oldemagics Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 RT3, nice design work but i am a bit lost on "poured inlay". what exactly is that? cut the lines and pour a polimer or something in the recesses? all the inlay i have done was other wood/metal cut and fitted. worst one i think was 37 peices for a coat of arms with a finished size of 2 in square a set i am doing now is nice red maple burl w/"Bonnie Blue" pins inset in the centers, was almost a shame to interupt such nice grain with the flags, but... not inset here yet, but this is what he wants Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldemagics Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 (edited) they did go just a bit higher, i also placed them just a bit forward of center. just a habit i have whenever it is a standard, either the Stars and Stripes or other legitimate U.S. or state emblem. just to signify going forward and never to be thought of as being in retreat. waiting on a reply from the cust now, must have been cheap pins (modern, so what else would they be) and in the process of trying to get the plastic "enamel", frames and wood to flush, some of the gilt rubbed through leaveing it silver i really miss the old badges/pins with solid brass backings and enamel instead of plastic... but they were worse to bend without breaking the design hope he doesnt mind the change, will be a bear of a job to remove and replace those things edit to add pic... still needs a few more coats of oil and lots of rubbing, some clean-up around pin edges. waiting to see if i am re-doing them before going further. right grip insert IS off level by about 1/32", but not noticeable unless they are side by side like in the pic Edited August 5, 2009 by oldemagics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 (edited) 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. Edited August 5, 2009 by RT3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldemagics Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 got lucky, he e-mailed this a.m. and said he would like to just take it a bit further down so the entire frame is silver. sure beats starting over with a new set of pins after that a dozen or so rubbed out coats of oil and they will be done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 got lucky, he e-mailed this a.m. and said he would like to just take it a bit further down so the entire frame is silver.sure beats starting over with a new set of pins after that a dozen or so rubbed out coats of oil and they will be done 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Here is the other side of the gun with the Ivory. I did not have room to upload it on the previous post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JQ- Posted August 7, 2009 Author Share Posted August 7, 2009 Very nice grips Carl! How durable is ivory? By the way - I carried the LB with the new grips today for the first time...smooth was the right choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Very nice grips Carl! How durable is ivory?By the way - I carried the LB with the new grips today for the first time...smooth was the right choice. 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bball97 Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Very nice grips Carl! How durable is ivory?By the way - I carried the LB with the new grips today for the first time...smooth was the right choice. 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 Beautiful grips! Thanks for the pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldemagics Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 like the french curve instead of the usual top treatment on that ivory RT3! And you are right, ivory must be FELT to appreciate it found some pics of actual inlay i did too many years ago on one of my canes, both are about 1 1/2" wide and they show the abuse they took lol red cedar, brass and mother of pearl brass blades and crown, mother of pearl cross and hilts on the swords, and walnut i cheated and just carved the lettering and filled with enamel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Happy Gila Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 (edited) You might want to try these guys. I have a pair of their desert ironwood grips on my Ed Brown Commander Bobtail and really like the look. http://www.gripsandknives.com/ Good luck THG Edited August 8, 2009 by The Happy Gila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 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! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldemagics Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 always enjoy seeing others work TR damn nice work and detail for "early" work those inlays were about 17 yrs ago when i first got off a walker and crutches, on a cane i made myself cause i hate the ugly ones the docs "prescribe" it was also the first work i did with wood in over 20 yrs except for construction and a few cabinets sorry was out of touch for a few, packed in the A.T. to get away from people and clear the head. found out i am now out of a job, and that the last week will probably not be paid since the co is bankrupt on the plus side, they guy who ordered the Bonnie grips also has sent a deposit for 3 more sets since he found out i will have a bit more time at my own shop! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 always enjoy seeing others work TRdamn nice work and detail for "early" work those inlays were about 17 yrs ago when i first got off a walker and crutches, on a cane i made myself cause i hate the ugly ones the docs "prescribe" it was also the first work i did with wood in over 20 yrs except for construction and a few cabinets sorry was out of touch for a few, packed in the A.T. to get away from people and clear the head. found out i am now out of a job, and that the last week will probably not be paid since the co is bankrupt on the plus side, they guy who ordered the Bonnie grips also has sent a deposit for 3 more sets since he found out i will have a bit more time at my own shop! 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Bacus Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 For me, the best grips have always been from Craig Spegel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasmap Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 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! 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldemagics Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 well RT, finally finished them ended up putting the new pins in anyway, the first set got so thin the colored plastic rubbed through while i was rubbing out the oil! explained the whys and wherefors to him and he agreed to let them just a tad high in the wood rather than filw down the new set. because they wrapped so far around i didnt want to inlet any deeper that near the edge of a thin grip here is the test fit: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RT3 Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sterling White Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 All this flash makes me think that someone should organize a "bling" only match! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldemagics Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 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. yes they are bent, but they gave fits for that! the plastic of the design cracked very quickly, had to keep it hot, but not enough to blister, then the backing tray EDGE was lower than all the rest. had ot make a wood jig and keep the outer shoe that it touched just the edge so as to not mess up the heated center plastic but till i inset deep enough for the tray, it was getting a bit thin for my likeing near the edges of the grip, especially with it being burl sent him a copy of the inlay i posted above, and hope if he wants any more like this he will let me do true inlay instead of the pins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now