I think they'll be fine. Gotta shoot em first. Next week perhaps. Then get jiggy with some shaping and refinish. My main complaint is the pisspoorness of the finish. Very much NOT a $130 set of panels and very much not likely to be stabilized panels. Ah well, ya lays down yer dough and ya takes yer chances. If I were not capable of fining up the finish or if I didn't know enough about finishing wood I'd be either mad as hell at having to deal with a return and refund or I'd be ignorantly ecstatic with the grain and dopey smiling in my lack of knowin better.
-
ODT Gun Show & Swap Meet - May 4, 2024! - Click here for info
A New Model Old Model Blackhawk
- Thread starter Sharps40
- Start date
Good to see another project started, sharps. I would indeed be a might bit teed off at the guys who made those grips. Piss poor quality if you ask me. Especially for the price. I'm sure you will straighten them out to be perfect, at least perfect enough for any of us.
I gotta say these threads are what I enjoy the most from this site. Seeing a true craftsman as yourself hone and shape sumptin into a beaut of a gun just tickles me. Thanks for your posts! Keep em comin!
I gotta say these threads are what I enjoy the most from this site. Seeing a true craftsman as yourself hone and shape sumptin into a beaut of a gun just tickles me. Thanks for your posts! Keep em comin!
Iffn ya do the carbine, ya gonna shorten the barrel?? It would be a sho nuff flamethrower then!
Nah, I'm looking at some of the old 357 barrels at numrich. They are a nice diameter for turning by hand and threading at home w/o a lathe and have enough length to make up into a 16 to 20 barrel for a pistol carbine.
First step is getting the slop off the back and leveling the playing field. A few dozen even swipes on grounded sandpaper removes the backside finish and removes the dips and bumps in the panels. A check and they still clearance the locator pin and lay flat and tight without any assistance from the grip screw.
From the first photo, it is clear the wood panels are in no way stabilized. If so, pores would be filled and buffing would bring the wood to a shine, i.e. no finish work beyond polish would be needed. Since its not stabilized, the first of several coats of thin/deep penetrating urethane sealer will be rubbed hot and dry into the wood, wooled between coats to keep the finish level and prevent the cheep built up bar top epoxy look of a glopped on finish.
From the first photo, it is clear the wood panels are in no way stabilized. If so, pores would be filled and buffing would bring the wood to a shine, i.e. no finish work beyond polish would be needed. Since its not stabilized, the first of several coats of thin/deep penetrating urethane sealer will be rubbed hot and dry into the wood, wooled between coats to keep the finish level and prevent the cheep built up bar top epoxy look of a glopped on finish.
A good bit of work both getting off the TruOil glop and doing some shaping so the grips fit my hand and I am able to hang on to the gun. I needed (smaller hands) much less wood at the top of the grip than what was provided and some thinning of the grip on the right panel for my trigger finger to reach the trigger and center it up on the pad for a consistent pull. Initially the tops of the grips were so thick and long that I couldn't reach the trigger easily and the grip was forced up and out of my hand....i.e. very little purchase with the last finger of the grip hand.
So, to the shaping....right panel first.....a bit of room by way of a relief for the middle finger of the shooting hand.
Similar work to be done on the left panel but this a bit higher and for the thumb to wrap around. Nicest part is the extra wood at the top allows shaping and I can retain some of the swell for repeatable positioning of the shooting hand.
After relieving both panels for fingers and thumb a bit of thinning, blending and shaping of the upper swells on the grip panels. Not as chunky as they were and not so thin as factory grips. Better for my average size hands.
The upper panels are compared as I go to get the swells much closer in size and shape to each other than they were to begin with. In all, I'm sure I removed over 1/16 to 3/32 of wood from the swells of each grip panel and they are still wider up top than factory ruger panels. These grips were rather club like in shape....much like a marlin stock, way too much wood in the wrong places to look well or even fit well. But, more is better, I suppose, since it allows for fitting to the hand and/or gun later.
The upper halves of the grip panels are now much closer in shape. The left grip panel grooved a bit to the rear for the wrap around of the thumb from the backstrap. The right panel, grooved a bit to the front for the wrap around to the front strap of the middle and trigger fingers. The overall feel of the gun in recoil and recovery is much more repeatable and my grip is no longer so low on the grip frame that I seem to have eliminated the feeling that the gun is oozing up and out of my hand....i.e. the grip handle feels longer, more fingers wrap around it.
Wet sanded twice with 220 and 400 and it looks pretty good.....but wait....
After drying and the first coat of urethane is rubbed in hot and hard......sanding marks pop up. I like to freeze the grain and sand once or twice more after whiskering as I've found with very hard figured wood like this that urethane will show any of the remaining sand/tool marks that water wiskering just won't bring out. Better to find it and smooth it out now than notice it in the final rub out. Some sanding marks that were not highlighted by water whiskering show up now in the lower grip at 3 oclock in the photo. More work with 320 and 400 after the first coat of urethane kicks over should clear them up.
So, to the shaping....right panel first.....a bit of room by way of a relief for the middle finger of the shooting hand.
Similar work to be done on the left panel but this a bit higher and for the thumb to wrap around. Nicest part is the extra wood at the top allows shaping and I can retain some of the swell for repeatable positioning of the shooting hand.
