Description
The Making of a Masterpiece $97.99 (International Orders add $60 Fee)
Product Code: RSMasterPc Weight = 3 lb.
Ron Smith’s prestigious engraving talents have spanned a career of more than sixty years. His stunning work has won him great acclaim, numerous awards and customers during his lifelong quest for the perfection of his art.
The books on engraving that he has authored, with the help of his wife Elizabeth, are bibles to engravers worldwide, old and new alike.
This book The Making of a Masterpiece, relates in detail his two-year ordeal to complete the Winchester 1873 rifle project that won him the prestigious Award of Excellence at the annual FEGA show in 2008.
Smith’s theme for the 1873 rifle illustrates, with masterful design and engraving talents, the fateful events that sur-rounded the historical General Custers Last Stand. The complexity of this project was astonishing to me considering the amount of knowledge, dedication, design time, and the manual dexterity required of Smith to complete the wood carving and ivory inlays on the stock.
The complexity continued with his use of intricate engravings and multi-colored metal inlays and sculpting he used to decorate the metallic parts of the rifle. The inlay techniques were continued in the portraits of Custer, Chief Gall, and to depict battle scenes of mounted cavalry and Indians.
Ron took several photos as the work progressed on the rifle. The photos along with a very explicit text are used in the new book to help readers clearly understand how he completed the designs and the delicate engraving and inlay work on the rifle.
Most engravers would struggle to finalize a complicated project like this. Smith is right-handed and uses a variety of manual and pneumatic tools to complete his engravings. In the book he explains the loss of his right thumb and the problems the loss presented in the use of these tools to finalize the Winchester 1873 project. Smith lost the thumb in a terrible crippling accident while using a wood jointer. I’m still amazed as an engraver who uses similar equipment as to how Smith managed to hold his tools without that thumb, but he did.
In the book there is a photo of the man leaning over his work with great intent. Hes there, captured in the photo for eternity with a head visor and glasses on, a pneumatic tool somehow held in the right hand that has no thumb. He’s meticulously cutting a design into the stock of the 1873 project with all the perfection he can muster. I thought, are there no limits of adversity for this man’s quest for absolute perfection in his art.
But that is Smith, artist and teacher. The evidence of this is when Smith dreamed up the 1873 project. He also thought to record his efforts in photos and to share his ideas and techniques in a new book. It has been my experience that some artists selfishly hide their techniques and refuse to share, fearing they will be copied. It is true their present work can be copied but their inspiration and imagination for future works cannot.
Smith’s The Making of a Masterpiece for me, as an engraver, is interesting and informative which is true of Smith’s earlier publications. In this new book, Smith’s explicit explanations of his inlay and engraving work broadened my knowledge and incensed me to do better work on future engraving projects. His personal thoughts on the problems facing our great nation also gladdened my sole. Smith’s recounting of comical events that happened during the production of the 1873 rifle gave me a number of good laughs.
The book The Making of a Masterpiece will be an inspirational and informative guide to present and future engravers.
Gilbert Rudolph, FEGA Master Engraver