Removing electric pencil engraving

depends how you want to finish it ..if you were going to ceracoat it you could try filling it with apoxy ..if blueing you will have to remove by draw filling then emory cloth .
 
Take it to a machine shop and have them mill the numbers off. This will leave a flat spot, where the finish can be matched to the rest of the barrel.

I've done this with social insurance numbers engraved years ago, at the request of the RCMP. The flat spot doesn't seem to look out of place.

I've also seen them ground off with a surface grinder to maintain a round profile. A machine shop can do this as well.

I've also seen some real messes made by people trying to weld over the numbers. That's noticeable and almost impossible to clean up. Usually the metal in the wire or rods is different enough from that of the barrel so won't take a blue properly.

If you're going to do it by hand, be careful, especially if you aren't handy with tools or don't have the proper tools for the job.
 
To remove that it has much to do with how deep the engravings are. A flat surface are a wee bit easier to restore than a rounded contours unless you can turn ( them on a lathe)and reprofil them completely. Electric pencil " the devils script "
 
I haven't got possession of the rifle yet, but I'm leaning toward doing it myself. I thought a neat flat spot would look better than those chicken scratches. I thought l could draw file it and sand it out like you would finish a custom knife.
 
got to go said:
I haven't got possession of the rifle yet, but I'm leaning toward doing it myself. I thought a neat flat spot would look better than those chicken scratches. I thought l could draw file it and sand it out like you would finish a custom knife.
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Just leave the flat spot in place and make sure the edges are all sharp so that it looks professional and has a purpose for being there. Then you don't have to try to match the rest of the barrel contour, which may even cause harmonics issues, if you don't know when to stop.

One other thing about the flat spot, use some cold blue to match it to the rest of the bbl. There are a couple of good cold blues out there, like Black Magic and Brownelle's Oxpho Blue, which some gun shops carry. Birchwood Casey is OK but it usually requires a lot of coats to get the color match.

I've seen a couple done with the new waterproof, black felt Sharpie markers and you can't tell the difference.
 
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If you rock a file opposite the contour of the barrel as you swipe it will keep the proper shape and cause no flat spots. That looks real shallow and should be pretty easy
 
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That wasn't done with an electric pencil, that was done with a laser engraver and is deeper than it appears in the pic.
 
I have seen more than a few .Usually the the numbers are not too deep with a electric engraver .You can carefully draw file it out on a 45 degree angle following the barrel contour switching directions than polish it on a lathe to keep it round you don't have to remove 100 percent of the numbers.Than it can be gunkoted as it can be applied and sanded off to fill the remaining imperfections. Do not file a flat on the barrel .It will look worse than the numbers .It does need the right touch to do it properly.
 
Thanks guys, I think l might just draw file and finish and get a professional engraver to scribe something, maybe model or something, maybe nothing is better. I need to see how bad it looks in hand.
 
You can always cover it with a small printed label... I don't know what you would print on the label though...?

The cops that came up with the idea to mark firearms with various numbers whether they be sin's or dl's should have the same thing done to their balls with a hot poker...
 
got to go said:
Thanks guys, I think l might just draw file and finish and get a professional engraver to scribe something, maybe model or something, maybe nothing is better. I need to see how bad it looks in hand.
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When you file don't just file the area file 8" on either side so you wont have a noticeable flat spot. File length wise and around the barrel. Then sand smooth and re blue.
 
bearhunter said:
That wasn't done with an electric pencil, that was done with a laser engraver and is deeper than it appears in the pic.
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How'd they manage to get every example of a letter or number, so different from each other then? Not too many freehand operated Laser Engravers, I figure.

Or was it yours at some time?

LOL! at the 'harmonics' worries.

The way I see stuff like that, is that it's pretty much like a tattoo. You pretty much live with it the way it is, or cover the area with something bigger and uglier.

If the numbers themselves are the issue, get an Electric Pencil, make up a metal shield for a protective stencil, and proceed to 'stipple' the whole area to your satisfaction, obliterating them.

If you wanted to get really Artsy, inlay a plate of silver or gold and have a name engraved on it (your kid, your Mom, someone Famous (so you can tell whoppers about them owning it) etc. over the location.
 
shuraparabellum said:
Sandpaper, it will take a while but safe and will look good. Then refinish it
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I read the previous posts and hoped for someone to mention the low-tech solution of varying grits of sandpaper until now. You will cut the raised edges of the engraving and then get down to the cut-out metal. Go down a few more thousandths, and you will have clear metal. Refinish and forget.

The characters are too irregular for machine made. The flat lines on the bottom suggest to me that the engraving tool stopped at the wood line.
 
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