[HSMITH]

I decided today that I wanted to carve my initials into my faux ivory stocks, actually I decided that I wanted to have it done but being the impatient type I am I rounded up the dremel and found a font I liked in Word. I proceeded to hack and slash and ended up with my initials carved in the stocks and some grippage adding texture on the backstraps. It feels good in my hand and makes my gun different from the multitudes of others out there.

I am in no way trying to show off nor do I think I did a very good job. My point is to TRY some things to make your guns your own. Worst case I am out a $40 set of stocks if it goes terribly wrong, and they would be useable short term. Best case I get a useable rendition of what I wanted with no wait and some pride in doing it myself. You also learn from each new thing you undertake which is a win-win no matter what happens.

What are you planning to do or have done to your guns yourself just becuase you wanted to?


http://www.thehighroad.org./attachment.php?s=&postid=624961

[cool45auto]

Looks good! I'd be too scared to try something like that, even though I did cut on a pair of Hogue grips for my Vertec.

[10-Ring]

Just be careful. I met a guy at the range last year that Dremel'd off the front sight on his 1911 :what:

[Standing Wolf]

The one and only time I refinished a rifle stock, it went from ugly to uglier. I'm in the process of finishing a set of stocks for a project gun these days, but frankly, I wish I'd left the entire task to the stock maker.

I'm handsy, but not handy.

[XLMiguel]

:cool: , nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh?

I've learned that it's usually good to find something you can toss to try your new ideas on, to practdevelop/practice you new technique, etc. Dremmels are very useful and fun, but not an easy tool to master. Some lessons can be expensive.

[HSMITH]

:) , nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh?

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!


Weigh the risks, then weigh the knowledge gained against the risk, then weigh the benefits gained against the knowledge gained vs risk to the parts. It becomes very easy to screw up your own guns and that, believe it or not, is vastly more satisfying than paying to have them screwed up for you in an UNtimely manner.

Weigh the risks and then GO FOR IT!!!!!!

I have scratch built a firearm and completed several from a pile of parts. If I can do it anyone can.

Thanks for the compliment cool9mm. It means a lot and is appreciated.

No-one has a plan to harm, I mean improve, their own guns?

[chaim]

I'm still thinking about making (actually I have zero mechanical, crafts, and artistic skills so maybe I should say "trying to make") a set of 1911 and revolver grips out of briar (the stuff that pipes are made of) and maybe even a set of for show/formal 1911 grips out of meerschaum (the stuff might be too brittle to shoot with them on, but they should look great- might even work for careful shooting at the range only, but not for carry or home defense duties). Does that count?

[BluesBear]

Looks good to me HSmith.
:)
It IS fun to walk on the wild side every now and then.

[WhoKnowsWho]

Looks pretty good man!

I can't write straight with a pencil, much less with a revolving grinding wheel on a dremel. Knowing my luck, I would slip off the grip, and go across the whole gun putting a nice line of no blue and scratched metal... :eek:

[sm]

HSMITH
I opened thread a bit leary, sorry. When I see "dremel" I think the worst.

You done good !

Tip: Old engravers use to learn engraving, continue to use to "layout" work.

Talcum powder and Bees Wax.

Take the Bees wax ( sewing store ) and make it more flexable by very very low heat if it is too hard, depends on what you get. Anyway "roll" the beeswax onto metal, wood, ivory...etc. Use the Talcum powder ( baby powder works) and lightly dust the beeswax. "Blow" off residue and you have a surface you can use a wooden only peg to draw design on. If mess up drawing, re apply beeswax and powder.

After drawing it out , trace the drawing with gravers, or in HSMITH's case a dremel.

This will not hurt metal, wood, ivory...etc., Easily removed when finished. Nobody has to know you didn't do it freehand. :)

Works well just for marking where metal and wood fit needs to be tweaked (" smoothe what is touching") marking for drilling...uses are endless. I have used this to fit grips, have the person grasp gun and grip and can smooth to their hand, customize grips to fit. Imprint left on the wax/powder.

[techmike]

When I saw the Thread title Bored with a Dremel and a handgun? I did get a little frightened.

[HSMITH]

Thanks all for the compliments, and the title was disturbing on purpose:neener: :neener: .

[BHPshooter]

That looks very nice!

Actually, I took a belt sander to the Hogue grips that I used to have on my BHP. They were pretty thick in the upper area, and it made a sore spot on my thumb to work the safety. So, I sort of beveled the top-left panel of the grip, and it worked much better. Now it's on my FEG. It actually looks pretty nice, too!

Wes

[ceestand]

Looks good! What bit did you use?

[foghornl]

I'm not as steady-handed as I used to be, so I won't be trying that.

I do appreciate folks that CAN do that, as the work adds a nice custom touch. Good job, Mr. Smith

[Jim March]

I'm always trying new things with kydex...I now have a complete set of kydex carry gear for my 5.5" folding knife (IWB), mini-maglight flashlight (OWB) and cell phone (OWB). And I've been having good results with IWB gun rigs.

This weekend I took on the biggest custom kydex project possibly *ever*. We used a whole 4ftx8ft sheet of white kydex to re-line the inside of his shower stall :). Seriously. Everything was going fine until the old rusty screws holding the bathtup up broke. With me standing in it. Then it turned into an ugly plumbing job from hell but once we re-mounted the tub and re-connected the drain pipe, we got it all done.

