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Post by gunsbam45 on Jun 13, 2024 18:58:37 GMT -5
Not lookin too shabby there! Hope it ends up being something you enjoy.
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Post by bushog on Jun 15, 2024 17:09:19 GMT -5
Well since all of my shooters already have custom grips I suppose I will just have to get a new gun for a set of those nice walnuts! Enablers everywhere here. Now that’s good thinking right there…. |
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rjtodd
.240 Incinerator
Posts: 76
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Post by rjtodd on Jun 16, 2024 20:24:39 GMT -5
Beautiful grips there. I can appreciate the difficulty of generating nice work from my own struggles. I’m jealous that you have been able to work with experienced makers. It sure is nice to not have to learn everything the hard way.
Having finished some burl oak grips, I really want to start on some canvas Micarta salvaged from old electrical gear. Problem one, the stock piece I have is a bit narrow so I’m going to have to rotate the pattern a bit versus the “grain”. Problem two this particular material doesn’t sand to a glossy finish. The cloth is coarse enough to leave some texture even with aggressive sanding. Good news is the material is free, and the real value is in the learning. I have nicer blanks of walnut and curly maple once my skill set justifies working in better materials.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Randy
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Post by kings6 on Jun 16, 2024 21:14:23 GMT -5
Thank you Randy, I’m having a ball watching the grandson but miss being in my shop 2000 miles away! I want to get back to it! I found myself looking at pieces of snakewood from Cooks Woods today and had to resist!
I have learned that making grips isn’t hard if you just want to put them out. It is the subtle little things that Rob and Alan shared that take it to a different plane.
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Post by Jamey Worrell on Jun 17, 2024 7:43:23 GMT -5
I found myself looking at pieces of snakewood from Cooks Woods today and had to resist! I have learned that making grips isn’t hard if you just want to put them out. It is the subtle little things that Rob and Alan shared that take it to a different plane. I tell my son that "failure is an effective teacher, but it's better to learn from failures someone else bought than to buy them yourself." Envious that you're getting to learn from the masters... Don't know how prevalent they are on your side of the country, but in the South, black cherry trees are a dime a dozen, and many have decent (basketball) sized burls on them...I've got two sets of grips off one from our property, and I can tell you that they make birdseye maple look like fencepost wood...if you can talk a landowner into letting you fell a tree for the burl, do it...it's truly stunning wood! Also, if you haven't already, check out nwtimber.com for their burls...I like Cook's as well, but NW has some nice stuff and they'll run specials pretty regularly on burl caps and cookies. Jamey |
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Post by kings6 on Jun 17, 2024 7:51:30 GMT -5
Thank you Sir, I will look at the nwtimber site. Here in the NW there are many folks offering burl pieces for sale, I just have not tried a set yet.
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Post by burneyr on Jun 17, 2024 19:29:44 GMT -5
Robb this is great news! Glad to see your work and hope to be a customer when you're up and running.
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Post by reflex264 on Jun 18, 2024 16:43:19 GMT -5
Those are gorgeous. Great job!
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Post by crobloc on Jun 22, 2024 19:13:33 GMT -5
Those look great!! Nice Job. Learning new stuff can be a lot of fun and can start a new fire.
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Post by clintsfolly on Jun 22, 2024 20:43:15 GMT -5
RoB I have a small cherry burl that I cut up and haven’t done anything with it yours just pm me your address!
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caryc
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,055
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Post by caryc on Jun 24, 2024 17:10:39 GMT -5
Looking forward to seeing more of your work. Looks great. Great looking grips. I must have made at least a thousand pairs of grips just using the customers grip frames. Having the whole gun is not necessary. As far as files and rasps, I don't have any such things in my grip shop. Below are two of the machines I have in that shop. They are the work horses and do all the shaping. I wouldn't dream of trying to make a pair of grips without those two machines. Of course I also have a large band saw and a smaller one, a table saw, a router, a planer and a dust collection system. I'm not trying to tell you how to make a set of grips, I'm just telling you how I do it. Just keep making those grips and you will only get better and faster at it. I guess you've seen my thread on "making a set of rams horn grips". The secret word is "jigs".   |
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Post by kings6 on Jun 24, 2024 19:12:02 GMT -5
Cary, I have that exact oscillating sander and a Craftsman version of the combo sander. I studied your post about your jigs when it first was posted and that was when I asked about paying you to make a set I vouch buy but I never heard back so I figured you wanted the items to stay proprietary which is totally your call.
Since I am transitioning from furniture making I have spiral headed planers, bandsaws, big cabinet makers table saws and miter saws. One benefit of the grip work is I don’t have to wrestle big live edge slabs and glue-ups.
I use both those sanders and a 90* die grinder for rough out but I enjoy the hand work of the rasps and files. What I have learned so far is each person I’ve learned from may use a different method and tool but the end goal is the same.
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caryc
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,055
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Post by caryc on Jun 24, 2024 19:47:42 GMT -5
Cary, I have that exact oscillating sander and a Craftsman version of the combo sander. I studied your post about your jigs when it first was posted and that was when I asked about paying you to make a set I vouch buy but I never heard back so I figured you wanted the items to stay proprietary which is totally your call. Since I am transitioning from furniture making I have spiral headed planers, bandsaws, big cabinet makers table saws and miter saws. One benefit of the grip work is I don’t have to wrestle big live edge slabs and glue-ups. I use both those sanders and a 90* die grinder for rough out but I enjoy the hand work of the rasps and files. What I have learned so far is each person I’ve learned from may use a different method and tool but the end goal is the same. You may enjoy that hand work and that is fine. But, if you ever intend on becoming a custom grip maker and selling to customers, you have to learn how to make a set of grips and make them exact every time and make them fast. You won't have time for a lot of hand work. I can make a set of grips in about three hours. That is fitted to a customers grip frame. If I do a Tru Oil finish, that takes at least three days. The finish doesn't take that long but the 24 coats needs to cure for at least 72 hours before I do the final polishing on my bench buffer. I can be making other customers grips while waiting for that first set to cure. As far as all the jigs and templates that I use, it took me quite a while to get all those made. I would never sell them. Recreating another set of them would just be too much work for me now. For people that don't know what I mean by jigs and templates, I'll post a link to that Rams Horn grips page. www.clccustomgrips.com/RamBuild.html |
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Post by kings6 on Jun 24, 2024 20:23:36 GMT -5
Cary, your jigs and templates appear very well thought out and designed to allow for production work. I am glad your methods allowed for you to build the quality and quantity of grips you built. Shoot, you made several sets for me and they were great.
I am just thankful for the teachers and mentors I have met who are willing yo share their knowledge and experience so that I can develop my own methods and techniques.
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