just anneal and reshape, and reharden them if they get battered.
It's odd that the hammer end of the punch,,never Heat Treated gets extremely hard just from the hammer taps over time. No amt of annealing will soften that end for re-use to a punch or other tool.
Work hardened with thousands of small hammer taps.
Great looking revolvers,,both of them!
He regularly used stamps to sign his work for some reason.
Usually multiple 'word' stamps to form the signiture.
One stamp will be 'Engraved By' or 'By'
Another will be 'N.C Foster'
Then another 'S.A. Tex' (sometimes just 'Tex')
Another with the yr engraved. This one will be in separate hand stamps
That's what was done here. The NC Foster is one separate stamp
The 'By' is a separate stamp
The 'S.A. Tex' is one separate stamp as well
The date is done with single separate hand stamps.
Some of his work shows different Fonts for the separate words but all in the same signiture line.
The name at times a Script/Signiture style.
The date again using separate hand stamps and usually a standard block letter style. Likely an off the shelf set of stamps.
I don't know if he made the stamps, if he just didn't care to do lettering?
A well known secret among engravers,,,not all of them like doing Lettering, not all of them can do it well. It's an art in itself.
..But then again so is die cutting to make those stamps..
The rather bold hollow point or Dot punch background within the scrolls is a popular style. You find it in the American Scroll Style or Nimschke Style and others of course.
The dots are not supposed to overlap when done in that style, they are supposed to lay next to each other and edges touch to cover the surface.
It takes a bit longer to apply the background matting tecture that way as opposed to 'stippling' where you run the same hollow point punch randomly over the area to matte it. Two slightly different effects.
A smaller dia hollow punch would make for a less dramatic background as well.
Lots of ways to do stuff.
Winchester, Remington and others used the former method of laying down the matting with the hollow punch generally. The punch dots lying next to each other and touching but not overlapping.
If you are using it to mat a relief background where you have cut away the steel to lower it, you almost have to use the stippling method. As the surface is now full of chisel paths and the punch will flatten and smooth the surface as well as add the even beaded look.
Most engravers buy their hollow punches now. When they are flattened out from use, they are thrown away.
I was shown how to make them from drill rod with a file and a flat graver to make the cup point. Heat treat them ect.
They last a long time unless you work on steel harder than the punch itself of course and some of the modern stuff is terrible to engrave.
I usually just anneal and reshape, and reharden them if they get battered.
It's odd that the hammer end of the punch,,never Heat Treated gets extremely hard just from the hammer taps over time. No amt of annealing will soften that end for re-use to a punch or other tool.
Work hardened with thousands of small hammer taps.
Great looking revolvers,,both of them!
YeshuaIsa53
SWCA Member
The above sounds, to me, like a complete coverage. Great to read this.
Love those rosewoods! They certainly complement the engraving and gun.
Together, such a handsome presentation. Thanks. Both guns are nice, but I love those grips on that specific revolver.
Love those rosewoods! They certainly complement the engraving and gun.
Together, such a handsome presentation. Thanks. Both guns are nice, but I love those grips on that specific revolver.
OP
Walter:
I very much appreciate your comments. Engraving is very much personal taste-centric. Like I always tell folks, an engraved gun needs to speak to you. If it does not, you should walk away from it.
That said, the very thing that you do not like about this gun is something that attracted me to it in the first place. The large background dot punch is different from most of my other engraved guns. I agree that the scroll is well-executed and for this gun in particular, I really like the large dot punch background. To me it gives a much more bold background for the engraving, elevating the background as part of the engraving itself, rather than just something to mute the background so that one could focus on the scroll. I would not like it on all guns, but to me it works well on the stainless Model 60 canvas.
Thanks again for your comment!
OP
I will definitely be bringing a table full of guns to the upcoming SWCA Symposium in Glendale. Those Symposiums are great events.
OP
A couple of final photos of the gun on the box. I kind of like the stainless on a blue background...
Thanks again for all the comments and likes!
Thanks again for all the comments and likes!
OP
Luckily, Mr Foster was a fellow "inmate" there and had the artistic talent to make the full body tats work to perfection.
Richard,
Lovely gun and engraving and you should be proud.
Were it mine to originate I would have preferred much smaller scroll work to match the size of the pistol. When it speaks to you, you have to listen.
Thanks so much for sharing with all of us your wonderful guns.
All the best.
Jake
Lovely gun and engraving and you should be proud.
Were it mine to originate I would have preferred much smaller scroll work to match the size of the pistol. When it speaks to you, you have to listen.
Thanks so much for sharing with all of us your wonderful guns.
All the best.
Jake
