RT3

Those are some awesome grips, nice grain and contrast. Very nice blanks. I really just wanted to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Also to say thanks for all the kind words and plugs that have been given. If I can ever be of assistance to anyone, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Hey Oldmagics, where have you been. I keep checking the forum for new stuff and haven't heard a thing from you, have you retired? LOL

Who makes the best looking grips...not who's the best looking grip maker She does make nice ones too. While good to look at, she does in fact make some awesome grips. This is one of my latest. I don't usually do Cowboy grips, but this lefty would not take no for an answer. He wanted the stippling on the left grip only. They are made of Rock Maple and have a little fancy here and there. I used Tru-Oil for a finish after much sanding. All comments are welcome. Enjoy!

Here is a set of Desert Ironwood with a little inlay work. Let me know what you think. All comments welcome. Thanks for looking and Enjoy!

Clay, I really like what you have done with the grips. Like you said, it's not for everyone but certainly nice. Would you share the technique? I can't tell from looking exactly how they are done. Keep posting, these are some really awesome grips.

Man I love that Maple. I love working with figured Maple, it always comes out so beautiful. I have just finished stippling a set of laminated Wine Wood grips with the Kimber SIS design, turned out fairly nice. I like this design very much and plan on using it a lot more in the future. Give me your thoughts on them. All comments are welcome, good or bad. Thanks for looking, Enjoy the beauty of wood.

Hi everyone Got an email from Oldemagics the other day and he showed me some really awesome Corian grips. I am trying to get him to post a picture on this forum for all to see. They are really nice. I have never used Corian, but after seeing his I think I might have to try some of it. later

Jeremy: If you can locate the material, I will be glad to give you a quote, after I can see the material. I am not familiar with stingray skin. Hope I can help. Carl

Thanks Oldemagics for posting that order. I thought those grips were gorgeous. Always post your work, it is a pleasure to look at. Many Thank's to AMV for the great write up on my grips. They did turn out quite nice, and really enhances his gun. I am working on some more Ivory at the present time. I have the grips made but I am waiting on the inlays to come in. I won't say what the inlays are at this time, I'll leave that for a little tease. They will be quite unique. I will be sure to post them as I want to know what everyone thinks about them. All ya'll that make grips, post them and let us see your handy work. I always enjoy seeing what other people come up with. Later. Carl

Just finished another set of Ivory, seems like there is a good demand for them. I just ordered some more of the blank Ivory and have already sold 3 pair and have 2 others interested. Maybe this is what a lot of folks are looking for. Again the pictures do not do them justice. These are Ambi cut, slotted for MSP, and have a beveled bottom. Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Not to sure on your description of the grips since I am not familiar with the 2011. If you could be a bit more descriptive, I am sure I could hook you up. Maybe you could PM me and we could chat. Carl

oldemagics: Are those medallions not bendable? I always bend mine to the circumference of the grip before I inlay, therefore no filing. Maybe I am missing something here in the thread, but looks like your are not bending the medallion. If you are not, I can tell you an easy way to do it. If I can help, just let me know, maybe we could talk on the phone, I have no problem with that.

Very beautiful work! I love to see good carvings on stocks. I shoot USPSA almost exclusively but my 1st gun loves are bolt action rifles with nice wood stocks. jasmap jasmap: Thanks for the remarks on the carving. I built a lot of custom rifles back in the 70's. Almost all of them were the 98 Mauser. I would take a military Mauser and have a new barrel put on then I would do the rest, buy adding a low swung bolt knob, new trigger guard and trigger assy, and sights if the customer wanted. Then after that I would build the stock from scratch and it would usually have carving on it or some type of fancy checkering. I did all the bluing myself. I always floated the barrel in fiberglass and tested the accuracy of the gun before delivery. I loved the work but had to stop building them in order to make a living. I was from a rural area in Tennessee and the demand for the guns ran out and I didn't have enough work to keep me busy. If it were in this day and age, (computer) I think I could have made a go of it. But it is too late in life for me to get all the tools I would need and start over. Then after saying that, I could not compete with the laser and copy machines, since I do all my work the old fashioned way, by hand. But I DO HAVE A PASSION FOR CUSTOM RIFLES. Carl.

