Check out these 4 Consectuvie Engraved Single Actions!!!

Those look good!

Very nice set Marc, but I can't find anything on the engraver Ken W. Warren, if you can get the set for $12k to $14K I would go 1/2.

12-14K! How are they going to make their 9072% profit at those numbers!!!

Kenneth W. Warren, Engraver
P.O. Box 2842
Wenatchee, WA 98807
Tel: 509-663-6123
Fax: 509-663-6123
Est: 1976
Contact: Kenneth W. Warren
Semi-relief, Sculptured Deep Relief, Restoration, Gold and Silver Inlays.

According to the Forum "Engraver's Cafe" Mr. Warren is quite well known.

He is also listed in " The Colt Engraving Book " as a known contemporary engraver.

Matchlock said:

Hi everyone;

While I'm almost certain there are some that wouldn't agree with me, and that's alright, but for my money, the gold inlay work would have to be far superior to what is found on this Colt.

I have seen gold inlay work by some remarkable engravers and in my opinion, this isn't what I would call $30,000 dollars worth.

Bud

View attachment 47741

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I have to agree. That looks like my granddaughter's first try at coloring inside the lines. For $30,000 I would expect clean, well executed inlay work. While the rest of the engraving appears quite nice the inlay work ruins these pieces.

Nice.........

Since those guns were made in 1983 I am willing to bet the actions are probably junk. The close up shot of the one gun shows poor hammer gripframe fitting.

Meh.

I personally would never pull the hammer to know!

Now this is what I'm talking about. Beautifully executed gold wire inlay. Nice clean edges. Just superb.

I don't think one needs to be an expert to recognize quality work.

Bud

saintclair said:

Here is some gold work by Colt Master Engraver, Howard Dove:

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Matchlock: I have talked with several engravers who do gold inlay work. One key in getting a clean, even line is in the cutting of the groove in which the gold wire is to be laid. Next is the step of 'hammering in' the wire which can lead to un-eveness. This 'messy' hammered wire next has to be sanded smooth.
Even the nicest gold work when 'blown up' ,under magnification, often shows some imperfections. True masters take great pains in their work and that adds to the cost of the work. I think it is worth it.

Bud, I agree, to much "ratchet", you can see the chisel marks. The lines should be dead nuts smooth. Q

Q, often an engraver will ask the potential customer 'what he/she wants in the engraving job.' Some people seem to care more for 'how much gold' gets put on the gun than the quality of the work. If the customer wants lots of gold and does not care about 'line quality, etc.', I am sure some engravers will do that work for them. I suspect Master Engravers do not want to compromise their reputation for such non-discriminating customers.
Did you ever see some of the engraving work done by the famous engraver, Cole Agee? It often leaves a lot to be desired.

I sort of figured you'd see this and join the discussion Phil. As a master engraver yourself, (and as you know, I know your work) I knew you would likely agree with me on this issue. I think Terry makes a good point about how it's done, and that there are certain steps to take in order to make it perfectly clean with no jagged edges. However, sometimes the lines aren't cut cleanly enough to lay wire in and get a satisfactory result.

I would think that to get a perfectly clean edge for wire inlay would require the engraved channel's edges to be as smooth an clean as possible to start with.

Do those pneumatic engraving tools make the edges rough like that Phil or is there another reason that some edges are so rough? I know that you personally do it the "old" way with hammer and chisel and your wire inlay work that I've seen is perfectly clean with no jagged edges like we see on that Colt.

Bud

P.Quig said:

Bud, I agree, to much "ratchet", you can see the chisel marks. The lines should be dead nuts smooth. Q

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It's not just the gold inlay on those guns, The rest of the engraving is pretty rough around the edges, Especially the numbers on the back strap, Not my cup of tea