Sidearms & Scatterguns Engraved project SX-1 Shotgun

[Baron23]

My friend, @GBMaryland , posted pics of his OUTSTANDING Cole engraved 687 with incredible wood that he bought off of ebay, of all places. And it was our mutual friend who made the stock and he does fabulous work. Just a wonderfully beautiful gun, my friend.

So, this motivated me to dig up and post some pics of an Win SX-1 project that got completely out of hand (as in "who spent all these $$ on on a Super X-1!!" haha) but...well, at least its in a coffee table book (true dat...Great American Engravers of the 20th Century...under Ken Hurst as the engraver).

As a friend of mine told his therapist a few decades ago when asked what he thought an obsession was: "eh, something to do??" LOL

Engraving by Ken Hurst who sadly is no longer among the living. A very nice man, a great engraver and teacher, and I still regret his passing
Metal work, gunsmithing, bluing - Ernest Marlette of Winston-Salem.
Wood - Cecil Fredi in Las Vegas and I would buy a wood blank from him again in a second
Checkering - John Reese of Custom Diamonds Engraving (checkering and wood carving) out of Montana - note the fine line borderless checkering without a single overrun. He is OUTSTANDING. Can't recommend him highly enough for checkering and carving.
Stock - well, let's leave this be....I finally got it right but no thanks the original stock smith who had no idea how to do an in the wood finish and handed me a fucking wet gun when I went to pick it up.

I will never sell this gun....well, nobody would give me a fraction of the $$ I have in it, but also because it will go to my son who has promised to NOT ever sell it and agreed to pass it down in the family.

Pics

In the white where Mr. Hurst's art can truly be seen:

Finished gun

Note the checkering, grip cap not yet installed

 

[GBMaryland]

Holy crap thats pretty

Edit: now we just need a picture of that pretty gun that you bought the the range that one time... Beautiful blonde wood with 28 inch barrels I think?

 

[Baron23]

Holy crap thats pretty

Have you never seen that at the club? ?? I need to bring it out and shoot it more often...and kill the asshat that turns off of 8 swinging his barrels ahead of him and at my damn gun! haha True story, first time out with my custom Kolar...first time it saw daylight....first round and I was running em....Ray Dahl did just that...turned off of 8 and swung his barrels right into my stock!!

Pics were taken by my dearest friend Berle, a photog, who also very sadly is no longer with us. Miss him.

 

[GBMaryland]

Berle was just a great guy... World is just a little less bright without him

 

[GBMaryland]

Question for you: how do they get the gold in there? Is it actually inlaid?

 

[Baron23]

Question for you: how do they get the gold in there? Is it actually inlaid?

Yes, Ken cuts out the animal (or line for the border) with a bit of a back cut to hold it in, stipple the bottom of the cut (for the animals...for the border its just pounded it) to give it a bit to grab, pounds it in, then works the engraving. I was lucky that he had just bought a load of gold right before the price went thru the roof and Ken, being the great human that he was, only charged me what he paid and not what the gold was going for on the market.

And Ernest Marlette did the most fanastic job removing any and ALL light scratches and over run and then hot salts blued it to perfection. I have heard that he no longer does hot salts...maybe bad for his health or too much of a PIA with the environmental authorities....maybe...dunno, really.