Inlays ?

[Boaz]

Do you like inlays on a rifle or pistol ? Silver , copper , brass , bone ........?

[bubba.50]

tastefully & well done, and on the right style of gun, a couple or few brass and/or silver inlays can really set it off. and i have seen some buffalo horn nose-caps that were nice.

[pietro]

.

Occassionally, depending upon the gun & the inlay.

This is a scrimshawed deer head that I inlaid flush with the surface of the cheekpiece, on the stock of my .45 cal T/C Cherokee.

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r431/pwawryk/DSCN0021_zpsyo50o19t.jpg

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r431/pwawryk/DSCN0039_zpszoiwhuyb.jpg


Roy Weatherby certainly loved them........................


http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/12142/12220274_1.jpg?v=8CEDB3707830590


.

[johnson1942]

i very favorite muzzle loader i built for my self has numerous pin point wire inlays. i lay out a pattern and glue it to the wood with paper glue. then at perfect intervals i use a dremel tool with a needle sharp drill bit smaller than the wire, drill holes following the lines of the pattern. then i tap in a short piece of wire and cut it off just above the surface of the wood. when done i file them to the surface of the wood and then sand flat with the grain of the wood. you can about do any design you want with this method. also i use various brass tacks in patterns on my mountain man rifle tapped into predrilled holes in the wood following a pattern. so far so good on my part for doing this but you have to plan it out and progress carefully.

[Baja_Traveler]

I messed around with Mother of Pearl some time ago, and did both sides of the forearm on the 39a I use for shooting silhouette. Turned out really nice and I get compliments on it all the time...

169879

[waksupi]

I think it comes down to if you have a real eye for art and design. I have seen more horrible "good ideas" than any other by amateurs. If you are familiar with how the old timers did it, I have seen few failures from them. To me, the modern attempts with ready made inlays are generally a failure in execution or aesthetics. I haven't used a store bought inlay in the past 25 years.

[sharps4590]

On old, German and British firearms and American longrifles, yes. Most are very good and some are absolutely exquisite. On just about anything post WWII, no. Obviously it's a matter of taste but inlays on the newer stock designs or a factory rifle absolutely do not appeal to me. There is some modern, factory rifles that are quite appealing and a few actually elegant to my eye but when inlays, other than a wrist escutcheon for personalization, are added what was an attractive or elegant rifle suddenly appear as if someone was trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Completely out of place.

[Tatume]

My favorite inlays are wood on wood, and usually the most attractive are only slightly contrasting.

[bangerjim]

I have silver, gold, bone, and ivory inlays in several guns. I prefer gold!

[Omnivore]

To my way of thinking, the barrel key escutcheons, lock plate, trigger plate, barrel and tang, patch box, ram rod entry pipe, et al, are a lot of in letting work as it is, and provide more than ample opportunity for demonstration of skill, high standards and artistic expression. Going beyond that with additional doodads is saying that you're so totally accomplished in the basics that you've become bored with them and have a need to reach farther.

A functional inlay, such as all those above, is enough. Adding anything more should be done with great restraint and only after one has mastered the things that matter.

But some people will be unable to restrain themselves, and that's what I see when I look at a rifle with dubious inletting work plus extra doodads; a lack of restraint. It's your rifle though, so make of it what you will.

The simplest of rifles, exquisitely done, is far more beautiful than a gaudy mess. So practice on your cheap Italian rifles by fabricating and replacing various functional inletted parts until you've mastered the process. The next step beyond that would be some basic, tasteful engraving, such as simple border work around the lock plate or escutcheons. See where this is going? It's a progression from A to B, then to C and etc., and you don't reach decorative inlays until several more steps down that road have been mastered.

The exception is the "wear plate" which was when the rifle builder screwed up and cut through the bottom of the stock into the ramrod channel, or etc., and had to cover the mistake, or ran into a hidden flaw in the wood and had to cover that. THAT, I believe, is where the legitimate "decorative inlay" comes to the rescue, and actually makes sense.

BTW; that Weatherby is repulsive, IMO, from the ugly shape of the stock to the gaudy "anti-embellishments". Something about pimps, carnivals and whorehouses comes to mind. Some people love that stuff though, and it's a free country.

[Fly]

I do very much. I like all four, as Charlie said, if done tastefully.

Fly ;)

[Hanshi]

On brass or German silver mounted longrifles I think an inlay here and there look good. Two of my rifles have vent pick inlays and another has a engraved thumb piece.

[Eddie2002]

I used some copper tacks on this Monarch .50 caliber Hawkens. It was real rough when I picked it up at a pawn shop, stock had been shortened and the trigger guard was a piece of flat stock held on with drywall screws. I turned it into a trade rifle just because anything was better than what it looked like. It shoots just fine for a 50 dollar pawn shop special169926

[mooman76]

I like them in German silver or bone. I do not have any and have never tried to do the inlay but would like to some day. I also don't like real flashy guns so I wouldn't want much and like it to be fairly simple. I do not like tacks but that is just my taste.

[ogre]

Ordinarily I'm not a big fan but to my mind some longrifles look very nice with a, "Hunter's star" (8-pointed star) inlay made of coin or sterling silver.

[bonza]

A good friend of mine built a european style matchlock, & has taken deer with it in Alberta, Canada, where he lives. He did all the work himself, including all the inlays which are bone & antler mainly IIRC. This pictures are impressive, but to see it in person is breathtaking. He said the most difficult part was relearning how to draw, so that the animals, buildings, etc. didn't look they were drawn by a modern hand, but rather in the style of 16th/17th century.
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[waksupi]

A good friend of mine built a european style matchlock, & has taken deer with it in Alberta, Canada, where he lives. He did all the work himself, including all the inlays which are bone & antler mainly IIRC. This pictures are impressive, but to see it in person is breathtaking. He said the most difficult part was relearning how to draw, so that the animals, buildings, etc. didn't look they were drawn by a modern hand, but rather in the style of 16th/17th century.
17000917001017001117001217001317001417001517001617 0017

Nicely done. As this shows, it's great if they are applied to the proper type firearm.