How to customize your 1911 grips

[Woodnut]

Originally Posted by Cecil_Xzandu

I read most of the posts on this topic now and never once got the impression that Carl was mean or conceding at all. Even after loads of people (myself included) asked the same question over and over. Thanks Carl and everyone else on the forum for being so polite.

@ Woodnut-

Carl, why does the step down drill bit need to be modified?

Many thanks to all you guys with the kind words. They are always appreciated.
Sorry I haven't answered your question on the bit before now, but been having issues with the wife having her knee replaced. She is doing well and at home now trying to get over it.

The reason for the altered step bit.
The step bit comes out of the package with a 1/4 inch step up to the next step 9/32. You can use the 1/4 inch and have a little slack in the grip fit. I like a good tight fit of the grips to the frame. So I take the 1/4 step down to 15/64 for the center hole (which is the exact size of the bushing) then the 9/32 is exactly what is needed for the counter bore. At the top of this forum is a Sticky Thread titled "Building 1911 grips "step by step". Take a look at the tutorial in post number 9, that pretty well shows how it is used. Once altered you can use it without even clamping the grip, it will self align.
If you have further questions on this or any other facet of grip making, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Thanks for the question.

I would like to take the time to thank Hotsights personally. He can do some awesome grip making and I would like to think I had a little info to help him along the way. He was a very dedicated student and did every thing I ask of him, and his work shows it.
A special thanks goes out to you Martin.

[SWirsty]

Originally Posted by hotsights

Not long ago I asked Carl/Woodnut this same question, will you teach me to make grips? Carl said yes if, you're serious! I was serious & the some of the first things I learned weren't about grip making, but about the teacher, Carl Wallace. Honest, A man of character, integrity beyond question, willing & able to help anyone learn and most of all, he has become a life long friend.


He will tell you what equipment to get, how to use it and a some clever ways to make beautiful grips. Are my words true or, am I just trying to do some fast, self-serving advertising? If I wanted to do that, I would have said visit http://www.1911grips.ecrater.com a long time ago. I wanted to learn how to make 1911 grips & Carl led me by the hand with a kindness similar to how a grandfather teaches his grandchildren. That sounds a bit gooey, but he is that way as long as you are trying.

I also, just wanted to learn as a hobby, then I kept making them and decided to put them on a website and have sold a few. Among my favorite grips are the Osage Orange grips and that is beautiful wood. Every grip on my little site was created because Carl Wallace shared his time and his love of the art with me. My ability is still limited & I will refer potential customers to Carl because Carl can do it all.


Thank You Carl,


HotSights

I dont know if anyone could have written this any better. I have been talking to Carl for a couple weeks now about a set of grips for my new 1911 and with that post I have never experienced anyone as personable and likeable right of the get goas Carl. We have been talking through email and on the phone once and he has never led me to believe any different.

Hey Carl. Looking forward to chatting again soon. Ill get these things straightened out soon enough. Puple Heart for the SW Mod 686?? Maybe Tulip or Olive.

Take care of the wife. She needs you most now.

Talk to you soon!

[Woodnut]

Well I haven't put any eye candy on this thread in a while. Here is a set that I did today for my pistol. It is made out of Corian. I had never used this material before. someone gave me this piece about a year or more ago and it was just laying outside leaned up against the shop. So today I was working on a customers grips that was made out of Corian, so I thought I would try it and I really like the way it works. Then after cutting the Corian to the right thickness for the grips I had a real thin piece left over, so I cut inlays out of it to see how that would look in some walnut scrap I had in the shop. Well it looks good to me. Here I go rambling again.
Enjoy!

[H-D]

those are real nice!

[Cecil_Xzandu]

Ok. So I made a couple of sets. (I'll put pictures up soon. Stupid iPhone.) I used tung oil on them but they do not have a shiny surface. Did I do something wrong. I sanded them down for a long time with 220 grit. Also, how will they hold up to sweat? I carry SOB with an inside the waistband holster.

[Woodnut]

Originally Posted by Cecil_Xzandu

Ok. So I made a couple of sets. (I'll put pictures up soon. Stupid iPhone.) I used tung oil on them but they do not have a shiny surface. Did I do something wrong. I sanded them down for a long time with 220 grit. Also, how will they hold up to sweat? I carry SOB with an inside the waistband holster.

Welcome to the forum Cecil.
When using Tung oil the wood soaks up almost all of the oil and leaves a satin finish. If it is used on a very hard wood it can sometimes be buffed out to a shinny finish, depending on how many coats you give it.
Personally I think you should do more sanding, and go all the way thru at least 1200 grit. I will sometimes go all the way to 2000, depending on the finish I have in mind. I also use Birchwood Casy's Tru-Oil gunstock finish for a bright shinny finish. Usually about 4 coats will do the trick if sanded properly.
I will be glad to give you some pointers and discuss the process if you will email me at cwgrips@gmail.com.

