Montgomery Community College’s long-established niche program, Gunsmithing, will once again team up with Metal Engraving this fall on a new weekend schedule designed to accommodate long commutes and 40-hour work weeks. The internationally-known Gunsmithing program has long been running daytime classes. Most out-of-town students move to the county temporarily to take the classes. More recently, demand for the program on a more flexible schedule resulted in weekend programming. The classes were so successful that MCC’s administration wanted to take a look at the schedule for the dormant Metal Engraving program. Metal Engraving was started at MCC in 1984 as a partner program to Gunsmithing. Many gunsmiths use engraving to embellish firearms and the programs ran hand-in-hand for a number of years.

In the mid-1990s, Metal Engraving became MCC’s first online program and eventually became an extremely popular continuing education course. The curriculum Metal Engraving program took a back seat to the continuing education engraving class and was temporarily made inactive as a credit program. Now, because of the popularity of the new weekend schedule, Metal Engraving is back in full force with former instructor, Jesse Houser. Students can earn a Metal Engraving certificate in two semesters. The program consists of three classes, one of which overlaps from fall to spring semester. Classes will be held Friday nights and Saturdays. Students will learn to embellish metal with a hammer and chisel, learn basic drawing concepts and how to transfer art to metal. Plates, jewelry, plaques, buckles, knife blades, firearms or any metal object can be engraved to create a collector’s item or family heirloom. "Engraving can turn everyday objects into one-of-a-kind items,” Houser says. Jesse Houser has been engraving for almost 40 years. He started engraving muzzle loader barrels with a chisel he borrowed from a friend. After that, he says he was hooked. After serving with the U.S. Marine Corps, he enrolled in the Gunsmithing program at MCC. Upon graduation, he went into business as a gunsmith/engraver. Later, he worked for Ken Hurst Engraving before coming to MCC to teach engraving full time. House also taught summer National Rifle Association courses in metal engraving for 12 years at Murray State College in Oklahoma and 4 years at MCC.