Thinking I'd like to try and make a set of grips. The new Flat Top seems like a good first one to start on. We just happen to have an exotic wood shop here in Indy, so I stopped by tonight. Talk about smelling nice! Felt like I walked into a humidor! Anyways, I bought a chunk of bocote and a chunk of curly maple. They are flat boards, just thicker than I'll need for making the slabs out of. My plan is to trace around the factory grips and cut them out oversized, then shape to fit. I know once I actually fit them to the frame, I'll need to put a couple of layers of tape on the frame to protect the metal.

Any good tips from those who've been there before? I've got a whopping $12 in both pieces of wood, so if I totally screw them up, I"m not out much! I don't have many tools, other than a wood rasp, a couple of chisels and lots of sandpaper! No powered sanders or band saws...

thanks,
Doug K

I did it this way:
1 Plane to thickness
2 Fit up tight into trigger/frame corner. I use 'El Marko' type marker on the metal for transfer color, then scrape the color off til it looks like it grew there.
3 Trace the grip with a sharp pencil.. Remove the wood any old way then rasp near the line, like a 64th on an inch.
4 Take the square corners off, then take the resulting corners off, and it's starting to look pretty decent. You are in course sandpaper range here...
5 Leave the last bit along the frame square until the last.

Good luck!
Mike P

Doug, I just finished shaping a pair for the old Colt PPS I bought last week. Made them from a scrap piece of furniture walnut I had lying around. You really don't need a bandsaw or planer just to make one or two sets. I traced one side of a factory grip from a DS I already had onto a piece of card stock and used that as a template to transfer the outline to the wood, then cut the blanks out with a coping saw. The wood was too thick, so I cut off about a third with one of those Japanese razor saws that cuts on the backstroke. This one has a spine along the back of the blade so it is very stiff and makes a straight cut. It's a VERY handy saw to have around for all sorts of wood work.

The other things you really need are a small belt sander and a Dremel with sanding drums. Fit the upper corner of each grip to the frame first, and then locate and drill the hole for the pin, making sure the pin hole forces the grip up into tight contact with the frame. I failed to do that with the first one and had to plug the pin hole and redrill to get the grip to fit tight.

I had already stripped the frame so I didn't worry about the finish when shaping the grips, but a couple layers of masking tape would be in order on a gun that's not to be reblued. Be REAL careful working around the edges with the Dremel - that sanding drum will eat through masking tape quickly. I really like the foam-backed sanding sponges for final shaping.

Brownells has escutcheon screws that are long enough to work with almost anything. Fit 'em and then cut to the proper length. Drill a pilot hole just large enough for the screw shank first, then counterbore just far enough to seat the escutcheons a bit below flush to allow for final sanding. Be careful to use a counterbore drill large enough for the escutcheons to slip into the counterbores without too much force as you tighten the screw to draw them in. If the hole's too small you can split the grip.

That's about it - good luck and good whittling!

Catoosa

My computer crashed just before I posted this so I was in a hurry...

The basic idea is to get the flat surfaces flat. Then cut the curves. Then reduce the resulting corners. Sort of like taking square stock to octogon, then shanding or scraping it round.

I leave a slight flat all along the frame until the last bit of finishing. Aluminum HVAC tape can save some grief by protecting your grip frame a bit better than paper.

Enjoy,
Mike P