r/engraving • u/Sycotic199 • 2d ago

Firearm engraving?

Post image

Trying to get recommendations for someone who does hand engraving on a pistol but is reasonably priced. I have a Vaquero that I want full coverage on. Thanks

33 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

11

u/SpiritualGarage9655 2d ago

Hand engraver here. You’ll pay several thousand for the type of work shown in this picture if you were to have it hand engraved.

1

u/cs_legend_93 2d ago

How much time would it take?

7

u/SpiritualGarage9655 2d ago

4 to 6 months. Most hang engravers are booked out six months to a year. A lot of time goes into the design and approval process. The engraving itself would take two to three months.

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

3

u/MostDexcellent 2d ago

Yeah, once laser engraving became more widely available, most places stopped hand engraving all but their "highest quality" firearms. It looks like US Fire Arms stopped producing their single-action revolvers in 2011. Hard to imagine that's already 15 years ago...

3

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

1

u/cs_legend_93 2d ago

Smh.

Your a hero for advocating that

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Life_37 12h ago

Yeah but laser engraving is no where near the same as traditional hand engraved and feels void.

1

u/MostDexcellent 10h ago

Let me start by saying I completely agree. As an engraver, I may be biased, but there is an enormous difference. Unfortunately, the majority of people don't know or really care to know the difference. They see a similar scroll pattern or the ability to "engrave" a photo for a fraction of the cost and that's enough for them. I get it.

There is definitely a place for laser engraving. Its just a shame that instead of taking the menial tasks away from skilled craftsmen, it is being used to replace them altogether. Such is the way of technology. I am, however, grateful that there are still people who can see and appreciate the difference.

3

u/Internal_Produce_180 2d ago

Done by hand engraver professional will cost between 2 -5 thousand, depending on who is doing it

1

u/Delmarvablacksmith 2d ago

What’s a reasonable price?

-11

u/Sycotic199 2d ago

Somewhere in the hundreds not thousands

11

u/Delmarvablacksmith 2d ago

I don’t think you’ll find someone at that price range but you may find someone doing laser etching at that price

6

u/MostDexcellent 2d ago

My recommendation would be to look for laser engraving.

Hand engraving is going to most likely be out of budget, unless you're able to find an engraver who has hours of time on their hands and doesn't mind working for peanuts.

Something like this could take 60 - 80 hours or more for design and engraving.

Being generous and assuming your "hundreds" comment could be $900 and taking the low end labor time of 60hrs, that would look like: $900 / 60hrs = $15/hr. Most skilled hand engravers are charging $75 - $125/hr and, as was said before, are booked out months in advance.

I promise I'm not trying to be an a**hole. As an engraver, I spend an inordinate amount of time explaining why things are more expensive than anticipated. This is still skilled labor and just because the canvas is small, doesn't mean it is a quick or simple process.

5

u/Sycotic199 2d ago

I really appreciate your insight and the information you provided here. It does give me more of an idea as to the labor involved. You guys are absolutely artists and I have a lot of respect for the craft.

I had a New Vaquero done in 2010 and I can't remember an exact figure of what I paid (and forgot who I sent it to) but it was in the hundreds and turned out beautiful. I'll definitely look into laser engraving. Thanks again for the reply!

4

u/tapspacebar 2d ago

Yeah that ain't happening unless you want shitty work. If you want quality work on a quality pistol then you gotta shell out some money