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Many of you have followed along with a thread I started several months ago, looking for information on tooling used for french borders, carry cuts, ball end cuts etc.... Anyway the pistol is finally finished. This has been a real learning experience, and big confidence booster. Much more than that, I have come to meet and know some of the best people I have ever met because of this endeavor. The knowledge that many shared with me, the warnings, do's and don'ts that kept me from making some stupid rookie mistakes along with the encouragement and gifts given to me at the beginning and all the way through this project has been a big blessing to me.
I am not going to lie, just prior to joining this forum I had all but given up any hope or faith in humanity, I had just seen and been through so much that I just didn't have anything left to give or share, and didn't really honestly care if I even socialized or even got to know anyone else in my life at that point. But, many of you in here as restored some hope in humanity for me. I always knew there were still good people in this world, but it had just been so long since I met any. At least any that were real that is.
So, just the short year I have been here I have met and talked with some great people on this forum who we obviously share the commonality of our preference in handguns. But, the thing that has impressed me the most is the positive attitudes, the willingness to help and share knowledge, the giving of themselves to help others. I've seen it ll in here and so far my experience with everyone in here has been a positive one.
So this post is two fold first and foremost is to tag everyone I can think of that helped me in one way or another with this project, whether it was just an encouraging word, sharing knowledge, lending tools, giving tools, giving parts, etc.. Yes even the ones who only provided encouragement played a big role in the completion of this project and I have to say it's a damn outright pleasure to share a part of my life i one way or another with everyone associated with this forum.. And, all of you that pitched in with compliments, encouragements and even just shared a video or link with me, you all have been a true blessing in this 3 month journey. "Hoping the next project is only about 6-8 weeks.
So, here it goes a list and tag of everyone I can think of.
1.) Chad Evans, helped with paint and prep settings and controls, and is actually the person who got me interested and started on crowning, trigger jobs etc.. Not part of this forum, although I have invited him on several occasions..
2.) @Andy Cree, Thank you for all your photos, links, time on the phone, and all the tutoring I really appreciate your willingness to help and your patience with me.. You were a tremendous help, and I couldn't have done this without ya.
3.) @EvolutionArmory, Thank you as well for the pics, tutorials, and other information you provided throughout my original thread, you do some amazing work, and if I ever get to where I can afford one i will be purchasing one of your serration cutters.. Have been admiring your recent builds and only hope to get that good.
4.) @pistolwretch, Thank you as well Chuck, your years of experience and your constant drive to get even better, has been a real inspiration as well as you taking time out of your more than busy schedule to help and answer some stuff for me, your amazing repair work and beautiful custom builds, and constantly pushing the envelope of progress is a huge inspiration.
5.) @Babboonbobo, your gift of tooling that you sent originally which totaled in excess of $500 was a tremendous blessing, I cannot thank you enough as it was those tools that really made life a whole lot easier on my financially and enabled me to get some of the more costly things I needed in the beginning. Again I will make it a point sometime in the near future to pay you a visit and buy you dinner. Honestly have not been given much in my lifetime without the giver expecting something in return thanks again it truly was and continues to be a blessing.
6.) @azpoolguy, One of the first people on here that showed me the bond us gun owners and enthusiasts have. Sending me the fitting jigs for my first beavertail, was a huge blessing and helped me in a number of ways. Along with our occasional phone conversations about guns and even other things have resulted in me gaining even more knowledge of things I desired to know. Also the link for the practice slides received 10 of those in the mail the other day, going to be great for what I need them for.
7.) @Starrtat, constant phone calls, messenger conversations etc... your help with the paint and encouragement has been great buddy, you have been a huge help and I appreciate the time you've given me even when your overloaded with work of your own.
8.) Tim Thees, Tim is a local machinist/gun enthusiast who traded me a few of my uneeded tools for ones I could use and turned down an arbor, supplied some much needed scrap steel for practice projects etc.. have learned a bunch from him and can always count on him for a quick needed little project to keep me up and running with tool adjustments, measuring equip etc...
