Anyone make their own grips?

Nicely done. Straight, clean and sharp bevels are not particularly easy to do.

Got one panel done for my Wrangler Birdshead conversion. The smell of sanding old cuban mahogany makes my nose think im in an old timey cigar store. Should have the other done this weekend. The mahogany lightened way up when sanded. Its nearly blonde! Well, strawberry blonde anyway!

Those look good, especially the brown ones. There is nothing wrong with the white one's either. I just prefer darker colors for grips.

That L@@KS like some *special* grade English or French Walnut to me. Nice job and great figure layout.

Very nice job. Thanks for sharing.

The blank for my next set of grips, likely for my high polished ruger blackhawk, came in the mail today.

Sonoran Desert Ironwood



Seller misplaced the order and forgot to ship it, so they sent me a piece for making knife scales too. Will be cool to have a matching pair!

Not excited to have to wear a respirator and gloves while i work it though...

Looks like rosewood. If so, is it Mexican or Indonesian? If rosewood, definitely use a dust mask, though gloves not necessary in that case.

Sonoran Desert Ironwood is purely from AZ, and bits of CA and MX. This one came from Rio Rico, AZ. This stuff weighs about 50% more than BZ rosewood and white oak. That block is 5x2x3 and weighs a couple pounds. It does have a grain similar to some rosewood ive seen. The ironwood is also denser than water, so it sinks.

Not only is the dust a severe allergen, it also contains high amounts of silica. Not good for the lungs!

That ironwood is probably the prettiest I've ever seen. Never worked with it, but my reference book says it is very difficult to work with hand tools. Native Americans used it to make arrowheads (!). Not normally listed as hazardous to skin, but that may be because of its not being common. Keep us informed as to your experience with it.

It's always a good idea to wear a good, filtering, face mask when doing any stock wood sanding. Cocobolo, Rosewood, Ebony along with several other woods used for gunstock and handgun grips that have natural oils embedded, will irritate the respiratory system something fierce.

Although they don't offer ironwood, here's a company which has many different exotic woods, and from whom I have happily purchased several times in the past:
https://eisenbrandhardwoods.com/

They have recently moved their place of business, and the website right now doesn't work fully in its search mode.

beag_nut said:

Although they don't offer ironwood, here's a company which has many different exotic woods, and from whom I have happily purchased several times in the past:
https://eisenbrandhardwoods.com/

They have recently moved their place of business, and the website right now doesn't work fully in its search mode.

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In the past I have received some exotic wood from those folks, like Purple Heart, Gabon Ebony, Macassar Ebony, Goncalo Alves, Cocobolo and several Rosewood varieties. Some of those woods are fussy when trying to apply a finish, as the natural oils embedded tend to rise up and settle under the finish, and then obliterate the wood grain. Now, I just stick with California English and Oregon Black Walnut. I did fashion a set of Ruger panels for one customer who sent me a chunk of Osage Orange once..........and only once. It's awful stuff to work with and very hard on checkering cutters.

SGW Gunsmith said:

Osage Orange once..........and only once. It's awful stuff to work with and very hard on checkering cutters.

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That will be the next set most likely. Yeah, its hard as a rock and as abrasive as aluminum. You can bury a gun with OO grips and they will be the only thing left in 75 years. OO and cedar are the two woods I have growing in excess on my property. Some black locust too. I have yet to find a single nut or acorn anywhere on my 80 acres!

At my LG Show a vendor was selling camel bone blanks. I bought a pair for $15.00 They made some nice panels for my 1911. They sorta look like ivory.

deadeye dick said:

At my LG Show a vendor was selling camel bone blanks. I bought a pair for $15.00 They made some nice panels for my 1911. They sorta look like ivory.

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Karl Nill can legally make grips from real ivory. But the US blocks its importation!

I think the only ivory legal here is Elk tooth. Not quite big enough.

The camel bone works out just fine. This guy also vacuum stains them in different wood tones also

Have read or heard somewhere about walrus tusk being used for handgun grips and then there's mastodon ivory, which I think is legal to import?

Osage orange was used by the Native Americans for bows, midwest farmers used them for fence post due to its resistance to rot.

AKA bois d'arc.

Speedo66 said:

Osage orange was used by the Native Americans for bows, midwest farmers used them for fence post due to its resistance to rot.

AKA bois d'arc.

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Yep. Still used for bows to this day. And still widely desired and used for fence posts, mainly corners and supports, at least here in NEKS. Its also the best firewood in all of North America, BTU wise.

Just finished shaping and sanding my bird's head Wrangler grips. First coat of danish oil in natural is soaking in currently.

L@@K pretty good so far!

The one issue I had was the hole for the screw head. I need to make a sort of metal ring to go in there so the screw doesnt pull through the wood. My bits wanted to start grabbing big strands of grain. It holds, as is, but needs a bit of help for longevity.