I was thinking to myself recently that the wizard or airgunsmithing, Mr. Ernest Rowe, is a one of a kind engineer to the air gunning industry. The man knows his stuff, and has contributed a great deal towards the high-performance tuning aspects of numerous models.
Now, I don't mean this as any disrespect nor as anything negative, but it's apparent to me that there's a tremendous void since he was acquired by FX. I haven't really found any others on his level out there (yet) that have commoditized custom parts and high-power kits for a range of different platforms.
At the end of the day, the physics of airguns are fairly simple when viewed from 100,000ft. A novice / layman can figure out some durability and performance improvements, maintenance, and various levels of repairs for their airguns - with some motivation, time, money, and patience, but the herd is thinned down substantially when it comes to machining and manufacturing custom tuning parts, which are both reliable and performant. This is where the line seems to be drawn that separates the pack from guys like ER.
I'm an Ernest comparatively to my industry with my engineering experience. That said, I'm not a 1 of 1 - there are many others that are in my league that can do what I do. The ratio in airgunsmithing seems to be quite lower, I'm just not so sure that there are enough (if any) others out there on his level.
Hopefully, Ernest will pass on his knowledge to others or an emergence of more, talented and motivated airgunsmiths will come to the table equipped with the tools of the trade to continue producing parts and kits for our airguns. I can't say that I'm rushing out to buy an industrial lathe any time soon.
Now, I don't mean this as any disrespect nor as anything negative, but it's apparent to me that there's a tremendous void since he was acquired by FX. I haven't really found any others on his level out there (yet) that have commoditized custom parts and high-power kits for a range of different platforms.
At the end of the day, the physics of airguns are fairly simple when viewed from 100,000ft. A novice / layman can figure out some durability and performance improvements, maintenance, and various levels of repairs for their airguns - with some motivation, time, money, and patience, but the herd is thinned down substantially when it comes to machining and manufacturing custom tuning parts, which are both reliable and performant. This is where the line seems to be drawn that separates the pack from guys like ER.
I'm an Ernest comparatively to my industry with my engineering experience. That said, I'm not a 1 of 1 - there are many others that are in my league that can do what I do. The ratio in airgunsmithing seems to be quite lower, I'm just not so sure that there are enough (if any) others out there on his level.
Hopefully, Ernest will pass on his knowledge to others or an emergence of more, talented and motivated airgunsmiths will come to the table equipped with the tools of the trade to continue producing parts and kits for our airguns. I can't say that I'm rushing out to buy an industrial lathe any time soon.
