Her Drunk Kitchen

OK, on first look you might think that http://hartoandco.com has nothing to do with gunsmithing. But she's ADORABLE and reminds me of my friends. But more importantly, she's escaping the cubicle by doing what she loves and making it pay. Somehow. I'm a little fuzzy on the payday, but she got a trip to England out of this, so she must be doing something right.


In any case, I applaud "My Drunk Kitchen" and wish her the best in everything.

"Any port wine in a storm"

MMmmm... This shoe is tasty.

I STILL have not heard anything at all from MSC. Their web site now states the cut-off for the gunsmithing program is May 31st?  WHAT THE FUCK? Why did I have to rush my application in back in January?

Way back when on February 27th I spaketh thusly about NRA-sanctioned schools:
"These programs attract the best instructors and receive material support from the NRA and several firearm-related manufacturers."


Dealing with Murray State College, my school of choice, has been such a colossal cluster-fuck that I am giving up on the community college idea altogether. In fact, I was so fed up with dealing with Murray State College I started researching the video courses at American Gunsmithing Institute.

In that same post, I also spewed forth:
"If you're planning on opening a shop and becoming a professional gunsmith, video courses are a waste of time and money."

Well, I was wrong. Wrong wrong wrongity wrong wrong. The AGI courses have 5 distinct advantages over going to an NRA-school.

1. They're on video, so you can play them back over and over.
2. They're about $20,000 cheaper than MSC, if you get the basic course.
3. Most of the classes are taught by Bob Dunlap. He's the instructor who taught my friend back in the day. He's the best of the best. (As opposed to the ass-clowns at MSC.)
4. If you get the enhanced course, (which includes a machinst and welder course) you also get the bench lathe, a drill press, bench grinders, hand tools, and welding kits that you need to setup your own shop, so you can start practicing immediately. And the enhanced course is still $13,000 less than MSC.
5. It doesn't take 2 years of your life. Hell, I taught myself computers, programming, technical writing and network administration. How hard can gunsmithing be, for me,  when I have step-by-step instructions on DVD?

I'll probably attend the NRA summer courses at MSC at some point, but I wouldn't bother trying to get a degree there.

Tar isteach agus a chur orthu! 

Laser Power

I attended the orientation class for the Epilog Laser at the TechShop in Menlo Park last night. I'm already signed up for two welding classes next week, but I think I'll get a monthly membership for this facility.

The amount of equipment they have is amazing! I wish I'd gone to TechShop a couple years ago. I'd be way ahead on the gunsmith curve by now.

Update 5/22/2011:
The Epilog laser is an amazing machine. I just don't trust the company behind them. When we went to get a quote from the local dealer in Milpitas we were lied to by the salesman. He showed us a list of "regular prices" and "sales prices", but the sales prices were the MSRP. When we contacted Epilog their response was basically, "Oh yeah, that's how we do things."

So while I'm still very interested in getting a CO2 laser engraver, I will NOT be buying it from Epilog.