Originally from Dublin Ireland,
My Journey into Hand engraving started long before i was able to afford my own equipment. It began in Germany where i served an apprenticeship in Gunmking to the Gunmakers Waffenhaus Josef Sajovec. It is my dream to make and engrave my own firearms. Engraving is the next step on that journey.
There i was exposed to some of the finest and rarest firearms on the planet adorned with engraving from many of the best and most talented engravers.
Everything you can imagine would come through those workshop doors Wesley Richards, boss, H&H, every fine German and European maker you can think of with examples of the finest engraves imaginable Phil Coggan, Ken Hunt etc We also had alot of higher end Italian guns and modest hunting firearms it was interesting to see the contrast and approach to all the work between artist and factory worker, I probably spent way more time looking at the engraving than i should have.
8 months of the year would be spent in the workshop in Coesfeld NRW, the other 4 would be in Ehingen where the federal trade school for gunmaking is Gewerblicheschule Ehingen, Also home to the famous crane company Liebherr-Werk Their tradesmen would also attend the college for their various technical professions.
They train on average 10 gunmaking students each year who come from all across the west of germany. They could be from a large manufacturer like blaser, kreighoff, walther, frankonia or a smaller workshop like sajovec, klett, schneider. etc
Here we would be trained in internal external terminal ballistics, mathematics, politics, physics, machining, metal and wood refinishing, metallurgy, manufacturing process, firearms engineering and so on. It was quite funny as we had a 100m long shooting tunnel in a steel reinforced concrete bunker that ran the length of the school under the other classrooms and we would often shoot while they were in class with large caliber rifles. We had another shooting lab where we would test resistant materials and their effects and some basic forensics. In the workshop we would learn to machine on the lathe and mill and surface grinder etc we would learn to checker, and blue, make our own tools and chemicals. It was here i first tried to engrave we made a very large and crude 90 v graver from high speed steel, hardened it and set it in a handle. It was not pretty but i was proud of my accomplishments.
During this time I had an American Pen-pal i would write her often, which soon turned into a relationship, I would save all year long and fly to america during my summers to spend time with her, I became aware of a gunsmith in her town and called explained i was from Ireland in Germany learning the trade and asked to visit to see his shop. I had no idea what i would walk into or the man i was about to meet. I had not known his name or his work before but i would never forget it. Dan Cullity was his name, I walked into his workshop and was i amazed by what i saw out of this world craftsmanship and some of the finest firearms i had ever seen. We soon became good friends and i was lucky to have received a few engraving lessons from Dan which really sparked my interest.
It took some time to acquire the tools i needed to really get going. Ive had a lot of help and encouragement along the way from friends like Jesse Mohon and Co, Jeff , Chip, William for which I'm eternally grateful.
But it is a love and obsession that only continues to grow as time passes.
Everything I do in this life, every decision I make is for and of the benefit of my son Felix whom I love with all my heart. I have left my career as a Gunmaker/Machine-gun manufacturer to be able to be afforded more time and move close to be with my Felix, So know that each dollar you spend goes to make this little boys dreams a reality.
I hope you can share in this journey with me by allowing me create a timeless heirloom quality piece of jewelry for you special day.
