Casull 454 with Ivory grips 26 yrs old

[gandydancer]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_66914efe13ababdc0.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3182)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_66914efe13c0f01e8.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3183)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_66914efe13db94df6.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3184)

with a Holster I made my self same year as gun 1986 GD

[454PB]

Nice!

[Rick Hodges]

Very nice work...both pieces.

[shovel80]

Great Job!! Keep up the Work!!!

TErry

[Char-Gar]

Those grips are not ivory. The are the good Westinghouse micarta that is no longer available. Very good stuff.

[gandydancer]

Those grips are not ivory. The are the good Westinghouse micarta that is no longer available. Very good stuff.


The man is right! They are Ivory Micarta grips. I'm told made from about 70 % Ivory Dust some kind of cloth and polymer. I was told at the time that real 100% Ivory will not hold up under recoil with hot loads. today I was shooting 34 grains of no maybe I better not post the load. some wing nut will try it in a torebutt. anyway Car-Gar is right. GD

[Lloyd Smale]

thing is real westinghouse ivory micarta is very hard to come by and your grips are probably worth near what real ivory is worth.

[rintinglen]

What a great pairing of gun and leather! I especially like the painting on the initials.

I shot my friend Rick"s .454 in those days and was awestruck by the accuracy and power. But, with two young daughters and a wife and a blue collar salary, such things were beyond my means. His revolver cost more than my car in those days.

Now, I can afford one, but my wrists aren't up to the pounding--anything much beyond Skeeter's .44 special load and they start to hurt.

[exile]

Beautiful single-action, Gandydancer, however, I (almost) like your signature line better.

exile

[gandydancer]

Hello rintinglen! I hear you on the wrist thing. I have the rities Bros in both hands now. but even with that I could stand it ok but both trigger fingers are so stiff I have to pull the trigger with my middle finger now. pretty soon I will pass it on to the grand son. He's a smart young man and will take good care of any thing I give him. thanks. Tom

[Char-Gar]

My memory is getting foggy, but IIRC micarta has been around for many years. It was developed an an elctrical insulator and later made the jump to pistol grips and knife handles. It is linen, canvas or paper laminated under high pressure with some fancy resins and such. Westinghouse was the original with that nice golden color and redish-brown figure. It is tough, tough stuff and will eat up tools.

I have several sets of pistol grips from that stuff and I like it a bunch. I wish we could still get it. Real ivory is rather soft, but micarta is not. I would not swap a pair of good Westinghouse micarta grips for real ivory. I don't know about price, but Westinghouse micarta is solid, durable and at least to me very, very attractive.

There has been some ivory polymers around that is ivory dust and fancy glue compressed., but micarta has no ivory.

[gandydancer]

The grips on the Casull in the photo's are from freedom arms made for said gun in 1986 the scriemsraw work is by Kathy walker of Wyoming the grips are made with 70% ivory dust and canvas cloth & polymer the cloth is folded hundreds of times much like the makeing of a samurai sword. the color of the grips are from age much like 100% Ivory. when I first got them they where a white color and was told by freedom arms that they would turn with age. look at the custom Ivory type grips on my S & W 1911 posted on here 15 years old same color as the day I put them on. I have had about six pairs of Ivory dust macarta grips over the years made with ivory dust so that they would turn color with age. GD


Char-Gar I'm just teasing. you can dog anything you want or not I don't have time to be upset over anything that trivial. Now if you kicked my Dog?

[Char-Gar]

gandydancer... I didn't intent to dog you grips or give offense. I don't doubt you, so no need to check with Freedom Arms.

I am anything but an expert, but I can recognize the difference between ivory and micarta. Some folks seem to have a problem with that.

[suba]

I don't want to hijack this thread just wanted to chime in. My FA was made about the same time. I did quite a bit of research about the old westinghouse micarta. Like Char Gar said there was paper, canvas, and linen. No ivory dust in them at all from what I know. No mention of that anywhere although I never spoke to FA. My belief is there is no ivory dust in the grips, but that's just my opinion.

btw, real nice gun and holster you have there gandydancer.

[gandydancer]

Hello Suba. I like yours also nice looking firearm. and I like the Barrel on yours I have the xtra 45 colt cylinder and another set of sights and I don't think I have shot 50 rounds in the 45 cylinder. there are bigger ones out there but none better made unless you go custom. and I feel ours are a custom revolver. good to see yours. thanks. Tom

[W.R.Buchanan]

Ivory Paper Micarta is available from several knfe making supply co's. There is no ivory dust in it. Where would you get Ivory dust anyway?

