Making my own 1911 grips. Is it worth it?

[dcarch]

So I want some new grips for my Kimber Custom II, and I was thinking about possibly making my own. I have all the tools I think I would need, (sandpaper, grinder, jigsaw, etc.) but I have never tried anything like this before. If anyone has any practical knowledge on the subject, and could help me out or give me a walk-through, I would be very grateful! Also, will the time invested be worth the finished product? If anyone has pics of grips they have made themselves, I would really like to see them. Alright, that's all. Thanks in advance!

 

[trickyasafox]

great walk through here:
http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=263495

 

[Snow Dog]

Here's another link to the grip making process:
http://www.1911pistolgrips.com/process.php
All in all its a great way to spend a cold winters evening! I've made a few sets but nothing spectacular. If you go to the Parts & Grips forum on the M1911.org site you'll see some truly amazing creations.

 

[1SOW]

I have small hands. My preferred pistol has large grips with a long trigger reach.

Like you, I decided to make my own. I settled on aluminum (I'm a woodworker and aluminum can be worked with the same tools).
My trigger finger reach is now the same as when there is no grip on the strongside. Grip thickness decreased. I polished the aluminum to near mirror finish. The fit is snug 'before' you put in the grip screw.

I also enjoyed the whole process. I used the tablesaw for the blank, scroll saw for shaping, router for the grip opening 'inset', files and multi grits of sandpaper for final shapes and curves and polished down to white rouge finish. I use shaped black grip tape for range and competition use. Softened the "BLING" look .

I also made a set of cherry wood grips using the same techniques and added checkering which wasn't BAD looking, but wasn't great either. Checkering (for me) would take expensive tools to do it right, especially on 3-dimensional curves and shapes.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

If you're new to woodworking, or to making small precision and finely finished parts from it, expect some scrappage and rejects. You might want to practice it - especially checkering - on some less expensive wood at first. But when you achieve the results you want, it is priceless.

 

[1SOW]

The Lone Haranguer: I'm a long-time amateur woodworker and did some scrap practice first. I inherrited a vibratory checkering tool with jusy one size/type checkering bit. It came out okay and a good stain and poly finish enhanced it; but it wasn't perfect. Not having experience with checkering, I googled it and also experimented a little. It was 'slow' going for me and this was just an we experimental "Might as well try it on this piece of Cherry too" job

The aluminum was comparable to some sold for comp use and I was very satisfied with those. The fit and function were near perfect.

I'm critical of my woodwork.

 

[dcarch]

Thanks, y'all! I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[hey_poolboy]

I've made a couple of sets. It's very fun and rewarding. The set pictured here is actually black and brown denim laminated together with fiberglass resin.

 

[Olympus]

That's how I started out. Just wanted to make a specialized set for my own small hands. Then I had relatives wanting a set and so on and so forth. It eventually grew to almost more than I can handle now. I think everyone who has any remote interest in woodworking should give it a try. It's a pretty straight forward process, but there are some challenging parts as well.

Looking back at what you listed as your tools, I'm not sure what you'd use a grinder for. A jig saw should be adequate, but a small 10" band saw would be significantly better. But the two best pieces of equipment I could recommend are a good drill press and a benchtop sander (either vertical belt or circular). Sanding the contour of the grip is a lot easier with a stationary sander because you're taking off quite a bit of material. And it will also be faster to smooth up the jagged edges if you cut the piece out with a jig saw.

Just know going into it that there will be a bit of a learning curve. Your first few sets may end up a little crude looking, at least mine did. But keep at it and you'll figure out little tips and tricks that make the process go smoother. Good luck and be sure and show us what you can do. Not sure if someone has already posted it, but there's a grip thread on this forum too.

 

[Greg528iT]

ABSOLUTLY worth it

Of course each set you make will get better and better..

My 1st set was from some 1/4" oak I found at the lumber store.. I used a hand plane to contour. Had a couple issues, but nothing big.


This set,


A scroll saw, a table mounted belt sander (80, 100, 200, 320, 600 grit belts) a drill press and a dremel tool. (well and a table saw to rip the material to width)

But absolutely start with resobly decent material.. next thing you know you'll have 3-4 grip panels laying around.

 

[greyling22]

making them isn't hard and can be fun, but you might also want to just look at what can be had off ebay. I got some gorgeous australian myrle grips for about 30 bucks. a year later I shaped them a bit and refinished them with truoil and they got even better.