I'm glad you guys are enjoying the build.

Daryl, the airgraver allows me to cover about 4 times as much area as hammer and chisel. Of course the down side is when I slip it makes a much worse mistake to clean up. Everyone slips, even the best masters...broken tips, inclusions in the metal, it happens to every engraver eventually.

Matablele,

It depends on the part, if it's non-critical like these lock plates and hammers then I don't usually anneal before I try again but if it's a critical part like the action body or locking surfaces then I will anneal them before I re-case harden. Of course critical parts also get put back in the oven and tempered after the color case otherwise they would be to hard and brittle. Guns just like knives have to be tough but not brittle or the metal will fail.

My typical workload is one main project at a time with several side projects...right now the focus is on the 10 bores but I manage to work in some repair work when time permits. I fixed a lock for another customer last week and I've also been working on building a locking positioning engraving vise of my own design, as well as working on a 10 Bore Paradox conversion of an old 10 bore shotgun. While Stocks are drying it frees up some time to work on other parts of the project like the engraving and it gives me a little time to work on other stuff. Same goes for the rust bluing and browning, while things are rusting, I'll be working on checkering because rust bluing/browning takes a few minutes a couple times a day with hours in between cardings.

I typically build 4 fully start to finish custom rifles a year...as long as nothing happens I'll have 4 done and be started on the 5th by the end of the year. I also manage to work in half a dozen small odd jobs during the year(repair, restoration or modification).

The custom projects are feast and famine, they pay the bills and keep my shop open but the paychecks are months in between. I use the small jobs to fill in the gaps and keep a little money trickling in, in between the big paydays.

There is no glamor, fame or fortune for 99% of the gunsmiths in this world, if you can find a niche and build a customer base then you can "make a living" putting in twice as many hours as the average normal guy. Like any small business you work twice as hard for yourself as you do working for someone else. Few are the gunmakers who get rich doing it.

Steve Zihn(szihn on this forum, the Master I apprenticed under) one told me that if you want to be a millionaire gunsmith, start with Two Million and work your way down.

I've got around $200,000 tied up in shop, equipment and tooling, plus inventory...at 4 guns a year I'm likely to never be truly in the black but since I didn't go to the bank to build my business I don't owe anybody anything...what I make is mine to live on and invest accordingly.

Colin