Ron Smith. Husband, friend, teacher, philosopher, artist, Master Engraver and author of the much acclaimed book, Advanced Drawing of Scrolls.Ron brings all of these elements together in his final book The Making of a Masterpiece as he describes how his life's work and experiences culminates in his masterpiece, a fully restored and embellished 1873 Winchester.We often think of art as a painting hanging in a gallery. But art has many canvases and in the engraving world, firearms are seen as the pinnacle of surfaces to work on.To the engraving artist, firearms offer many challenges. They are a collection of highly complex shapes and parts to work on that come together to make a complete unit. The steel is hard and requires special skills, techniques and tools to cut and finish. Then, once it is reassembled, the firearm still has to function and do its intended job.It's easy, as a viewer, to look at an artist's work and see the final product without giving much thought to the hundreds of hours of thinking, planning, skill, technique, frustration and sometimes tears, that go into creating a work of art.The Making of a Masterpiece details the process from start to finish in 88 pages of text and gives the reader an over the shoulder view in more than 130 detailed photographs of how Ron Smith accomplishes his masterpiece. More importantly, it gives you a very intimate insight of how he became one of the most highly skilled and respected Master Engravers in America.In this day and age of computers and digital technology, it is a refreshing step into the past and be reminded of the "old school" techniques that Ron still employs in his work. They may be quaint to the younger novice engraver, but make no mistake, although the techniques and tools may be slightly different, the process is exactly the same.The Making of a Masterpiece is a book that every engraver and collector should have on their bookshelves.