Hand Engraving has certainly come along way in our mass produced, disposable world.
There seems to be quite a bit more information out there now compared to years past and it seems to be growing.
There is also a lot of misleading information out there and claims made pertaining to the subject of Hand Engraving. There is lots of gibberish about machines, tools, and techniques... what is or what isn't considered hand engraving... politics and nonsense
Weather your a collector or student browsing these pages here is something to keep in mind:
The artist's hands are responsible for making this work possible... Period.
Banknote Engraving
A widely misused term in the gun/knife engraving world. Banknote engraving is a type of hand engraving used in securities for printing secure documents. This is a very disciplined skill. No one can properly execute banknote engraving without making series of "Proof" prints to determine each set of lines layered in a specific order. This technique is much more time consuming and difficult then even Bulino engraving or deep relief sculpting. 99% of everything you see out there claiming to be "Banknote" is really just fine line engraving regardless of its beauty. I feel it neccesary to point out that there is a huge difference in look and also value. There are a handful of people in the U.S. who actually do bank note engraving, and none of which employ these techniques on guns and knives.
Fact:
Classically trained banknote engravers serve a 10yr apprenticeship before receiving their journeyman papers.
True banknote engraving. After Gilbert Stuart's Anthenium Portrait. I have yet to see anything engraved on a gun or a knife that even slightly resembles this type of engraving.
Here is an example of me cutting a steel plate with a hand burin in the traditional fashion
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Content Copyright JFava 2005
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