9.) Mark Grabowski, Mark was the one who donated the first project pistol, while he has seen pics I hope that he will be even more shocked when he sees it in person. He also donated a great deal of the finances in purchasing the mill and needed tooling, in exchange for work I have done for him in the past and possible future work he may have arise. Thanks again Mark, would of never started this journey without you..
10.) @Shocker2000, your constant encouragement and links to videos, etc.. and your interest in the project gave me a lot of needed confidence and also some ideas, keep the pics coming from time to time, I have an okay imagination, but for a while I will more than likely be having to copy the designs of others work, that I really like as I eventually come up with a couple cuts of my own design..
11.) @blitz45, your interest in the project as well has really blessed me, I see the enthusiasm in your posts and responses to my posts and it encouraged me to do even better, to be more particular in my efforts. As it made me want to push the limits of what I could do even a little farther.
12.) @cghelton, well I don't know what to say about you old man lol, we have had a lot of conversations on other forums, on the phone, and in person. I appreciate you, you old fart and going to miss you when your gone.. lol not gone, gone, but when you take your lucky ass to Florida for retirement. lol. Thanks for all your interest in the project, drooling over the same guns on here etc.. lol
Okay I didn't want to forget anyone but, this is getting really long lol. Maybe I didn't need to do all this, but I really wanted to share my appreciation with all who helped me in this endeavor and virtually made it possible. I honestly couldn't have done it without the input and help of everyone mentioned above.
Now I want to also personally thank those who commented on the original post of tooling needed for French borders and such. I will tag all the remaining people who also played an important roll in encouraging me by their comments and excitement over the project as a whole. I really enjoyed this journey and it has provided me with a lot of satisfaction in numerous areas of my life. One of the most important being I needed something to do with myself as I was bored like crazy having been forced into an early retirement a few years back because of health issues.
Thanks again everyone pics below will be just a couple of before pics and a bunch of the finished project. I know I have tons of improving to do and I am going to go immediately on to another project as I have recently acquired a rotary/tilt table, so after a few table and dro modifications to the mill I have a number of top slide cuts I want to practice on a few of the raw slides I ended up getting recently. Again much thanks to everyone I can't say enough good things about you all. Even those of you tagged below played a very important role in this either directly or indirectly, some of you don't know but the projects and things you list and some of your comments that make me laugh, or give me ideas are also an inspiration. Okay enough of this sappy ****, guys and gals let's get down to business lol.
BEFORE~!
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I am not going to lie, just prior to joining this forum I had all but given up any hope or faith in humanity, I had just seen and been through so much that I just didn't have anything left to give or share, and didn't really honestly care if I even socialized or even got to know anyone else in my life at that point. But, many of you in here as restored some hope in humanity for me. I always knew there were still good people in this world, but it had just been so long since I met any. At least any that were real that is.
So, just the short year I have been here I have met and talked with some great people on this forum who we obviously share the commonality of our preference in handguns. But, the thing that has impressed me the most is the positive attitudes, the willingness to help and share knowledge, the giving of themselves to help others. I've seen it ll in here and so far my experience with everyone in here has been a positive one.
So this post is two fold first and foremost is to tag everyone I can think of that helped me in one way or another with this project, whether it was just an encouraging word, sharing knowledge, lending tools, giving tools, giving parts, etc.. Yes even the ones who only provided encouragement played a big role in the completion of this project and I have to say it's a damn outright pleasure to share a part of my life i one way or another with everyone associated with this forum.. And, all of you that pitched in with compliments, encouragements and even just shared a video or link with me, you all have been a true blessing in this 3 month journey. "Hoping the next project is only about 6-8 weeks.
So, here it goes a list and tag of everyone I can think of.
1.) Chad Evans, helped with paint and prep settings and controls, and is actually the person who got me interested and started on crowning, trigger jobs etc.. Not part of this forum, although I have invited him on several occasions..
2.) @Andy Cree, Thank you for all your photos, links, time on the phone, and all the tutoring I really appreciate your willingness to help and your patience with me.. You were a tremendous help, and I couldn't have done this without ya.
3.) @EvolutionArmory, Thank you as well for the pics, tutorials, and other information you provided throughout my original thread, you do some amazing work, and if I ever get to where I can afford one i will be purchasing one of your serration cutters.. Have been admiring your recent builds and only hope to get that good.