Came out lookin' OK, but...no, I ain't doing THAT again!

:scrutiny:

[Black Snowman]

I could REALLY use a good "holster" for my cellphone. Where can I find info on making my own Kydex toys?

Not to get too divergent from the origional thread: You're better with a Dremel than I am :) I'm planning on getting black pearlite grips for my Delta Elite when it arrives and after seeing your work I'm tempted to try stipling, grooving, or checkering the grips. Of course nice and smooth is good too ;)

[Sven]

Talk to Jim March (previous post) - he made me a great IWB for a CZ 75 a year ago or so.

[Kamicosmos]

I will admit that I am a lousy carpenter, but I did refinish a dresser that was in a fire a few years back, and that came out well. I am tempted to try and make some grips for my CZ97 and finish them up. I figure they would be the easiest panels to make out of all my guns. Depending on how that went, I would maybe make some more for the others, since I have yet to be happy with any aftermarket grips I've tried.

I also think about getting into leatherworking. I did some in Boy Scouts, and wasn't half bad at it...


But, I'm lazy, so it'll probably never happen. :rolleyes:

[HSMITH]

ceestand, I just used the little 1/8" square shouldered burr that came with it. I would have liked to use a smaller bit and one that will cut with the end, but then we get back to that impatient part.....


I shot the snot out of that gun last night and I am very happy with the added texture. It helped index the gun properly in my hand very nicely, consistency in rapid shot placement was much better. I have been shooting VERY small groups with it DA rapid fire, but they were wandering left and right up to 4" each way at 15 yards. The wandering was due to hand placement and the gun not recoiling straight back each time. I now have a winner that I can pick up consistently and shoot quite well. There was a distinct possibility that I would get harassed about this gun and the appearance, but that will end when the shooting starts now. I am very happy with it.

Jump on a project! Worst case you will have to start over with new materials, so start with less costly parts. It is fun and satisfying.

[stans]

The title of this thread scared me too, but I have seen (and done!) far worse things with a Dremel. This work does look nice!

[Kharn]

Jim March:
This weekend I took on the biggest custom kydex project possibly *ever*. We used a whole 4ftx8ft sheet of white kydex to re-line the inside of his shower stall . Seriously. Everything was going fine until the old rusty screws holding the bathtup up broke. With me standing in it. Then it turned into an ugly plumbing job from hell but once we re-mounted the tub and re-connected the drain pipe, we got it all done.

Came out lookin' OK, but...no, I ain't doing THAT again!

Was that Skunkabilly's place? :scrutiny:

Kharn

[Jim March]

Nope. At Skunky's place we'da used BLACK Kydex :D.

[Marcus]

Nice job on the grips!

Blacksnowman,check out www.gungrips.com ,they offer pearlite grips (among others) with custom laser engraving and checkering. They`re doing a set of white pearlite grips now for my wife`s Colt Gov`t .380 Pocketlite. When they come I have to post pics. There`ll be no doubt this is a girley gun! :evil: Marcus

[Caliburn]

Looks great. And good tip SM on the beeswax, thanks.

My guns fear no man, but they do fear Dremel.

[JohnKSa]

Here's an approach that will work even for people like me who are totally incapable of drawing a straight line.

Print the letters you want in the layout you want.

Using a spray-on adhesive, stick the paper with the printed letters where you want them.

Use the dremel to trace the printed letters. The bit will cut through the paper into the grips below. When you're done, you can remove all the bits of paper and adhesive and touch up the letters. This yields surprisingly good results.

If you have a line drawing, you can do the same with it. Transferring a photo is a bit trickier unless you have a photo editing software package and can transform the picture into a line drawing.

[Bowlcut]

Good job. And thumbs up for trying it out.... LIke you said...what you out 40 bucks for some new girps...oh well. looks fine to me

[ExMachina]

Bravo! :)

More power to trying something out just for kicks.

I've done lots of Dremel-DIY on my guns and most have come out looking quite good. Since the Dremel whines and teeters on the brink of chaos, you are very aware that things can go very wrong, very fast--makes you extra careful. In fact, the only DIY project I botched was when I migrated away from my Dremel to a mini milling machine and threw caution to the wind-- didn't mount the piece very well :what: ...didn't level it either :uhoh: ...hmm, might have set the cutter too deep too :banghead: ... oh well, I obviously wanted a new slide for the Kimber anyway :D

[a454me]

Neat grips , I would be proud of them . I also like the grip adapter .

[twoblink]

Dremel + flannel cloth + toothpaste = SMOOTH as a baby's butt trigger..

if you get really bored.. :D

[dustind]

Instead of toothpaste use autosol or similar stuff made by Honda for polishing metal. It looks and feels like toothpaste but has a solvent smell, a little of it will let you see yourself in your trigger pieces.

[standingbear]

nice work.did you use the extension?well worth the extra cost for a dremel.if it requires serious thought on doing..i dont do it,id rather let someone else screw up the gun then maybe ill get a new one.the only things i have done is refinishing and scope mounting.have restored a few here and there.