[ithacaartist]

I forgot to mention the time-frame currently involved with these. The last one, I laid out and started cutting the pattern after roughing it in in the evening, finished the next day. I think I could do a pair now in a single day, say 8 hrs of actual time sctatching. Trust me when I say this is a craft that requires absolutely constant attention and concentration, to say the least! With this in consideration, I feel it is best for me to knock off when fatigue or fuzzy-headedness is first detected, take a break until I can focus again, thus using multiple sessions. I have a friend, Andrew Aasen, who does custom work for others; I think he has a decent reputation because his son, with whom I'm working on a metal fabricating project, says folks send him stuff from all over the country. He does masonry and stone work during good weather, and gun stock work over the winter. Anyway, Andy says he can't work for more than 15 minutes at at crack before taking a break.

I don't think I'll rise to the level of Hugh Clark; I think I'm too old to have the time to get really that good/effective. Also, Hugh and all the other pros at it tend to have a mechanized cutter setup, ala' Dremel or Foredom, which helps them go a lot faster. Doing checkering for other people would not be supported by my current speed level, but I look forward to the possibility of doing it as a favor or gift or the like... If, however, someone offers me a real deal on a shooter grade Navy or 1900, I'll bet they'd get several pairs of freshening out of me!