Rodgers Pistolsmithing, LLC
360 Water Tower Road
    Mountain Home, AR 72653
    870-499-3125

    emailbob@rodgerspistolsmithing.com

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Hand Checkering



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     I have seen examples of machine checkering that are breathtaking in their precision and greatly admire the people responsible, whose talents on a mill cannot be denied. Hand checkering is a laborious, repetitive, skill-intensive operation that eventually exacts a terrible toll from practitioners. Hours spent laboring towards perfection result in cramped hands and ruined elbows. That said, I will continue to hand checker my pistols for as long as I am able. At the risk of sounding slightly mystical (a description those who know me would howl at), the knowledge that a person put so much of themselves into such a small area carries, for lack of a better word, significance.

Hand checkering evokes images of a different era, when the pace of life was slower and hand work was recognized as the epitome of a craft. It carries its own signature, much like a hand-thrown vase by a particular potter, or an original piece of art. The very fact that the work is accomplished by hand makes it absolutely unique, as distinctive to each pistol as a fingerprint is to an individual. The owner can be assured that the frontstrap on their pistol is theirs alone, and can never be duplicated.