TEXAN Magazine had the honor and privilege to interview a true iconic master and well respected artist who lives right here in Texas.
Weldon Lister is a third-generation firearm and knife engraver, and the son of a famous country music star who was also a master engraver.
Lister’s exquisitely detailed and intricate work will take your breath away.
His tools are…… a hammer and chisel.
Here is how it all began.
TEXAN: How did you first learn to engrave?
LISTER: When I was a kid, for Christmas one year in the early 1970s I received among other things, a brand new guitar. Not a junk beginner guitar, but a really good one that a kid could actually fret the strings on without slicing his fingers. That was a pretty big deal since it was expensive and my depression-era parents were pretty conservative. They didn’t give it to me expecting me to learn. As part of the bargain to get such a prize, I had spent months learning to keep time & change chords without breaking rhythm. Of course I was learning from one of the best, my dad, Big Bill Lister.
I knew he played guitar and sang but I wouldn’t fully understand the significance of what music really meant to him until I was older. Only then would I learn first-hand about his time in Nashville on the Grand Ole Opry, that he was a recording artist for Capitol Records, and about his time traveling on the road and sharing the stage with Hank Williams Sr. His contribution to the roots of real country music would be solidified when in 1989, he discovered the only known demo record of Hank Sr. singing “There’s A Tear In My Beer” but that as they say, is another story!
Him taking the time to teach me how to play the guitar when I was a 10 year old brat was a actually a pretty big deal. The point is I showed my dad that I was focused and dedicated…….
Later at the ripe old age of 17, to check off something on my bucket list, I asked if he’d teach me something else he knew how to do: Engrave guns!
His answer was given in his typical south Texas drawl, “Son, I’ll show you everything I know, what you pick up will be up to you.”
So, I agreed and started my “apprenticeship” with him in August of 1979. By October of that year I was good enough to engrave my first gun….under the direction of the Master of course! Then and there my love affair with engraving was born.
TEXAN: You were so talented and gifted at the young age of 17, being recognized for the astonishing work in engraving you were doing at that time, you were a true prodigy. Newspaper articles were written about you at that young age. How did you continue to hone your craft?
LISTER: For the next 26 years dad and I worked in the same shop. He always encouraged me, but he never blew smoke up my rear. He told me the truth about my work; what looked good and and what needed fixing. He also encouraged me to try new techniques and to learn as much as I could about the art. He helped me to see the difference between a mediocre design and a great one. He loved vintage guns and he had me studying the work of past masters with names like Nimschke, Helfricht and Ulrich.
He also pointed out a few modern masters like Hendricks, Churchill, Hunt & Griffnee, all of whom I had the opportunity to meet and spend time with later on.
My dad never told me that he wanted me to become an engraver; he simply helped me discover it by giving the best gift a dad could give his son: his time.
He took time out of his day, actually out of many days, to help guide me in my quest to learn the art of engraving.
TEXAN: Can you tell us a little about what you learned?
Well, I learned the old-school method of engraving with a hammer and chisel. I learned to use these tools to cut lines and shapes in steel and other metal. I learned to make and sharpen chisels by hand without a fixture or jig.
I learned to make and harden punches, how to quench for maximum hardness and how to draw back or, temper a tool, watching for the tell-tale color change steel goes through as it heats up. Too hard & it’s brittle; too soft and it won’t last…..gotta be the right blend of hard and tough to make a good tool that’ll stand up to everyday use.
I learned the basics and then kept on learning. I learned that engraving is a two-sided coin. It’s not just learning to cut metal….it’s also learning to draw, creating the design.
Eventually, I understood and learned to draw, creating scrolls and designs using the “rules” for each particular style with names like American Scroll, English scroll, German scroll, black forest, oak leaf and acorn & so on.
TEXAN: Your work is highly sought after by collectors all over the world. How long have you been doing this?
LISTER: 42 years later I’m still at it, engraving old-school with the same hammer & chisel. A lot of water’s gone under the bridge since I started and I’ve lost count of the total number of guns and other items I’ve engraved.
I’ve definitely had some notable clients over the years, but some of my favorites have been the many Texas Rangers I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and creating an heirloom for. Definitely inherited my appreciation for them from my dad too!
Though he’s been gone for over a decade, rarely does a day go by that I don’t think about dad and the gifts he shared with me: amongst them a genuine love for music, art and creativity. Most of all, I’m thankful that he willingly gave of his time, establishing and building a legacy that lives on now through me. You can definitely see his influence in the work I do, something I’m very proud of!
TEXAN: It was honor to learn your story. You have quite a legacy. Thank you for sharing it with us.
LISTER: You’re very welcome. Thank you for allowing me to share my story.
This was the short version of where I came from, what I do and how I’ve come to this place in my life with this thing called engraving.
TEXAN: What does the future look like for you? Are you still engraving?
LISTER: Glad you asked! Yes, I’m still engraving but now I’m taking the scroll style & design skills I’ve learned to a totally new medium. With the help of my son Billy who is himself a gifted musician, singer, songwriter, graphic artist and all around “Renaissance man,” we’re taking American Scroll to the next level…..”from metal to thread” but….that’s another story!!