After relieving both panels for fingers and thumb a bit of thinning, blending and shaping of the upper swells on the grip panels. Not as chunky as they were and not so thin as factory grips. Better for my average size hands.
The upper panels are compared as I go to get the swells much closer in size and shape to each other than they were to begin with. In all, I'm sure I removed over 1/16 to 3/32 of wood from the swells of each grip panel and they are still wider up top than factory ruger panels. These grips were rather club like in shape....much like a marlin stock, way too much wood in the wrong places to look well or even fit well. But, more is better, I suppose, since it allows for fitting to the hand and/or gun later.
The upper halves of the grip panels are now much closer in shape. The left grip panel grooved a bit to the rear for the wrap around of the thumb from the backstrap. The right panel, grooved a bit to the front for the wrap around to the front strap of the middle and trigger fingers. The overall feel of the gun in recoil and recovery is much more repeatable and my grip is no longer so low on the grip frame that I seem to have eliminated the feeling that the gun is oozing up and out of my hand....i.e. the grip handle feels longer, more fingers wrap around it.
Wet sanded twice with 220 and 400 and it looks pretty good.....but wait....
After drying and the first coat of urethane is rubbed in hot and hard......sanding marks pop up. I like to freeze the grain and sand once or twice more after whiskering as I've found with very hard figured wood like this that urethane will show any of the remaining sand/tool marks that water wiskering just won't bring out. Better to find it and smooth it out now than notice it in the final rub out. Some sanding marks that were not highlighted by water whiskering show up now in the lower grip at 3 oclock in the photo. More work with 320 and 400 after the first coat of urethane kicks over should clear them up.
They are lookin' much better now brother!
I was recently advised that I in fact may not know what a quality grip looks like......I think these amboyna burls, nearing completion of their rework will rank among those fine home spun grips of curly maple, bloodwood and afzelia xylay that have been shaped for other projects. I think I'll stand beside those and these for quality. Mebby mine ain't masterful...but they look pretty darn good to me, and more importantly, they fit the gun and my hand.
The first freeze coat of urethane dried and polishing the last of the markings out of the wood. Wet/dry paper is used and the lube is that finest and most readily available of sanding paper helpers....spit.
Second coat of urethane rubbed in and the panels are done polishing. Time to move forward with carding and coating about four more times and then a final rub out back nearly to the surface of the wood for a dead level finish and a satin glow.
The first freeze coat of urethane dried and polishing the last of the markings out of the wood. Wet/dry paper is used and the lube is that finest and most readily available of sanding paper helpers....spit.
Second coat of urethane rubbed in and the panels are done polishing. Time to move forward with carding and coating about four more times and then a final rub out back nearly to the surface of the wood for a dead level finish and a satin glow.
Making up a try sight. I have four long ramps. So, plenty to experiment with. I want to end up with a ramp and bead/blade combination about .530 above the barrel.
Jigging up to drill a pair of ramps for an 8x40 retention screw.
The Williams scissors jig paid for itself with the first four holes in a mauser many years ago. To this day it still delivers centered holes, even on tapered parts over and over again on my drill press.
Countersinking both ramps for a pan head 8x40 screw.
The ramp is screwed to an old barrel stub and the top is ground down to the line.
Now it fits the sight dovetailing jig and I plow out one corner for the dovetail bead.
Plowing out the other corner then I'll plow out the middle. All done with hack saw and files.
Final fitting of the sight to the ramp will be done with safe sided triangular files and no jig. The jig purposefully cuts a slightly undersize dovetail. Its finished when the sight can just be pushed snugly about halfway into the ramp with very firm finger pressure or light taps of a brass rod. From there only a sight pusher is used. Never use a hammer and punch to move sights on a ramp whether screwed or soldered on. To do so is to invite immediate removal of the ramp from the barrel.
Looking good. Should be fine when pushed home later.
Now is a good time to clean up the left and right sides of the ramp and round over the nose.
Next stop for this assembly will be on the barrel of the New Model Old Model to see how it looks.
Jigging up to drill a pair of ramps for an 8x40 retention screw.
The Williams scissors jig paid for itself with the first four holes in a mauser many years ago. To this day it still delivers centered holes, even on tapered parts over and over again on my drill press.
Countersinking both ramps for a pan head 8x40 screw.
The ramp is screwed to an old barrel stub and the top is ground down to the line.
Now it fits the sight dovetailing jig and I plow out one corner for the dovetail bead.
Plowing out the other corner then I'll plow out the middle. All done with hack saw and files.
Final fitting of the sight to the ramp will be done with safe sided triangular files and no jig. The jig purposefully cuts a slightly undersize dovetail. Its finished when the sight can just be pushed snugly about halfway into the ramp with very firm finger pressure or light taps of a brass rod. From there only a sight pusher is used. Never use a hammer and punch to move sights on a ramp whether screwed or soldered on. To do so is to invite immediate removal of the ramp from the barrel.
Looking good. Should be fine when pushed home later.
Now is a good time to clean up the left and right sides of the ramp and round over the nose.
Next stop for this assembly will be on the barrel of the New Model Old Model to see how it looks.
