How did they do that

[Kevin McCormack]

Very similar to carving a duck decoy - you take a block of wood and cut away anything that doesn't look like a duck.

I guess the next question would be how much weight was removed carving beads on the bolsters; e.g., do higher grade guns weigh proportionally less than lower grades due to the amount of metal removed?

[B. Dudley]

Originally Posted by Kevin McCormack

Very similar to carving a duck decoy - you take a block of wood and cut away anything that doesn't look like a duck.

I guess the next question would be how much weight was removed carving beads on the bolsters; e.g., do higher grade guns weigh proportionally less than lower grades due to the amount of metal removed?

I would guess that there not too much of a material or weight difference between low grade guns and guns with single beads. But if you look at double or triple beaded guns, the balled areas of the bolsters are actually smaller since the 2nd and 3rd beads are cut from what would be a solid bolster on a lower grade gun, so, on those highest grades, i would suppose that there would be a weight difference.