It is ivory colored paper laminated under heat and pressure with Phenolic resin. It starts out an off white and ages to an ivory yellowed color. I have made many knife handles out of it, and still have a chunk that is 3/8 x 4 x 24 in my knife making supplies.

They also make Black paper Micarta which looks like Buffalo horn.

The is also linen, canvas, and wood types of Micarta. The wood kind is called pakkawood.

All of these are very durable handle materials, and not hard in anyway to machine or work.

The original micarta was laminated canvas (the orange colored stuff) and was created by Westinghouse specifically to be used as brush insulators in large power generators that were built by them. It makes about the best heavy duty handles for any type of knife you can imagine.

I don't have any knives left with Ivory paper on them but here is a pic of one with the black paper on it. It doesn't show very well in the pic, and it really needs a trip across the buffer, but it does really look like the layers in buffalo horn. This is the first custom knife I made, and I made it for myself in 1984. The blade is 154CM hardened to 63 Rc, it has a tapered tang, brass bolsters, and black paper Micarta scales. It should be around for hundreds of years!

Randy

[gandydancer]

you know I havent had my gonads busted so much on any one thing sense my old man died.

[Lloyd Smale]

tru-ivory grips us ivory dust in them. So it is possible to use ivory dust in making grips.

[Char-Gar]

OK Lloyd old pal, just so Gandy Dancer doesn't feel like the only one getting picked on. I don't think Tru-Ivory has ivory dust in them either. I will have to check to be certain. Tru-Ivory is the very best of the feaux ivory, but there is no ivory in it. I had a pair for a 1911 and it looks, feels, ages, and scrimshaws like the real stuff, but it isn't.

There were some ivory dust polymer grips, that were popular. They were white and could be tea stained to age them, but had no grain. Tru-Ivory has grain.

Now that I have shot off my mouth based on "old man brain", I am going to have to check all of this out again. Stand by for an apology if I am wrong..but don't hold your breath :-)

OK... The maker of Tru-Ivory says they are made in house from a secret process which they are not going to disclose. So, I am going to stand by the above, unless you can prove me wrong. :-)

[Char-Gar]

you know I haven't had my gonads busted so much on any one thing sense my old man died.

It is good for you...builds character. That is what you father would tell you. :-)

[W.R.Buchanan]

The Ivory paper micarta was highly desired by the Scrimshaw guys because of the consistancy of the material. It didn't have "grain" perse' It has texture. Grain has a tendency to make your scratches deviate from your intended desires. The micarta's texture was not directional so you could do pretty much anything you wanted.

Some of the best Scrimshaw work ever done was done by the late Bob Egnath . He had a well known piece that was a scene with a Polar Bear and two cubs. You wanted to pet them they looked so fuzzy, and the fuzzy part was so well done that it looked like actual hair, and the hairs were done one at a time!" He was great guy who would give you the shirt off his back, and I miss him as does all of the old time knife guys. He was one of those guys you never heard a bad word about no matter who you talked to.

I should be so lucky.

He also wrote the definative book on Scrimshaw called "the Second Scrimshaw Connection"

I always wanted to do it as a hobby, but I have eleven other hobbies in front of it so maybe when I'm old a gray!

Gandy: If we didn't bust your ballz,,,, who would? :kidding:

Randy

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_182084f04ba557bb29.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3294)

[Char-Gar]

Mr. Buchanan.. When you are old and gray you won't have the fine motor skills in your hands to do Scrimshaw. Don't ask me how I know.

[gandydancer]

It is good for you...builds character. That is what you father would tell you. :-)
The only thing my old man ever told me was Get me another beer and get out and take that damn dog with you. The best thing he ever did for us is when he fell out of a boat between maine & canada people said he came up once with a bottle of booze in each hand and went back down never to be seen or heard from again.

[Char-Gar]

Sorry to learn of your bad experience with your father. I didn't meet my father until I was 32 years old. He was not a good man. I had the good luck to be raised by grandparents who were very good people. My mother was a looser as well. Life goes on and we overcome poor parents and turn out well in spite our bad start. Best ol luck.....

[gandydancer]

Oh hell I'm all right. I just like to rant.