4.) @pistolwretch, Thank you as well Chuck, your years of experience and your constant drive to get even better, has been a real inspiration as well as you taking time out of your more than busy schedule to help and answer some stuff for me, your amazing repair work and beautiful custom builds, and constantly pushing the envelope of progress is a huge inspiration.
5.) @Babboonbobo, your gift of tooling that you sent originally which totaled in excess of $500 was a tremendous blessing, I cannot thank you enough as it was those tools that really made life a whole lot easier on my financially and enabled me to get some of the more costly things I needed in the beginning. Again I will make it a point sometime in the near future to pay you a visit and buy you dinner. Honestly have not been given much in my lifetime without the giver expecting something in return thanks again it truly was and continues to be a blessing.
6.) @azpoolguy, One of the first people on here that showed me the bond us gun owners and enthusiasts have. Sending me the fitting jigs for my first beavertail, was a huge blessing and helped me in a number of ways. Along with our occasional phone conversations about guns and even other things have resulted in me gaining even more knowledge of things I desired to know. Also the link for the practice slides received 10 of those in the mail the other day, going to be great for what I need them for.
7.) @Starrtat, constant phone calls, messenger conversations etc... your help with the paint and encouragement has been great buddy, you have been a huge help and I appreciate the time you've given me even when your overloaded with work of your own.
8.) Tim Thees, Tim is a local machinist/gun enthusiast who traded me a few of my uneeded tools for ones I could use and turned down an arbor, supplied some much needed scrap steel for practice projects etc.. have learned a bunch from him and can always count on him for a quick needed little project to keep me up and running with tool adjustments, measuring equip etc...
9.) Mark Grabowski, Mark was the one who donated the first project pistol, while he has seen pics I hope that he will be even more shocked when he sees it in person. He also donated a great deal of the finances in purchasing the mill and needed tooling, in exchange for work I have done for him in the past and possible future work he may have arise. Thanks again Mark, would of never started this journey without you..
10.) @Shocker2000, your constant encouragement and links to videos, etc.. and your interest in the project gave me a lot of needed confidence and also some ideas, keep the pics coming from time to time, I have an okay imagination, but for a while I will more than likely be having to copy the designs of others work, that I really like as I eventually come up with a couple cuts of my own design..
11.) @blitz45, your interest in the project as well has really blessed me, I see the enthusiasm in your posts and responses to my posts and it encouraged me to do even better, to be more particular in my efforts. As it made me want to push the limits of what I could do even a little farther.
12.) @cghelton, well I don't know what to say about you old man lol, we have had a lot of conversations on other forums, on the phone, and in person. I appreciate you, you old fart and going to miss you when your gone.. lol not gone, gone, but when you take your lucky ass to Florida for retirement. lol. Thanks for all your interest in the project, drooling over the same guns on here etc.. lol
Okay I didn't want to forget anyone but, this is getting really long lol. Maybe I didn't need to do all this, but I really wanted to share my appreciation with all who helped me in this endeavor and virtually made it possible. I honestly couldn't have done it without the input and help of everyone mentioned above.
Now I want to also personally thank those who commented on the original post of tooling needed for French borders and such. I will tag all the remaining people who also played an important roll in encouraging me by their comments and excitement over the project as a whole. I really enjoyed this journey and it has provided me with a lot of satisfaction in numerous areas of my life. One of the most important being I needed something to do with myself as I was bored like crazy having been forced into an early retirement a few years back because of health issues.
Thanks again everyone pics below will be just a couple of before pics and a bunch of the finished project. I know I have tons of improving to do and I am going to go immediately on to another project as I have recently acquired a rotary/tilt table, so after a few table and dro modifications to the mill I have a number of top slide cuts I want to practice on a few of the raw slides I ended up getting recently. Again much thanks to everyone I can't say enough good things about you all. Even those of you tagged below played a very important role in this either directly or indirectly, some of you don't know but the projects and things you list and some of your comments that make me laugh, or give me ideas are also an inspiration. Okay enough of this sappy ****, guys and gals let's get down to business lol.
BEFORE~!