OLDEMAGICS, I have been out of touch for a few days now, just now found the time to post. Thanks for the comments, always like to hear positive thoughts. I sure wish I had more pictures of me early work, I can remember some awesome stuff, if I do say so myself. But that was way before the use of the computer. Gotta go for now. Will post more later on this week, or week end. Congrats on the order for 3 more sets of the Bonnie grips. Carl

Here a couple of snapshots that I found of my early carvings, I scanned them into the computer so I don't know how to enhance them to show more detail, sure wish I knew how to do that. I can do it with digital but not from a scanner. If any one could give me some pointers on this, I would greatly appreciate it. This is a dog and bird scene carved on a Spanish Double Barrel 12 ga. I may run upon some more of the older pictures is there is interest in seeing them. The second picture is of the pistol grip on a custom rifle stock that I built back in the early seveties. Oak leaves and acorns design. Thanks for looking and Enjoy!

oldemagics. That is some nice work and very time consuming, I'm sure. Some of these projects we get, it takes so much time that it is hard to get paid for your time and sweat, much less the stress it puts you through. I have been doing this for years and I realize that its not always about the money, it's personal satisfaction of seeing the final work, and having it appreciated by others. You got to love what you do. When you finish something like this, you just can't wait until the next project comes along. Then if it is a long time coming, you will start something on your own, without a customer. At least this is the way I am. I just love working with my hands and seeing the results. Often I will look at something I did and say to myself, did I do that. It's a great feeling and that's what keeps us going. Later this week end, I will try and dig up some of my earlier work for you to look at. I think I have a picture of one of my first carved gun stocks from back in the early seventies, if I can find it I will post it, along with some others from that era. I don't have a lot of pictures of the old stuff, because back then we did not photograph as much as now. I guess it was a lot harder back then without the digital media. If you took pictures, the only ones that seen them was the one you personally handed it to. Now with the age of the computer, I wish I had photographed everything I did. I am starting to babble, so I had better quit for now or I will have pages of babbling Be sure and post some more of your work, I really look forward to seeing it. I check out this forum every time I go on the computer to see if you have posted some more of your beautiful work.

HI. Glad you are liking your grips. You ask about the durability of Ivory. It is fairly durable, not as much as wood but it would take a fairly hard blow to damage them. They get more durable with age, when I say age, I mean the time after they are made. This pair was premium Ivory, some of the best I have seen in years. I now have a supplier that I can trust to cut it the way it is supposed to be cut. Like I have said before cutting Ivory is an art in itself. These grips to be appreciated, must be held in your hands. No words can describe the beauty of them. Keep in touch

Here is the other side of the gun with the Ivory. I did not have room to upload it on the previous post.

Here are the pictures of the Ivory grips I mentioned back in post 34. I finally finished then and got them shipped. They are African Elephant Ivory (Pre Ban) and are gorgeous. The pictures do not do them justice. They are so rich and creamy. The pictures are a little off color, as I have stated before, I am not a photographer. The actual color is a lot whiter than shown. All comments welcome ENJOY! This picture shows the fit at the bottom next to the Mag-Well

Yup! you got lucky on that one. I hate re-do's. Just found this picture on my computer that I had almost forgot about. We were talking about hard to do inlays, I think this one is among the hardest I have attempted.

oldemagics Normally when I have to remove the medallions, I drill a 1/16 hole from the back in the center of the medallion and insert a small punch, then tap it with a small hammer. Usually 2-3 sharp taps and it will come right out. You probably have already used this trick, but it is just food for thought. When the medallion is re-set, put a piece of scotch tape over the hole on the back side and when applying the new adhesive let it fill the hole, therefore no weakness in the grip panel.

oldemagics: Something you probably already know. I noticed that you have the flags exactly centered on the grips. I have found that if they are centered it creates an optical illusion that they are nearer the bottom. To cure this, I normally locate the metal insert about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch above dead center, depending on the size of the inlay. This creates a centered look. Maybe it's just me, my eyes may be out of whack As an example of this, here is a set of really expensive Desert Ironwood grips that I did some time ago. The customer sent me the medallions and wood, it's hard to find wood like this. Any way the medallions were 1/2 inch and I raised them up 1/8 of an inch to get the centered look. Carl Enjoy!

oldemagics: The way I do a poured inlay is to carve out the design, then mix 5 minute epoxy with black color and apply it with a putty knife or a Popsicle stick, (anything). I lay enough of the mixture to completely cover the carving and be above the surrounding wood. Once dry, then sand off the excess, this leaves only the recessed carving full of the epoxy. I hope this is clear for you, if not, PM me and I will send you my phone number and we can talk. You are correct about the flags on the grips you are doing. I would not want to cover that wood with that large inlay. (different strokes for different folks) Be sure and post these when you finish. Carl

Thanks ya'll for all the nice things you are saying about the grips. oldemagics: I love the carving you posted, it really looks good. Sorry it took me so long to post about it. I just finished a poured inlay on a set of grips. The gentleman has a tattoo on his upper arm that is fairly large. He sent me a snapshot of his arm and wanted me to duplicate the tattoo on a set of grips. It was some really small carving, but with patience I finally made it through. This is the end result. Enjoy Carl

I really thank you for posting the pictures on this thread. I must say they do look good on that gun. Funny how grips change the whole appearance of a weapon. As I have always said, it's the beauty of the wood. TO ALL