Need tips for refinishing wood grips

[Kevin108]

I bought a pair of inexpensive smooth wood grips for IWB concealed carry of my 1911. The factory checkered walnut grips were eating me alive starting with my right love handle! These grips feel great.

Now the bad news, I spent 6 or so hours outside yesterday in nearly 90° heat and the sweat has affected the front of the left grip. The photo shows some discoloration but the grain has also raised. Straight from the manufacturer, these are bocote wood grips that are sanded to shine with 2000 grit sandpaper then finished with tung oil.

I'm a carpenter by trade so I'm not intimidated with sanding and re-oiling them but I've never worked before with bocote or any wood grips for that matter, so I was wondering if there's anything else I need to know.

 

[Jim K]

Since the tung oil doesn't appear to have sealed the wood to keep out the sweat, how about an application of clear polyurethane or spar varnish? It should seal off the wood. Also, make sure you grease the area under the grips well and keep a light oil on the rest of the gun to prevent rusting. (Not so slick you lose a grip, of course.)

Jim

 

[PotatoJudge]

I'll second Jim's recommendation of poly or spar varnish. I usually thin the first coat with mineral spirits and allow it to dry, then apply undiluted varnish.

It's the water vapor exchange that gets you here, which is something poly and spar are great at controlling. Make sure to finish the backs too.

 

[Kevin108]

I still haven't done anything with the grips. I was waiting to hear something back from the manufacturer first. It finally came yesterday.

Hi Kevin,
No fear, the Bocote is an oily wood, but finisheds extremely well. jsut rub
out with 1500 or 2000 grit and rub in the tung oil. It will come right back.
Thanks,
Jeff

I'm going to buy some new grip screws before I do anything. I crossthreaded one when I put these grips on. It's holding but I don't want to undo it again before I have something to replace it.

 

[Khornet]

Oily woods

like the tropical hardwoods, can be a pain to finish. Oil finishes never really dry, and urethanes and varnishes become all blotchy as the oil in the wood mixes with the finish. That's why they just polish them.

You can, however, use just about any finish if you first treat the wood with acetone to remove the oil.

If you sand them, wear a mask. Some of those woods are actually toxic when inhaled.

My sympathies about the love handles. I know.

 

[Firehand]

There's a thread here about the 'World's best oil finish' using Minwax Antique Oil Finish. I've used it on several pieces now with damn good results. I haven't had any oily wood like this to experiment on, though. Might give it a try.

 

[XavierBreath]

Welcome to CCW. Wear on a CCW piece is the nature of the beast.

Over time, I have found that honest wear on a CCW piece is not offensive to my eyes. In fact, sometimes it's interesting. If you want to preserve the grips, take them off the gun. If you want to use them, stick the gun in the holster and don't worry about them any more. Attempts at refinishing/rebuing usually make honest wear look worse, and the wear quickly reappears if the gun is used as intended.

FWIW, a parkerized gun such as your's needs the parkerizing impregnated with oil/grease before it begins to provide adequate corrosion protection from sweat and water. Parkerizing is porous, and will quickly soak up sweat or water, resulting in rust. What I do is heat the pieces of a parkerized pistol in the oven, just to where they are too hot to touch. Then I coat them with Vaseline (doesn't stain clothing) while the pores of the parkerizing are open. Then I let it cool and I reassemble the pistol/gun. The result is the same type of parkerizing that you find on WWII military weapons that have sat in cosmoline for the past 5 decades. The gun will weep Vaseline for about a week, but in the end, the finish will be much more durable, slicker out of the holster, and most of all, it can do it's job protecting the metal instead of acting like a sponge.

 

[Kevin108]

Yeah, I sort of started thinking along those lines myself. I've used and abused all my other guns so I decided to get over the 1911 being in better shape and just using it for the tool it is. It doesn't make sense to spend $10 refinishing $16 grips or worrying about the wear marks on a $500 gun.

Cleaning and oiling and broken part replacement is all I ever plan to do with it.

 

[Riss]

is Tung oil finish, refinish with Tung Oil

I have used Tung oil alot. It can take a long time to fully dry. I would suggest a couple of light coats with some sanding or steel wool in between them. If you do a coat a day for about 3 days. Assuming that you have little or no humidity it will feel dry. The problem is that the first coat that you put on will not truly yet be dry. Kinda like paint. Is really not set, and truly dry for about a month. If the factory put on tung oil I would suggest using tung oil to finish sealing it. If a compatibility problem develops between two unlike finishes, you will need to strip it all off and start over.

 

[Riss]

as for the guns finish

just coat it in cosmoline and heat, rub as detailed in the post above mine. In about 40 years the cosmoline and dirt and grunge will develop a nice patina just like those of a ww2 1911.