First try at Ruger Bisley Panels - finished finally

[rjtodd]

Red oak burl rescued from the fire pit after it was on fire. Cut to thickness and shape plus clearance on the bandsaw. Fit the outline with rasps but shaped with die grinders. Not perfect, and still a little fat to my hand but easier to remove wood than to replace it. I’m going to make another run at slimming things up before sealing the surface. The burl is easy to chip and I’m afraid it may be damaged under heavy recoil. Fortunately the 44 special Bisley is pretty mild. For those thinking about it, the rasps are slow and time is precious. I would like to claim all hand work, but the carbide burr and flapper wheel are much faster. Now to see if I can attach the photos!?!??

Best regards,

Randy

Attachments:

[marlin35]

postimages.org/

Upload your picture through this and copy the link “thumbnail for forum” and paste it in the text of your post!

[gnappi]

If you can skinny down the size of an image by cropping, saving to less a quality image or both to under 1 megabyte you can also use the "Add Attachment" button in the upper right corner of the dialog box to insert am image from your phone or PC.

[drycreek]

This is a test. 

[bigbore5]

"I surrender. But I'm mad about it!"

[bula]

Bet that dog could "slim" down the grips FAST.

[ridenshoot]

Scratch my belly...or else!!!

[drycreek]

Sorry guys, I’ve just never been able to post pictures from my iPad and it looks like I can. I had a recent update on my iPad and it has a resize feature that it never had, and I grabbed a pic of my new Jack Russell puppy. Her name is Molly and she’s a pistol !

Again, sorry for the hijack.

[needsmostuff]

Dec 29, 2023 22:14:35 GMT -5 drycreek said:

View AttachmentThis is a test. 

For God's sake FEED THAT BEAST, before it hurts someone.

[hunter01]

Looking good.

[bradshaw]

Dec 28, 2023 22:03:16 GMT -5 rjtodd said:

....The burl is easy to chip and I’m afraid it may be damaged under heavy recoil.... the rasps are slow and time is precious.... the carbide burr and flapper wheel are much faster.
Best regards,

Randy

*****

Randy.... yes, “time is precious.” As you note----for the moment leaving skill out of the equation----the right tools greatly shorten the time it takes to shape grip panels. Without applicable power tools, the process is greatly slowed. However one goes about the labor, PATIENCE is key. The most precious time of all is the practice of marksmanship on the Firing Line. Taking the time to carefully contour the grip to the individual’s hand becomes the only possible shortcut to better shooting.

When it comes to marksmanship, beauty is not in the eye of the beholder.... BEAUTY is in the HAND of the BEHOLDER.

The person whose time is so precious he can’t spare enough to DRY FIRE, and to make time for practice the COORDINATIONS of MARKSMANSHIP.... this fellow will not become a SHARPSHOOTER.

Critical contour, revolver grip
The hump on the backstrap which vectors recoil to the base of the thumb,,, this most critical area of a revolver grip either protects or harms the shooting hand under recoil. For this shooter, the backstrap must curve smoothly across the shoulder to spread recoil across the web. Whereas, an angle or sharp shoulder on the backstrap chops into the base of the thumb.
David Bradshaw

[needsmostuff]

Pictures are worth the wait.
Those look great and oak can be cool.

[rjtodd]

Thanks for the kind replies. David I am waiting on a set of escutcheons and screws as well as a forstner bit to cleanly cut the holes. Once installed I think I’ll be able to put some of your advice to practice. I’m an engineer and often subtle detail escapes me. Case in point I handled all of my Bisleys and measured grip thickness of each at five points creating a table. Picking my favorite grip from “feel in the hand” I plan to sneak up on those dimensions across several shooting sessions. My grips remain thicker in all dimensions than any of my factory offerings. I have some nice exotics woods including additional burls as well as several pieces of high end laminated epoxy impregnated wonder wood so popular today for knife scales and grips. My plan if I ever have the time is to “borrow” revolvers from friends and return them with fitted grips as Christmas gifts. Hoping to survive the meat grinder long enough to retire!

Regarding your wise comments on patience, perhaps I should view using the power tools as “buying” me the time to finish a project that had already languished un-shaped for six months. The burr in particular while fast was more controllable than I expected. It was fairly natural to draw it across a surface taking a small strip in a movement very reminiscent of whittling, but the burr eating dry gnarled oak the same as a knife works cedar or bass wood and with no tendency to follow the grain creating an oops. 

Randy

[x101airborne]

I have heard patience is a virtue. I just haven't been able to stand around long enough to find out if it is true.

Your grips are looking great. Good job and keep at it.

[bradshaw]

Randy.... two power tools dominate my shaping of grip panels: 1) belt sander, 2) Dremel hand grinder. When working on the incredible grip frames and panels of Ronnie Wells, basic contouring begins with the panels screw to grip frame. I use a 50 grit (coarse) belt on the bench sander. Finer work is done with wet/dry paper. For working on grip frame alone, the paper is flushed and kept wet. Contouring of trigger guard is done with a coarse 1/2-inch drum on the Dremel. While the Foredom tool is stronger and more durable than the Dremel, I don’t care for the driveshaft arrangement. An air grinder less onerous than a driveshaft grinder. I have some high end air grinders, but consider RPM excessive.

Ronnie’s experience in the world of design, tooling, and craftsmanship includes stabilizing and working exotic woods. Among his wood tried on the RWGF brass Bradshaw Bisley, my favorite is Cocobolo. Tropical hardwoods are known for developing incredibly inert resins as they age. (Note old growth cypress, with resins so tough that the Formosan termite will walk around it to eat a creosote telephone; resin so tough that cypresses felled in the Atchafalaya Basin hundreds of years ago remains in great shape.) I wet sanded Ronnie’s Cocobolo scales on, and off, the brass grip frame, hand sanding under running water. The scales dried in minutes! Most other woods sponge water, leastwise until impregnated.

What I call the back strap SHOULDER tends to be the very last part of the grip to finish. Final contouring follows shooting, a process without deadline. Ot’s important to practice with your most potent loads to shape final contour. In configuring Ronnie Wells’ grip frames, recoil distribution to minimize shock to the hand is implicit. To this end, consider a rounded, tapered toe, with the scales tapered for enough pinky purchase to compliment FOLLOW THROUGH of trigger squeeze. In conjunction with squeezing the trigger straight back into your eye, the work of the pinky finger is barely felt, yet it help still the muzzle through the combustion cycle.
David Bradshaw