American Holly?????????

[Crawdad1]

I was looking at pics of revolvers that had American Holly wood grips on them and holt smokes some of the grips had aged and yellowed beautifully and they looked like real ivory grips. But I also did a search and nobody offers American Holly grips for black powder revolvers.

Or am I missin something????

 

[44 Dave]

You may find something in two piece grips.

 

[Noz]

Fingers McGee has had several done. Give him a holler.

and yes they really make good looking grips.

 

[mykeal]

American Holly is rare and generally not advertised; it's only available to the grip maker at certain times of the year and the supply is sporadic. I had a Ruger Single Six done about 5 years ago by Cary Chapman; this is a recent photo:



Chapman is a master grip maker but he only does grips for Ruger single actions; I contacted him about making some for a Ruger Old Army last summer but he declined.

Fingers McGee had a pair of 1851's done by Spider John (search this subforum for American Holly Grips posted by Fingers McGee for photo), so I contacted him for a set. It took a while but the results are first rate:



He had enough wood left for another set after he made those but I haven't talked with him for a couple months so I don't know if he still has any or not. I can dig up his phone number if you'd like.

 

[elhombreconnonombre]

Very nice.

 

[Fingers McGee]

There used to be a couple companies that offered American Holly; but, I haven't seen anything about them in a while. Spider John does excellent work. Mykeal is right though, Am Holly isn't always available - Which makes having grips made with it that much more special. Here's a picture of my special guns.

 

[Crawdad1]

Those do shine Fingers, they do shine.

 

[Crawdad1]

Thanks Mykeal, so that's the reason why more people don't have these grips. I see. But maybe down the road I'll get an itch to have my 1860 Army done.

 

[Noz]

As pretty as the holly grips are, I still haven't forgiven Fingers for having the 1851 grips checkered.

 

[mavracer]

I agree Noz smooth American holly is so pretty.

 

[desidog]

Oh, i disagree; those checkered grips are my favorite of the bunch.

 

[Lightning12]

If you are talking about 1 piece grips, the type you need for colt style revolvers, you need to get these custom made by sending your revolver frame and backstrap to your grip maker.

I had a set made for a Pietta 1851 at a place called Chisel and Plane workshop in Cincinnati, OH. The man who operates it is named Chris Whisler. The grips he made for me are fantastic. Google it and email Chris for an estimate if you are interested.

If you have the tools and the skill, I think Chris will send you a set of grip blanks that you will have to shape and finish yourself.

 

[Crawdad1]

I had a set made for a Pietta 1851 at a place called Chisel and Plane workshop in Cincinnati, OH. The man who operates it is named Chris Whisler. The grips he made for me are fantastic. Google it and email Chris for an estimate if you are interested.

Great info and he's close. Good deal, thanks!!!

Those grips really make that '51 Colt shine something special. Thanks for the pics!!!

 

[4v50 Gary]

Wow. I wasn't aware Holly for grips. They are certainly handsome.

 

[Crawdad1]

I got on his web-site and will contact him Monday. The Holly grips in my opinion wear then yellow and look like ivory!!!!

 

[Lightning12]

Just to offer another alternative, I have also had custom grips made by one other shop and that one was Classic Single Action run by Joe Perkins in Tucson AZ. He made a set of ebony grips for me and I was equally pleased with them. He does also offer american holly. You can check out his site as well. For his standard grips, he leaves them a little thicker at the top with a small step where they join the frame, but he also will modify the profile based on what you ask for.
Here are a couple pictures of the ebony set he made for me and a picture that he has on his site of an american holly grip set.

 

[Crawdad1]

Ok, just order from Chisel and Plane workshop a set of elk grips for my Colt's revolving belt pistol in army caliber. I looked and the American Holly looked great but I liked the elk slightly better. So I guess this thread should be retitled "American Elk"

 

[Lightning12]

Those elk grips will look great I'm sure. Don't worry, Chris will do an excellent job for you.

Chaz

 

[Crawdad1]

Chaz, just got the e-mail from Chris to start the process.

As a side note, I originally stripped and stained my old grips to get rid of the Uberti 'Red' but I just wasn't all that pleased with them as it always looked like they still had that 'red' tint to them.


This time I'll do it right.

 

[Jaymo]

Why won't Ruger BH grips fit your Old Army? (Unless your ROA grip frame is not XR3-RED)
I bought a set of Pink Myrtle BH grips from CLC.
I bought them for the specific purpose of installing them on my ROA.
They fit my ROA just as perfectly as they fit my BH.
I ended up putting them on my BH convertible because they look so good on it.

I bought a pair of holly grips from Pvt Schulz for my flattop .44 Spl.
I like that holly ages to look like ivory, yet costs far less.

 

[kBob]

Went looking on line last night for some slabs and some where advertised as for pistol grip making........must have been for small pistols they were either too short, not wide enough, or too thin or some combination of the three when thinking Remington NMA or Coltish .44 Italian repros.

One set might be enough in all dimensions to do a COltish 1849 or Remington spur trigger .31.

I do wonder if it is dense enough to scrim.....and not bleed ink outside the lines....

-kBob