Gun Grips - cnc update!

Darren Wright

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Got some shop time in tonight and started new grips for my Phoenix HP22. I started with a 1/2" thick piece of tiger maple. I used a spiral bit to carve out the recesses on each side, cleaned them up with some carving chisels, and then sliced it down the middle to book match them. Did some shaping to them before calling it a night.

Finished Grips:
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Darren, I'm wondering about the durability of maple for gun grips. Before you proceed, if you would like, send them to me and I'll stabilize for you. Gratis. If you decide to go with burl, stabilizing will be an absolute must. FWIW, the most stresses a grip experiences is when the screws are snugged down. A friend had a real ivory grip cracked by a gunsmith (I got my doubts about that title) when he screwed down too hard. Thin burl will crack if you look at it crosseyed.
 
Got some time to do some final shaping, sanding, and the first coat on. I'm using Lin-speed for the finish, which Vaughn and Frank both recommended.

I may do a second set out of some lacewood that I have left from my dad's trout knife project I did a while back for a darker set.
 

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They look nice!

What is involved in stabilization?

Thanks. Honestly I missed Frank's offer...(sorry Frank). I think it's a process of saturating the wood with either a glue/water mixture or other hardener to keep the wood from reacting to moisture and temp changes.

I've sealed both the inside and outside of the grips with the lin-speed. It's a hard maple and I've had it around for quite some time, so I think they will hold up by being sealed.
 
Po Po on the OMG they will crack... Sure if you over tighten and they are built shoddy... Built a couple myself and figured wood is the preferred, Else why not keep the good lookin' stock handles that come with it...
Sure if you use a power screwer they might split but any decent gun smith knows that hand screwing is the way to go, and with that, you are in control, Ivory or wood...
 
Po Po on the OMG they will crack... Sure if you over tighten and they are built shoddy... Built a couple myself and figured wood is the preferred, Else why not keep the good lookin' stock handles that come with it...
Sure if you use a power screwer they might split but any decent gun smith knows that hand screwing is the way to go, and with that, you are in control, Ivory or wood...


I agree . Put some walnut grips on my colt frontier scout and theve been good to go for over a year..:thumb:
 
Final results look fine. Now, work on that photography. :rolleyes:
I know a lot of grips are walnut. But the commercial ones I have seen always seem to have been stabilized. Time will tell.

Yeah, was in a hurry and just used the cell phone, will take some with the Canon tomorrow.

So what is your method to stabilize the wood?
 
Yeah, was in a hurry and just used the cell phone, will take some with the Canon tomorrow.

So what is your method to stabilize the wood?

I just sent a PM to Larry about that.
I keep things simple. (don't tell the folks I might charge for this service how easy it is. ;) )
I dissolve plexiglas in acetone in the tank. Put in the wood, pull a vacuum for a half hour or more. Take out. Let dry. That's it.
Hard part getting started was finding a source for the plexi. (Now, THAT is a secret!) Finding a pressure tank. Family Friend, Jay gave me two. I only needed one, so I sent the other to Vaughn. I had to buy a vacuum pump and found an almost new Gast with filters, gauges, valves, bells and whistles at a very good price. Tied it all together with high pressure hose. (got a good deal on that also, we have a factory in the area) Dissolving the plexi in the acetone is a slow process. But once the whole thing is ready to go, the actual stabilizing does not take long. Like most things, the initial investment in equipment, materials and planning was the hard part.
 
Any hazard in pulling Acetone fumes thru a vac pump?

I don't know about fumes but I worked on a pressure transducer tester. It used alcohol and a hand cranked ram for the pressure side of things. Someone loaded acetone in the alcohol supply instead of alcohol. The pump survived after a rebuild of all the seals. Most of the hoses and other seals throughout the system were gone as well.

Fumes wouldn't be as bad and Frank says he uses a filter, he has also done this more than once and got the idea from somewhere. Therefore I suspect the worry may be worse than the reality...
Garry
 
I don't know about fumes but I worked on a pressure transducer tester. It used alcohol and a hand cranked ram for the pressure side of things. Someone loaded acetone in the alcohol supply instead of alcohol. The pump survived after a rebuild of all the seals. Most of the hoses and other seals throughout the system were gone as well.

Fumes wouldn't be as bad and Frank says he uses a filter, he has also done this more than once and got the idea from somewhere. Therefore I suspect the worry may be worse than the reality...
Garry

Yep, filters help. Nevertheless, I'm sure sometime in the future a rebuild will be necessary. Dunno an alternative. Want vacuum, gotta pull it with sumptin'.
 
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