Pair of 1st Gen Vaqueros

[jeffnles1]

The cherry wood grips came from a tree that fell in my grandmother's yard before she passed away. Dplit a bunch of it up for firewood and one log had some nice grain so I quartered it and put it up to dry. Forgot about it for years and made some quarter sawed splits & cut the grips. The maple are left over from a flintlock build project.

 

[Jim Puke]

Nice revolvers...like the cherry grips and I don't think that I have ever seen any.

 

[Joe S.]

Very cool. We have a maple tree on our place that is about to die on one side. Dad has been talking about cutting it down. What is the proper way to cut it so that it may be used for lumber later?

 

[jeffnles1]

Very cool. We have a maple tree on our place that is about to die on one side. Dad has been talking about cutting it down. What is the proper way to cut it so that it may be used for lumber later?

Joe,
I'm not an expert on this. I was cutting that tree up for fire wood and found a couple pieces on one side that had not been eaten up by bugs.

What I did was quarter it (split with a wedge), knock the bark off and then put varnish on the ends to keep it from splitting. I put the wood in the rafters over my garage, and quite honestly forgot about it. About 10 years later, I got the Vaqueros and wanted to make some grips. I remembered those cherry splits I had up in the rafters and pulled one down. It was good and dry by then. I split one of the quarters in half, planed it down flat on one side and cut out the outline of the grip. From there, it was a rasp and file to cut away what didn't look like a grip.

It was my first time making revolver grips and the fit isn't as perfect as I would like but they turned out fine. My grandmother passed away shortly after I made them so even though I could do a much better fit job today, I don't have any more of that wood left so in her memory, I'm leaving these on the pistol.

Cherry wood has held up quite well. Those grips have been on the revolver for over 10 years now (11 actually).

 

[Joe S.]

Jeff
I believe i have seen those pictures before and maybe even heard that story. It's a very nice story and wood from the hime place (or somewhere special, like Grandma's) makes even the blemishes not look so bad. They look fine from here.

 

[stevemb]

We are getting our camp property logged soon. Lots of Cherry in the Penn hills. Think I'll nab some pieces. In diameter, what size do ya'll look for, to make pistol/revolver stocks ? I'm not a handyman, but maybe I'll provide a few interested parties, or trade ???

 

[Joe S.]

I would think as long as you can get a 2 -1/4" wide x 1/4" thick board out if it you would be fine.

 

[jeffnles1]

Jeff
I believe i have seen those pictures before and maybe even heard that story. It's a very nice story and wood from the hime place (or somewhere special, like Grandma's) makes even the blemishes not look so bad. They look fine from here.

I think I may have posted the cherry wood one somewhere along the line. I just got the maple wood a little while ago. worked on it for a friend and he ended up selling the revolver to me a couple months back.

 

[WendyZXZ]

That is a nice pair of revolvers!

 

[powder smoke]

Very cool. We have a maple tree on our place that is about to die on one side. Dad has been talking about cutting it down. What is the proper way to cut it so that it may be used for lumber later?

Cutting down large trees that may be rotten in the center is Risky business.
Best left to a pro. ps

 

[jeffnles1]

Very cool. We have a maple tree on our place that is about to die on one side. Dad has been talking about cutting it down. What is the proper way to cut it so that it may be used for lumber later?

Cutting down large trees that may be rotten in the center is Risky business.
Best left to a pro. ps

What PS said. If it's rotten in the center, it may split when it is felled and the Lord only knows which direction it will fall after that.

The cherry tree in my grandmother's yard blew over in a storm and I cut it up after it was already on the ground.

I have a hunk of walnut in my shop now just waiting for the right project to come along Looks like it has some interesting gain.

Jeff