Spalted grips

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swindler1

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 23, 2010
Messages
251
Location
Ohio
Working on these for one of my own :D

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Joined
Apr 3, 2012
Messages
5,601
Those really do look amazing. Very very nice.....On a side note. My father had a friend who died from a fungus that got into his lungs from spalted wood dust.
 

cmacrph

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 19, 2005
Messages
89
Location
Georgetown, Texas, USA
Nice work!! Love those lines that look like a back country Texas road map. Those grips look great on stainless and probably just as stunning on a blued revolver. Have you got any more of that great lookin' stuff that you could make a pair for an old pistol packin'
Grandpa?
 

Salmoneye

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
479
Location
Vermont
Another beautiful set, Mr Swindler!

Spalted Maple is one of my favorite woods for grips, and the one I have the most of to work with...
 

Tommy Kelly

Buckeye
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
1,045
Location
MISSISSIPPI
Those grips look totally awesome. I bought a set from ebay once and also a set of burl wood grips for another sp101 I have. just the little inserts and they looked great. I put them on the guns and 1 gun went in my wife's vehicle the other gun was left in my gun room after about a month I pulled both out to wipe them and the finish on both grips was bubbled up and ruined. The gun in wife's car is kept in a zippered case but the ones in gun room were left out on shelf. Both finishes were ruined I guess the wood was high moisture when finished or something. but sure ruined 2 nice sets of grips. I put the plastic inserts back on her gun and removed the finish on my grips and put the bare wood back on mine.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,023
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
I too think spalted maple is one of the neatest woods to use for stocks. I love the look. Between that & Holly,, I'm in heaven with custom stocks.

I do have a question,, tell me more about the "Trans Tint" shown. How you use it & all. That looks very intriguing.
 

Enigma

Hunter
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
2,507
Location
Houston metro area, TX
Those look absolutely outstanding! CLC (Cary) used to get some spalted Karelian Birch a few years ago that he made some absolutely beautiful grips from. I procrastinated, and he no longer offers them. Guess I need to get me some spalted Maple instead.
 

Tallbald

Buckeye
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
1,750
Location
Southern KY
Just beautiful. I myself make grips from spalted bradford pear. I love the pen and ink appearance of the fungal growth, I will caution you, if you don't already know, that sanding and cutting and especially on spalted woods releases spores than can take up residence in your respiratory tract with nasty results. I use a fine particle bio industrial rated super duper filter mask and have the shop doors open when I work with woods, especially spalted ones. I also change clothes and bathe afterwards. Once I had an allergic reaction to rosewood I was sanding for grips. Rash and hives despite shop apron and respirator. MD trip for steroid shot and oral steroids resulted. Some folks are allergic to contact with the fungi that cause spalting too. Some makers use heat to kill the fungus before working the wood too, so the spalting is halted I have read, but I don't know much more than that about the process. Same precautions have to be taken on the heat treated wood too after it's heated. Beautiful work. I hope I haven't offended anyone by offering these cautions. Don
 

caryc

Hawkeye
Joined
Jan 31, 2004
Messages
8,339
Location
Southern California
Tallbald said:
Just beautiful. I myself make grips from spalted bradford pear. I love the pen and ink appearance of the fungal growth, I will caution you, if you don't already know, that sanding and cutting and especially on spalted woods releases spores than can take up residence in your respiratory tract with nasty results. I use a fine particle bio industrial rated super duper filter mask and have the shop doors open when I work with woods, especially spalted ones. I also change clothes and bathe afterwards. Once I had an allergic reaction to rosewood I was sanding for grips. Rash and hives despite shop apron and respirator. MD trip for steroid shot and oral steroids resulted. Some folks are allergic to contact with the fungi that cause spalting too. Some makers use heat to kill the fungus before working the wood too, so the spalting is halted I have read, but I don't know much more than that about the process. Same precautions have to be taken on the heat treated wood too after it's heated. Beautiful work. I hope I haven't offended anyone by offering these cautions. Don

Working on raw green spalted wood can cause problems to some. Spalting is caused by bacteria in the dead or dying wood. The longer the spalting is allowed to continue, the more beautiful the colors and lines can get. Letting the spalting continue too far and the wood will become almost like balsa wood.

The spalting is stopped by drying the wood. This allows the bacteria to die. I get all my spalted wood stabilized so I really don't have to worry about it. I also have a dust collection system hooked to all my machines. When I'm working I also have a swamp cooler that I turn on slow speed so clean air is constantly being forced into the shop and the old air is going out the open window.

Working on any wood and creating a lot of sawdust if breathed in is dangerous to your health. One should have a good dust control system if it is something they do regularly. Or wear a good dust mask which can be rather cumbersome.

Someone mentioned buying some spalted wood and having the finish bubble up on them. I suspect the wood was not dry enough when the grips were made from it. It needs to be down to about 6 to 8% moisture content.
 

swindler1

Single-Sixer
Joined
Nov 23, 2010
Messages
251
Location
Ohio
Thanks for the heads up. I also have all of the things I use hooked to a dust collection system, here at home and at the shop. If you look at some of the pictures I have posted doing hand sanding you can see a small downdraft box I built that I sand over.
The home shop also has a JDS overhead filtration system in place and I use a Trend Airshield Pro when I work with certain woods.
 
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