Sharps40
Buckeye
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2014
- Messages
- 1,018
A good bit of work both getting off the TruOil glop and doing some shaping so the grips fit my hand and I am able to hang on to the gun. I needed (smaller hands) much less wood at the top of the grip than what was provided and some thinning of the grip on the right panel for my trigger finger to reach the trigger and center it up on the pad for a consistent pull. Initially the tops of the grips were so thick and long that I couldn't reach the trigger easily and the grip was forced up and out of my hand....i.e. very little purchase with the last finger of the grip hand.
So, to the shaping....right panel first.....a bit of room by way of a relief for the middle finger of the shooting hand.
Similar work to be done on the left panel but this a bit higher and for the thumb to wrap around. Nicest part is the extra wood at the top allows shaping and I can retain some of the swell for repeatable positioning of the shooting hand.
After relieving both panels for fingers and thumb a bit of thinning, blending and shaping of the upper swells on the grip panels. Not as chunky as they were and not so thin as factory grips. Better for my average size hands.
The upper panels are compared as I go to get the swells much closer in size and shape to each other than they were to begin with. In all, I'm sure I removed over 1/16 to 3/32 of wood from the swells of each grip panel and they are still wider up top than factory ruger panels. These grips were rather club like in shape....much like a marlin stock, way too much wood in the wrong places to look well or even fit well. But, more is better, I suppose, since it allows for fitting to the hand and/or gun later.
The upper halves of the grip panels are now much closer in shape. The left grip panel grooved a bit to the rear for the wrap around of the thumb from the backstrap. The right panel, grooved a bit to the front for the wrap around to the front strap of the middle and trigger fingers. The overall feel of the gun in recoil and recovery is much more repeatable and my grip is no longer so low on the grip frame that I seem to have eliminated the feeling that the gun is oozing up and out of my hand....i.e. the grip handle feels longer, more fingers wrap around it.
Wet sanded twice with 220 and 400 and it looks pretty good.....but wait....
After drying and the first coat of urethane is rubbed in hot and hard......sanding marks pop up. I like to freeze the grain and sand once or twice more after whiskering as I've found with very hard figured wood like this that urethane will show any of the remaining sand/tool marks that water wiskering just won't bring out. Better to find it and smooth it out now than notice it in the final rub out. Some sanding marks that were not highlighted by water whiskering show up now in the lower grip at 3 oclock in the photo. More work with 320 and 400 after the first coat of urethane kicks over should clear them up.
So, to the shaping....right panel first.....a bit of room by way of a relief for the middle finger of the shooting hand.
Similar work to be done on the left panel but this a bit higher and for the thumb to wrap around. Nicest part is the extra wood at the top allows shaping and I can retain some of the swell for repeatable positioning of the shooting hand.
After relieving both panels for fingers and thumb a bit of thinning, blending and shaping of the upper swells on the grip panels. Not as chunky as they were and not so thin as factory grips. Better for my average size hands.
The upper panels are compared as I go to get the swells much closer in size and shape to each other than they were to begin with. In all, I'm sure I removed over 1/16 to 3/32 of wood from the swells of each grip panel and they are still wider up top than factory ruger panels. These grips were rather club like in shape....much like a marlin stock, way too much wood in the wrong places to look well or even fit well. But, more is better, I suppose, since it allows for fitting to the hand and/or gun later.
The upper halves of the grip panels are now much closer in shape. The left grip panel grooved a bit to the rear for the wrap around of the thumb from the backstrap. The right panel, grooved a bit to the front for the wrap around to the front strap of the middle and trigger fingers. The overall feel of the gun in recoil and recovery is much more repeatable and my grip is no longer so low on the grip frame that I seem to have eliminated the feeling that the gun is oozing up and out of my hand....i.e. the grip handle feels longer, more fingers wrap around it.
Wet sanded twice with 220 and 400 and it looks pretty good.....but wait....
After drying and the first coat of urethane is rubbed in hot and hard......sanding marks pop up. I like to freeze the grain and sand once or twice more after whiskering as I've found with very hard figured wood like this that urethane will show any of the remaining sand/tool marks that water wiskering just won't bring out. Better to find it and smooth it out now than notice it in the final rub out. Some sanding marks that were not highlighted by water whiskering show up now in the lower grip at 3 oclock in the photo. More work with 320 and 400 after the first coat of urethane kicks over should clear them up.