2nd Attempt DIY Grips

[Big Bore]

Made from Peruvian Walnut. I like these much better than my first set. I take criticism well, so feel free…

[bigbrowndog]

Nice color, looks almost like maroon micarta

Trapr

[45MAN]

LOOK REALLY NICE AND A LOT BETTER LOOKING THAN SET 1

[kings6]

Very nice job Sir!

[junebug]

Well done Randy! Do they feel as good in your hand as the first set?

[potatojudge]

I think the contouring, fit, and finishing are great.

I haven't made many grips, but starting out with the 90 degree upper portion and getting it perfect before moving on has helped. If I get it a little off I can correct it without messing up the later fitting, and it seems like that's the area I'm most prone to messing up. The problem is our hands don't move in a straight line, they move in an arc so stuff like that is natural to do. All it takes is one slip of the paper at the 100 grit stage...

Other grip makers undercut that portion so it gives the appearance of a zero tolerance fit. I was surprised also to find out how much bedding material gets used for that seamless look.

I'd be more than happy to have made those or to use them, and the more I look the more I like.

[contender]

Very nice looking grips. Keep it up,, as you will learn something each time you make another set.

"Other grip makers undercut that portion so it gives the appearance of a zero tolerance fit. I was surprised also to find out how much bedding material gets used for that seamless look."

I make grips for myself. I've never had to "undercut" or use a "bedding material" to fix something. To me,, that'd be poor workmanship.

[potatojudge]

Apr 15, 2024 21:27:36 GMT -5 contender said:

Very nice looking grips. Keep it up,, as you will learn something each time you make another set.

"Other grip makers undercut that portion so it gives the appearance of a zero tolerance fit. I was surprised also to find out how much bedding material gets used for that seamless look."

I make grips for myself. I've never had to "undercut" or use a "bedding material" to fix something. To me,, that'd be poor workmanship.

IIRC FA factory grips have the undercut. 

On my last set of Rowen grips he offered the undercut because there were imperfections in the fit of the grip frame to the main frame, as there are on many if not most Rugers. If your gunsmith hasn't corrected that area and you're not planning a refinish, it's a great trick. 

As for the bedding, if it's used to fill unsightly gaps I'd generally agree. It's also used to help keep the panels tight and strong especially against a grip frame that isn't decked. 

When I refit grips to another gun, the pin location is drilled oversize, the grip is set to the best fit position on the new gun, and epoxy or bedding is used to reset the grip pin location. Different topic but bedding has a place in grips IMO. 

Check out the back side of Fishpaw grips sometime. They don't all have bedding, but many do. 

[seminolewind]

Yep, that set is much more fitting to the character of the gun. The grips compete with the gun for your attention. Both win. Much talent there.

[contender]

potatojudge,, I wasn't thinking about the grip locator pin hole & bedding that. You are correct in that I have seen that a bit more often.

I haven't had any Fishpaw grips I could study,, but the ones I've seen from caryc (Cary Chapman) never had epoxy. I actually have a box here with 9 sets of nearly finished grips by Cary. All are superb.

And I haven't really looked at the undercut idea. Never even thought to look for it. I will look at some different grips now to see. I'm a hobbiest at making a few sets of grips from time to time. Now I'm going to study all this a bit more.

[Big Bore]

Thanks everyone. No undercut or bedding or epoxy here, haha.

[giblett]

Very nice Randy. Grip maker and holster maker on the shingle now. I do need to order a holster one day for my freedom arms.

[caryc]

Apr 15, 2024 16:47:33 GMT -5 bigbrowndog said:

Nice color, looks almost like maroon micarta

Trapr

What's to criticize? Those grips look great. Make some more !!!

As far as bedding that you guys are talking about, I don't use any and my grip pin holes fit without any of that stuff. I don't know how many of you guy have seen my link on making grips but here it it again.

www.clccustomgrips.com/RamBuild.html

As you see in the link, the first thing I do is drill two holes. One is the grip pin hole and the other is a tooling hole. Then as you can see in the link, I hand fit the tops of the blanks so they fit snugly at the top of the grip frame. Of course, the very first thing I do with the blanks is make sure the backs are perfectly flat. I do that on a 4" belt sander. Using tooling jigs as you see in the link, everything always comes out correct and the same. I never had a problem making the grips sit flat on a grip frame. If the frame is a little high in one spot, I make the grip fit with a little sanding.

But here's a hint if you try to make a set of Bisley grips. I've had many many Bisley grip frames sent to me for grips and they are all the same including blue and stainless. They all have on high spot on the frame on both sides that keeps the grip from sitting down flat. Below is a picture of what I'm talking about. You can see the picture of the frame with a piece of tool steel sitting on it. I I move the steel up, it will get caught on the high spot marked with the arrow. I always had to grind down that spot on the Bisley frames. Since that spot is not visible with the grips on it that was not a problem. If I ground it down on a blued frame, I always touched it up with some cold blue. I have had Bowen send me some customers frames for fitting grips and he always decked the frames first. I loved that. It saved me some extra work. You can see a pic of one of Bowen's decked frames below.

[mk70ss]

Looks great to me. I could never make something that nice.

[contender]

When Cary was making grips,, it was always amazing at the detail, AND the selection of wood etc. Some of the best quality I've ever seen. And now,, Zane Thompson has provided us with top quality as well. Hard to beat EITHER of those guys.

I just enjoy tinkering with it for myself.