Thanks Guys! When I was building Flintlocks I never ever made a plain rifle. Even when a fellow would ask for a plain gun he always got top grade decoration ( at my expense). Figured if I was going through the amount of work of building a 17th or 18th Century style rifle....I made sure it would leave my shop as fancy as I envisioned it, while I was working with it. On average I would put 200 to 500 hours into building one; (I don't use power tools except a drill press; so I can drill on centers)
When you spend that much time on a rifle it becomes a part of you, I guess, ..... Plus I really suck at "simple incised carving" Can't do it to save my life but "raised relief carving" comes natural to me. The truth is I never even practiced it. Just started in on my first gun I built in early 1980's and learned from my mistakes! Now, Metal engraving I have never mastered ( I only do hand chasing) The guys with the power engravers say it is easy....maybe, but not with the hand engraver and chasing hammer