[JLA]

Top notch as always Carl. I like the corian, it is very Ivory looking and I am a fan of Ivory. Just dont like the aged yellowing. Suppose i should say im an Ivory polymer fan then..

[Woodnut]

Originally Posted by JLA

Top notch as always Carl. I like the corian, it is very Ivory looking and I am a fan of Ivory. Just dont like the aged yellowing. Suppose i should say im an Ivory polymer fan then..

Josh, this Corian shouldn't yellow since it's main use was for counter tops. This piece I have is Bone color, but you can get it in almost any color of the rainbow. You might just have to have a set of them. LOL.

[JLA]

Is it similar to formica?

[Woodnut]

Originally Posted by JLA

Is it similar to formica?

More like Marble or bone. Works a lot like Micarta. Should be some strong stuff. I'm sure as much as you have cooked you have seen or even used a Corian cutting board, they are real popular.

[JLA]

I use thin plastic cutting boards. Easy to clean and they roll up and fit inside a paper towel tube.

But I see what you mean.

[Woodnut]

Originally Posted by JLA

I use thin plastic cutting boards. Easy to clean and they roll up and fit inside a paper towel tube.

But I see what you mean.

These cutting boards can be seen at wal mart with a sorta handle on them, some are a plastic and some are Corian. Pretty neat stuff. Tell you what when I get back from TN, I will send you a piece of it so you can experiment with it.

[Cecil_Xzandu]

As promised. These are the two sets I've made so far.

(sorry they are so big. I don't know how to make them smaller.)

[ehparis]

Originally Posted by Cecil_Xzandu

(sorry they are so big. I don't know how to make them smaller.)

Resizing is probably easiest with Photoshop.

[Woodnut]

Cecil
The grips look nice, you did a great job on them. As for resizing the pictures I use Microsoft Picture Manager. It usually comes with the Microsoft Office program. I am not sure if it can be bought in a stan alone software or not, but it works really well for cropping and resizing. You can even mess with the tones of the picture if you like.
Keep up the good work.

[Woodnut]

Cecil

After looking at your large pictures I decided to help you out a little and resize them. I sure hope you don't mind. They are nice grips and pictures, it's just hard to see the grips with the large picture format. So here are the results.

[Woodnut]

This is a set of Full size 1911 grips that I designed for the 11th Anniversary of the TFF forum.

These grips are made of Garbon Ebony. The TFF and 1 of 1 are inlaid with white Corian. The oval is a Snow White Holly wood inlay with 11th Anniversary cut into it. They have 8 coats of Tru-Oil gunstock finish on them and are really smooth.

I am hoping to do this for each Anniversary in the coming years. Or at least as long as I am able to do it age wise.

These grips will be raffled off on March 1 with the donations going to TFF for future drawings and operations.
The tickets will be $10.00 for 2 chances.

Take a look at the sticky in general discussions for details on the raffle.
In the meantime enjoy the picture. Good luck in the raffle.

[American Leader]

Real nice Carl, you too Cecil!

[hotsights]

That Corian is beautiful, looks like Mother Of Pearl, then it looks like Ivory, very precise work. I haven't visited for awhile and hope all had a nice Christmas and Happy New Year. I recently sold a pair of Osage Orange grips to a gentleman who wanted to match his grips to the panels on his custom 110 Buck. He took some pics of the marriage and I'm sharing them with you.

Carl taught me how to make grips, thank you!

[Woodnut]

Beautiful Work Martin. Hope ya'll had great holidays also. I will talk to you soon.

[Woodnut]

My latest piece of EyeCandy. These grips are made out of Celyon Ebony (blackest of the black) with Corian inlays. I am not sure what the shield is since the customer sent it to me to redraw for him. I am shipping the grips tomorrow. I sent him a picture tonight and he has made some great remarks about them, so i gues he likes them. These grips are for the Officers Model 1911.

[Woodnut]

Here is some more of the Corian to fit a Walther. Customers design. I redrew it and ran it through the laser, then inked the cut.

[Woodnut]

Just finished another set of grips. These are made of Colorado Elk Horn, the customer sent me the crosses and the Silver Colt Medallions and told me where to place them. The grips were on my web site (already made). Looks pretty good IMO.
Enjoy!

[Woodnut]

Just finish a set of Exhibition grade Desert Ironwood with 1/2 hand checkered design.
The first picture is of the smooth shaped blanks.
The second is the finished grips.

The next 2 pictures are of sets that a customer sent me for the inlay work. One has the 1911 Barber dimes and the other the crosses.
Enjoy.

[Zane71464]

I love those Exhibition grade Desert Ironwood with 1/2 hand checkered design grips, Carl.
The grain pattern in them are nice!

^^^ lot of NICE looking grips!!!