Hand engravers fall in the same category as buck saws and adz. If there is a better tool that works as well and gets it done faster, that's the right tool for the job. You have to keep in mind, JW, that Jesse does this for a living. If he were to tap-tap his way thru that Citori receiver, he's probably have to work for a nickel an hour. What I love about watching his engraving vids is how he modulates the frequency of the engraver. You know that the old guys that used hammers had to do the same, by making their taps lighter and harder depending on what they were doing. As I'm sure Ian can attest to, a tad too hard or soft more than likely tends to drive a "CRAP!!!" from the man behind the engraver.
I have nothing but respect for people with this kind of talent. I think this kind of work truly deserves the term "awesome", in spite of the fact that the younger generation seems to apply it to something as benign as a new pair of underwear.
When I worked at Knolls Atomic Power Lab, there were some old guys in the shop who had been their right after WWII. They all had their names stamped on their personal tools, where the metal allowed stamping to happen. Their names appeared as tiny block letters, no more than 1/16" high. I finally asked of them how they did that and he reaches in his tool box and pulls out this little stamp. This is a piece of square tool steel about 1/2" square. The end has been tapered and on the end is his name in raised block letter. I wanted one immediately. I asked how he made it and he said he didn't. There had been another toolmaker in that shop back then that made these for the other guys. He said he'd take a piece of tool steel that had not been hardened and with a tiny hand engraver and a jeweler's loupe, he'd start chipping away at the steel. They said you could not see what he was doing. He had the piece up close to his face so the loupe would focus and all you could see were tiny flecks of steel falling down on his lap. Pretty soon he's stop and hand the man the stamp. It was done. Just needed to be hardened and tempered. I wish I had asked one of those guys if I could have bought their stamp or asked for it as a gift when they retired. I'm still amazed at how it was made and the precision of the workmanship. And to put this into perspective. That half inch square stamp said. "B. VanFlue" on it. There were a couple of Polish guys in the shop with last names that used almost every letter in the alphabet. I never bothered to ask to see if they had one of these stamps.