Marcus Hunt

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Grand Masters’ Program ‘07

Ken Hunt, the doyen of British Gun Engraving, taught a Masters Class for top engravers in Emporia, Kansas in October at the request of Glendo GRS, one of the leading tool manufacturers for engravers in the US. Assisted by his son, Marcus, these specially chosen, Marcus highly skilled artists (all at the top of their profession) had the rare opportunity of learning about the development of Ken’s unique processes. These included the incorporation of gold into his designs and how to implement the best of British scroll designs. The Grand Masters Program is a relatively new concept and only three have been held so far. A selected Grand Master is invited to ‘share’ certain techniques, which may have taken decades to develop, with students who are already considered advanced engravers in their own right. It is part of the GRS vision of bringing engraving from what has long been considered a craft into the realms of ‘art’ where it belongs.

Ken Hunt’s designs usually consist of various game scenes showing birds and animals and incorporating his own style of English scrollwork, but other styles of engraving such as carving and obscure subject matters such as the ‘Moon Shot’ or something else relevant only to the client are also undertaken. However, each commission means a unique and beautiful embellishment is added to an already superbly crafted gun, creating a unique and valuable work of art for the proud owner.

Ken and Marcus, both started their careers using the time-tested manual graver and hammer and chisel but find the air-assisted GraverMax and GraverMach developed by GRS, to be a great asset in their trade.
Group shot

Further details of the Grand Masters Program can be found at http://www.grandmastersprogram.com

Master engraver shares talent at Glendo - emporiagazette.com

By Scott Rochat Thursday, May 31, 2007
Marcus Hunt considers his father the real master engraver. He may be right. But Hunt is no slouch. How good is he? Good enough to be commissioned by Eric Clapton to engrave a pair of shotguns. How good? Good enough to be hired by the Queen’s own armorer — that’s as in Queen Elizabeth II — to engrave a scabbard for a World War II hero. How good? Good enough to spend two weeks at Glendo as an artist in residence, including a week in the research and design area, working with an engraving tool that hasn’t been commercially released yet.
That good.