Help on Holly grips ?

[needsmostuff]

After reading so many glowing reports on the appearance of Holly as a grip material I had to have some.
So as I guy that usually whittles my own I spent some time trying to find some large enough for grips. Well in my part of the world Holly does not exist , so total strike out.
But I did latch onto a secondhand pair made by Texas grips.
Well,,,, they are white, period . And white has never been my favorite .
Which , round about is the point of all this palavering .
Guys seem to get the mystical ivory effect from ageing and reference a form of wood patina ?
These grips came sealed in what appears to be a poly finish which I believe is not gonna help any aging process.
So would I be best served by stripping then and if so what then . Throw in a drawer to "age" , handle a bunch for body oil ? Or do I just rub on some of that wood patina oil on them.
What finish do y'all got on your Holly ?

[tdbarton]

I think if the wood is stabilized, it will remain white and won’t get the nice aged look. Yours might be stabilized. Zane Thompson at Lone Star Custom Grips does both stabilized and non-stabilized I believe.

[tdbarton]

Zane did these for me and they’re awesome.  Actually a little more yellow/cream colored than in the pics.

[dhd]

I have multiple pairs and they have all aged/yellowed. To compare apples to apples, one pair is from Texas Grips and they have not yellowed as much as the others. They are a cream color now but were almost white when new.

2 pair that were made a few years ago probably had Tru-Oil as the finish and they have yellowed nicely.

[contender]

Tru-oil vs a poly finish.

[41freak]

I had Zane make a set of Holly grips for my 41 mag that I fitted an RW Grip Frames PJ aluminum grip frame to and I have to admit I wasn't sure I would like them, but seeing them in person changed that. They are beautiful.

I will see if I can get a good pic of the grain in the wood.

[pacecars]

Six shot made me a set of semi-finished Holly grips. They have aged nicely

[x101airborne]

Pacecars, is that one of the Lipsey's convertable 45's?

[pacecars]

It is a .480 Ruger

[needsmostuff]

Thanks for the thoughts so far.
Sounds like I got some stripping and sanding to do and get back to bare wood .
Any guesses as to how Watkin's oil or Boiled Linseed would react on Holly ?

[caryc]

I made and sold many pairs of Holly grips. As a matter of fact, I think I'm the first grip maker to start using Holly. All my Holly grips were finished with Tru Oil and they aged nicely. Before you strip those grips and maybe ruin them, try taking them off the gun and lay them in the sun in direct sunlight face up. Maybe a window that gets a lot of direct sunlight. The sunlight will start the aging process. With them off the gun you can just look at the backs of them to see if the front is aging.

My Holly grips all had at least 20 coats of Tru Oil on them and they still aged nicely through that.

[needsmostuff]

Aug 22, 2021 19:25:43 GMT -5 caryc said:

Maybe a window that gets a lot of direct sunlight. The sunlight will start the aging process. With them off the gun you can just look at the backs of them to see if the front is aging.

I live in Tucson ,,,, so sunlight I got.
Right now the front looks exactly the same as the back .
How much time in the window sill should I be looking at to see a change ?

[caryc]

I really don't know. I've never tried to time it. But I can tell you that direct sunlight really does age them. If you have a safe place to put them outside during the day, I would do that. The more direct sunlight,
the better.

I'll look in my shop and see if I have a piece of Holly and put it out in the sun to see how long it takes to start aging.

See the pictures below. The picture of the board shows some aging. This board was up in my shop, not really in any window, just natural light during the day. There was another board laying on top of it. That's why you only see the partial aging on one end.

The other pic shows two blanks. I just sanded a new white face on all sides of them. I will keep them outside during the day in direct sunlight and we'll see what happens. When it starts to age, I'll turn one over so you can tell the difference between the other one.

[jeffh]

Aug 23, 2021 12:01:44 GMT -5 caryc said:

I really don't know. I've never tried to time it. But I can tell you that direct sunlight really does age them. If you have a safe place to put them outside during the day, I would do that. The more direct sunlight,
the better.

I'll look in my shop and see if I have a piece of Holly and put it out in the sun to see how long it takes to start aging.

There are woods which "age" more quickly, like cherry.  You have to really be careful not to allow something to partially shade part of your project, even over the course of an afternoon of "sunbathing."

I believe most modern architectural and automotive glass today blocks a good bit of UV, so that "safe place" of which caryc speaks is critical, since outdoors will offer the quickest return on investment of time.  Have to watch the weather, changing shadows as the sun moves and bird poop!

caryc , I made a gift of a set of your olive-wood grips to a dear friend several years ago and they are still as beautiful as ever and he still cherishes them as the best set of grips he's ever owned.

[needsmostuff]

That's some good info and a great visual .
Outside they go but I gotta be careful ,,, It's still Monsoon season here.