Engraving in Nashville

[poak]

Anybody know of a reputable vendor who does engraving in or around Nashville?

My brother and I are looking to engrave and gift a 1911 for our dad, and I would like to get the slide engraved w/ at least his initials, possibly something else as well.

Any info on possible vendors and/or possible costs would be greatly appreciated!

[Guest flyfishtn]

You may want to check with some of the trophy shops in Nashville. They may be able to guide you. Given the hardness of the metal, they would know whether or not their equipment could do the work.

[mike_f]

I've used Orion Arms a couple of times with good results.

http://www.orion-arms.com/new/

You have to ship to them via UPS. I used the UPS store (old Mailboxes, Etc. store).

[Reservoir Dog]

Personally, I would avoid a trophy shop. I have seen some pretty messed up engraving come out of them.

If it is for a gift, I would go to someone who specializes in firearms engraving. Orion Arms (mentioned above) is well known for AR engraving, but I don't see any pistol engraving examples on their website.

If you want someone local, you might give the Scott Pilkington a call. He is located in Monteagle, TN. I have no idea about his prices (probably not cheap), but his firearms engraving work is impressive.

http://www.pilkguns.com/

[customfret]

Scott's work is certainly outstanding & would be my first choice, as he has many years of experience with guns.

Joyce Carroll, who works out of my shop in Sparta, could also do the engraving itself. She learned from Scott & does a lot of banjo engraving for me and also has engraved several banjos for Huber Banjos in Hendersonville. She keeps a Gravermiester in the shop for doing gun type engraving & is also quite skilled with wiggle tool, which most gun engravers don't use, but is used a lot on banjos where you want to cover a large area relatively quickly.

Another issue is finish. We always engrave banjo parts that are stripped of plating or before they are plated. Since engraving cuts through the finish, which is on the surface of the metal, you probably will need to refinish the engraved parts....so that's something else that will need to be addressed. I'd ask Scott for some advice on the refinish question, as I'm sure he would have some suggestions.

Jim

[Guest flyfishtn]

Thanks for those links, those are goo resources.

[houndawg75]

I bet the folks at Thing's Remebered would love to help you out.J/K. You may try Uselton Arms. He does a lot of custom 1911's, not sure if he does engraving or not, but he could probably point you in the right direction.

[willis68]

I realize this is nearly a 20-year-old thread, but can you guys recommend someone to engrave Combat Elite to match the text that Colt uses on that pistol?