new member- ready to start experimenting

[daviscustom]

Greetings from central Missouri. Thought I would stop in here and introduce myself before I jump into the other forums.

I earned an MFA in sculpture and metals (jewelry) from MU. Most of my "jewelry" work focused on applying jewelry techniques in knifemaking and my sculpture work focused (technically speaking) on large scale bronze casting, woodworking, plastics, and metal fabrication.

I have been searching for that "never work a day in your life" way to make a living (doing something you love) for the last decade while working full time to pay the bills. The search has brought me here. I have been doing part-time work as a gunsmith and doing some custom gun work....getting ready to make it official and get my FFL soon. Just started searching for information on engraving and here I am.

I am interested in firearms engraving and looking to get a few hand tools to get started. Most likely will build my own using HSS square stock. Curious about the best material to use for the best balance of edge retention and fragility. Looking at the CarbaltXD blanks, but I'm also curious about a suggestion I saw for using T-15 blanks and wondered if anyone had experience working with both.

Looking forward to getting acquainted.