Spent the day in the shop working on 1911 grip details and jigs, making notes, figuring measurements, trying to work out which operations that can easily be repeatable with correct procedures, drilling the screw holes, major pain, so easy to mess this up…..first operation was to make a set of 1/8” thick plexiglas overlays.

This is to draw the outline of the grip panel on wood while being able to see the grain and choose the best location for the outline and be consistent in marking all the notches, drill holes etc. And yes Rob Leahy I included the plunger tube notch : )

The overlay worked nicely and should be a big time saver in the future. Trying to find a good way to do the main spring housing pin and mag release notches took a little time but worked ok, but will need refinement down the road. Doing the plunger tube notch is another story, tried two ways, neither was great but I will try a different way/cutter next time.

Once I got a test set of panels cut out of some ¼” oak it was sanding time. I loose enough skin off my finger tips doing knife making so it was jig time. I have a nice adjustable tension jig designed but still needs a little refinement before I start milling it out so I made a simple holder out a piece of ¾” square aluminum, drilled and tapped for two 8/32 screws, turned down the screw head radius to fit the panel holes.

Started with a 100 grit belt on the slack belt setup on the grinder, as I worked on the panel radius trying to keep the front and back edges even, moved to a 220 grit belt for final shape then onto hand sanding with 400 grit sandpaper for final surface finish using a ¾” square piece of wood with a ½” foam rubber attached for smooth blending of panel face.

Here are the proof of concept test panels with a coat of boiled linseed oil……

Learn a lot today, made some strides, finalized some things, answered some questions, came up with new questions and still need to work out some operations. I can and could make them free hand but with a few jigs and stream lined procedures I can save hours of my time in the shop, I currently have 7 knife blanks sitting on the bench staring at me.

Gunner

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41 Mags rule, Baers rock!