Thinking of another set of grips...Again

[Canoeal]

Can you see the grips in this piece of wood? Hint I drew a similar idea on an old thread...

[Canoeal]

How about now?

I thought I would use the same shape as my current ones, But went with a Wasp/Hornet kind of theme. Not for my BW...

Drawn a little oversized ...may get shifted a little...

[grayelky]

Interesting potential. Keep us updated.

[OV-1D]

  CanoeAl with your talent and tools you should go for boot style .

[Ruger]

Any shape other than the original Birds Head. 


Don't get me wrong, when I display (if ever) my NAAs, I like to have some with the Birds Head Grips, as I think they display the Mini's very well.  But never carry any NAAs without a Boot Grip or something more suitable to regain my shot picture.


Great to see the evolution though Al. More pic splease as you go!

[Canoeal]

No these are not regular mini birds heads. These are the same shape as the grips on my BW (see picture). For me, I think boot grips print too much.

[Cary Gunn]

CanoeAl,

I'll follow your progress on those grips with great interest.  The dark wood (walnut?), laminated with the light-colored strips (maple?), should make for a "knock-out" pattern on an NAA revolver.

Keep the photographs coming as you progress on the grips.

Happy trails,

-- Cary Gunn --

[Canoeal]

Walnut and Cherry...

This pair will be slower. They will take a lot of figuring to keep the two sides meeting correctly, and the shop is a bit busy right now. I spent the last few hours stripping the varnish out of a 90 year old canoe, in preparation to start the repairs; I already have 2 others in process...The stripping was done now so I don't have to do it on a colder day. It was 55* today. Not a fun day to run a power washer outside...

[thom]

Those look like a great idea.  They give much more of a purchase on the grip than a Black Widow grip it looks like.

Thom

[Canoeal]

About the same purchase two fingers, less size that shows when carrying.

[Canoeal]

Ok, so today I got to work on the new grips a little...the grips are roughed out and the one has an insert fitted and glued.

[Cary Gunn]

Keep her goin', Al. Can't wait to see them on the revolver.

By the way, how did you work out the process to keep the lamination strips lined up on both sides of the grip?  My guess is you sliced your laminated blank down the middle to come up right and left sides, but I guess that's kind of obvious.

Happy trails,

-- Cary Gunn --

[Canoeal]

Keep her goin', Al. Can't wait to see them on the revolver.

By the way, how did you work out the process to keep the lamination strips lined up on both sides of the grip?  My guess is you sliced your laminated blank down the middle to come up right and left sides, but I guess that's kind of obvious.

Happy trails,

-- Cary Gunn --

So far you are correct, split down the middle. The difficult part is next, do you see the little insert piece glued on the one side? Now,I have to take out the extra from the inside and make sure that matches, then fit that little insert to line them up.

[OV-1D]

  CanoeAl if you take the main spring out it makes things quite easy . I use a touch of super glue to hold the first set in place while I line up the other side . I did get a dummy frame from NAA to even shape the exterior of the set as a whole , just an idea mind ya ..

[Canoeal]

Thanks. Today I had some time waiting for epoxy to cure, so I worked on them some. They are still too big and bulky at this point (some may like them bigger to hold onto), but I wanted to get them on a gun to see where they are.
They are still quite thick (near an inch) and too long.  They need to come off, to get the final line up and an internal pin, to prevent shifting. The left side is still thicker than the right so. have to fix that too.  Here are some pics from today.

[Uncle_Lee]

Those are really nice. Goes very good with morning coffee.

[Canoeal]

Resized to the Walnut ones (OK 1/32 wider)...Done.

[Canoeal]

For those with the desire to know, here are two pics that put the size into perspective, compared to BW grips and to the grip frame.

[Canoeal]

Any shape other than the original Birds Head. 


Don't get me wrong, when I display (if ever) my NAAs, I like to have some with the Birds Head Grips, as I think they display the Mini's very well.  But never carry any NAAs without a Boot Grip or something more suitable to regain my shot picture.

Great to see the evolution though Al. More pic splease as you go!

The only ones I might do as standard birds heads, would be if I could get some of my stone cut into slab pieces.
I am not ready to tackle that cut, at the bottom of mine, in stone.

[Uncle_Lee]

Those are going to really make your new wasp look good.

[OV-1D]

 Cool weather here finally and CanoeAl your forcing me to make a few grips dang it . Those are looking real good , thanks for keeping us abreast of your work .

[Cary Gunn]

CanoeAl,

Beautiful work. Your grips are an inspiration.

Prior to your latest job, I hadn't really given much thought to wood lamination in the making of grips.  The laminating process, though, really adds almost limitless possibilities.  It might also provide a decent "resting place" for smaller pieces of really nice wood that are just too pretty to throw away.

Be sure and add photos when your finally get the finished wood on your new revolver.  And congrats on some truly elegant grips.

Happy trails,

-- Cary Gunn -- 

[Canoeal]

"Be sure and add photos when your finally get the finished wood on your new revolver.  And congrats on some truly elegant grips.

Happy trails,

-- Cary Gunn -- '

Picked it up today, AFTER I got back from the range...

[Uncle_Lee]

Makes the Wasp look "finished".

[Ruger]

Great work Al.  And I bet the journey from start to finish was a blast!

[Rigemortis]

 Canoeal:

I finally got motivated to start mine. Your pictures inspired me.

So I am shooting for comfort and point ability first, Astetic second. Normally looks would dive me, being an artist it's hard to put function over form but for this project I will.

This is a rough glue up, now I'll have to get an escussion (is that what you call the screw and nut?)
Then final shape.

Ebony and walnut.

[Canoeal]

Canoeal:

I finally got motivated to start mine. Your pictures inspired me.

So I am shooting for comfort and point ability first, Astetic second. Normally looks would dive me, being an artist it's hard to put function over form but for this project I will.

This is a rough glue up, now I'll have to get an escussion (is that what you call the screw and nut?)
Then final shape.

Ebony and walnut.

Cool. I odered my escutcheon set up frm custmer service. Called them, ordered them and had them in a few days.

[bearcatter]

It's "escutcheon"; French. Would be neat if there could be NAA medallions on the mini grips, but they'd be too tiny !

[OV-1D]

  Rigemortis those are going to be one great looking set alrighty . Gotta see those when finished ,thanks for the thought .

[Canoeal]

It's "escutcheon"; French. Would be neat if there could be NAA medallions on the mini grips, but they'd be too tiny !

Fixed.

[bearcatter]

Not picking about escutcheon, but Rigemortis sort of asked !

[Rigemortis]

I did ask...

So I had to thin out the walnut on each side of the panels so the ebony would set flush against the frame.

I put in alignment pins.

I still need to order the (have to reference the spelling) screw thing. I might go with two.

It doesn't look like a lot of progress in the picture but the gun doesn't rattle in the grip. And now with the alignment pins I can start working the contours of the finger grooves.

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[Canoeal]

Looks good so far...

[Rigemortis]

Now to figure out what to do with the top third and around the trigger. I need to think about this.

[Uncle_Lee]

  Move the trigger forward just a tad bit.