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 Starting with these deceptively simple techniques, untold variations of patterns have evolved to adorn guns, yet all of them rely on this interplay of light and dark. The basic techniques of simple line cutting may suffice for the finer detailing required to depict the birds and dogs which frequently find themselves embellishing a gun, but elaborate detail and other effects may call on an expanded range of engraving techniques. Ultra-fine detail may be required to create a portrait and for this thousands of small dots are impressed into the steel. The smaller the space between them, the darker the effect. This process, which takes place under high magnification, is so precise it can lend an uncanny photographic clarity to the finished work.
 Chiselling, carving and modelling all require metal to be removed to leave the uncut surface in relief. A very bold effect can be achieved by cutting out and creating a relatively shallow relief, but leaving crisp, steep edges to the basic outline. Deeper chiselling and carving can create truly three-dimensional effects.
The introduction of different colours to the process calls for the technique of inlay. Gold is a traditional addition, and its choice may be determined by simple practicality ñ to highlight SAFE for example, and make the word stand out against the hardening colours. To secure the gold, an appropriate amount of the parent metal is excised in a shallow U-shape rather than the V-shape of a simple line. The bottom of the U is squared up, then slightly undercut so that the trench is wider at the base than at the top. 24 carat gold wire is then punched downwards, and swaged into the undercut. Any excess material is removed and the gold is polished flush to the surface.  Accuracy of preparation is crucial to this technique since the contrast in colours will reveal the merest wobble. Herein lies the true skill of the craftsman. Larger inlays require the use of sheet gold which is pre-shaped to the form of the inlay, but again swaged into an undercut edge. With a raised inlay the thickness of the gold is increased, and the surface is modelled after it is secured. A mixture of golds; red, green white and yellow, or silver and even copper, gives the engraver scope for infinite variety and subtlety in a finished design.
Most of us are only able to admire this type of work in museums and collections but in fact, far from these skills being associated with bygone days, they are on the increase as more of our clients are seeking their own ideas and personal preferences to be incorporated into the decoration and embellishment of their guns. Imagine, for example, asking a master craftsman to reproduce the engraving adorning your own wine label, complete with ch’teau, on your gun. It has been done!
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