Vaquero with Desert Ironwood Grips

I had some Arizona Desert Ironwood at home and sent it in to Eagle Grips to have them make me a set. The gun is a Bobby Tyler special, .357. The tree it came from had been hit by lightning and had dark streaks running throughout. That's what the dark line is running down the grips.

Nice grips on the New Vaquero. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice grips.

That is beautiful and absolutely unique, at least i have never seen any like that. Those grips would be a conversation starter at any shooting meet, i would never get rid of those!!

Nice grips and gun. Very unique.

That is top drawer, for sure! Very nice!!

Sweet set up

Beautiful grips and case coloring. Really nice gun.

Very nice! I didn't know Eagle Grips would make grips with customer supplied wood.

As above, how do you go about the process to have them make a set from your supplied materials?

I sent them my original grips and a slab of wood. It took two months and cost $190. I called ahead and spoke to the guy who usually answers the phone: Nate.

I have seen grips made from desert ironwood, as well as many small artifacts, such as carved roadrunners, but as I recall, have never seen the tree. Does anybody have a photo of the tree that is the source of such wood? I'd like to see a photo. I assume its a fairly small scrub tree like most desert growth?

Bob Wright

They can be small scrub or have a 2' diameter trunk and stand 20' high. It is the latter that is usually struck by lightening and ages for decades. These trees will live hundreds of years. Many photos available by googling.

SteelBlue said:

They can be small scrub or have a 2' diameter trunk and stand 20' high. It is the latter that is usually struck by lightening and ages for decades. These trees will live hundreds of years. Many photos available by googling.

Click to expand...

Did that. As I suspected sort of a scrubby tree, typical of southwest desert growth.

Thanks for the tip. Googling is not something that immediately comes to my (old) mind.

Bob Wright

As the name suggests, Desert Ironwood is extremely hard and dense. It is most often used for knife handles, but I thought why not try it for grips.

I do like your grips. Ironwood does make nice knife handles. Here is a pocket knife I have with an ironwood handle. It's about 7 or 8 years old.

Come to think of it, I've never seen an ironwood tree. Or if I have, it didn't shout out, "Hey, I'm an Ironwood Tree."

I had a chunk of it I got in mexico years ago. It was about the size of my forearm. I did some small carvings from it, and roughed out a set of 1911 panels from it that I never finished. It's a very heavy dense wood. The sawdust is toxic, I am told.

Bob Wright said:

I have seen grips made from desert ironwood, as well as many small artifacts, such as carved roadrunners, but as I recall, have never seen the tree. Does anybody have a photo of the tree that is the source of such wood? I'd like to see a photo. I assume its a fairly small scrub tree like most desert growth?

Bob Wright

Click to expand...

Search on "Olneya" to see images of the Desert Ironwood tree.

Superb!

The sawdust is certainly an irritant, but it varies a lot from tree to tree. Most I've used just had a kind of unpleasant smell, but I remember cutting one piece on the table saw and a minute later it was like having a head cold. That only lasted 30 minutes or so.

Sure is pretty wood though! Nice grips in the OP, they did a good job for you :mrgreen: