Pandemic project, one of many

But this one's all for me! :mrgreen:

I made these for my old model vaquero. Tried a little extra swell at the bottom, we'll see how I like it. Haven't gotten out to shoot it yet, but for handling I like the feel. Little worried the extra swell will cut into the meat of my hand when shooting, habit is the pinky wrap. Good to experiment though, either way it goes.

Wood is a chunk of French walnut from CA, finish is shellac.

Those look VERY nice!

And if you made them to fit your hands,, then it should improve your shooting!

Absolutely beautiful......

J.

REALLY good looking .

I agree, VERY nice!

Beautiful wood, it makes that Vaquero a great looking Ruger.

Nice!!!

Fantastic! Nice use of the grain pattern. About the swell, it's always easier to take it off, than to put it back on. :wink:

Looks great to me!

Nice quality work, and the wood is beautiful.

Nice job!

I've found the the swell at the bottom is fine if I don't leave the edge at the butt too sharp.

Lovely! Can I ask....why shellac? Dave

Thanks guys, it was a lot of fun to do.

To answer the question, I used shellac because I was impatient to get it done. Kept thinking I would stop on the way home from my reduced working schedule and shoot some cans - always too tired or had the dog with me (he doesn't like booming) :mrgreen:

Normally I like a dip in BLO on walnut, followed by several coats of Waterlox. But that takes days. I had some button shellac for dressing up a really beat K31, and I was surprised how much I liked the stuff. I never liked shellac when using de-waxed, but button is much easier to use and nicer in color. Harder to get a high gloss polish with it (that is why de-waxed is more popular with those who like shellac).

You also have the advantage of easy repair/refinish with shellac. I was a big fan of Tru Oil, when I was making grips, but that's also a time consuming finish process. The shellac looks real good on these. Absolutely beautiful wood.

Very nice! For some reason it reminds me of the .45 that Skeeter Skelton built up for his kid Bart in the early '70s. I always thought that was a handsome gun.