Desert ironwood single action army grips

[Love Life]

I love Desert Ironwood. It is my favorite grip material next to ivory. It just feels good in hand and has beautiful figure. However, it’s name is truly fitting, lol. I approach workin the wood about the same as working metal.

I highly recommend you cut as close to final dimensions as possible. Sanding the stuff is a chore. Filing the stuff is a chore. I actually use drill rasps and carbide burs to work the stuff.

Right now I am working on a set of two piece grips for a Colt SAA. I thought about making one piece grips (3 pieces glued together), but really hate taking three screws out to remove grips instead of one, lol.

I’ll post up pictures later.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

[QUOTE=I’ll post up pictures later.[/QUOTE]

Sure hope so.

[jmort]

Are you not busy enough ?????
How do you find the time to start custom SAA grip creation ?????

[Love Life]

There are 8 hours between lights, lol.

[OS OK]

It would be interesting to see some pictures of the progress and the machinery you use...just saying, I know you have enough on your plate as it is. heheee

[Love Life]

I use a cordless drill with sanding drums for soft stuff with most of the work done with sanding blocks and hand power, lol.

For ironwood I use a drill press with a carbide bur, sanding drums, and drill rasps.

[nekshot]

Again my sheltered life shows, I heard of iron wood. Learn something new all most every day!

[Drm50]

My dad was a supervisor in a power plant. They had river pumps that employed Iron Wood bushings. They came in a set of sections. They messed up a set putting them in and dad brought them home to make grips out of. We stared working on grips for Ruger SAs and that stuff was about the same as working cast iron. We made one set and quit. We were using a high speed commercial die grinder. It was hard on bandsaw to. I'll stick with walnut and maple.

[scattershot]

I have a couple of knives with desert ironwood scales. Beautiful stuff .

[Love Life]

246520


In this picture you see a blank, a roughed in panel, the carbide bur, and the drill rasp. Working desert ironwood is no easy task. If you run to fast with sand paper it loads the drums and belts really fast due to it being so oily. It is prone to chipping as well so tools must be sharp and small passes made. The final profile shaping is tedious with sanding blocks but well worth it. I polished these prior to working it to see what chatoyance it had. Once shaped I’ll take the finish back down to a 220 grit and finish with CA glue. Leaves sanding marks in the wood for grip and texture, but brings out some shimmer. I call it the wood wagon wheel finish, lol.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

That grain is really beautiful-- it flows. A great project.

[Love Life]

It does have nice grain. The sapwood and dark heart wood go well with the Colt’s royal blue and case hardening.

[Texas by God]

I’ve heard that Ebony wood is too dense to float on water. Is ironwood like that?

[SSGOldfart]

Sure hope so.

I hope so as well well the picture didn't open I guess they are nice

[Love Life]

I’ve heard that Ebony wood is too dense to float on water. Is ironwood like that?

Yes. You really have to approach it like working metal.

[M-Tecs]

I have never worked with Desert ironwood. A quick online search indicates it's somewhat pricy. Do you have a recommend source to purchase some?

[Love Life]

Arizona Ironwood has decent prices, and you can score some good stuff on eBay. Expect to be in the $40-$70 range for a set of really nice blanks. It’s worth it though. I use the scraps to make the spacers for one piece Single Action grips because it is stable and won’t expand or contract.

It’s a heck of a lot cheaper to by blocks and cut your own blanks, but you never know what’s hiding inside, lol. Plus it gives bandsaws the business. I don’t pay for bandsaw blades at the base wood shop so that saves me some moolah.

Iron wood can have knock your socks off figure or it can be more boring. I tend to prefer the dark heart wood, but if the sapwood flows with the grain then that’s pleasing as well. The burl is phenomenal as well, but I try to have the grain in my blanks follow the shape of the grips.

You can also polish it like metal to bring out the chatoyance. At 2000 grit, it is very glossy and all I do to it is buff in a coat of wax. I prefer to finish to a low grit as it reminds me of the desert worn wood buildings of the Nevada desert.

[Blackwater]

I've used desert ironwood on the knife I made for my son, and yes, it was tough to work and sand. But it's well worth it. Desert ironwood, in a good figured piece, looks amazingly good. The transitions between the light and dark streaks can be very subtle, or very sharp. It all depends on the individual piece of wood, as with all other wood grips. I love its feel in my hands. It seems to be smooth, so you can move it around in your hands to change your grip, and yet, when you put pressure on it, it is very secure and relatively immobile in your hand. That's a very useful set of qualities in a handgun, especially the SA's. I consider the extra effort in working it very much worth while.

[Love Life]

I got the second blank cut out and roughed in. I’ve started working on the grip frame to revolver frame fit. Once done with that I’ll drill the pin holes, escutcheon holes, and do final shaping. I’ll add more photos later.

I had to finish up a set of Resin Ivory grips for another person before I could play more with the ironwood. I also have some really nice maple and Claro walnut I’ll be making grips of next.

[Love Life]

It would be interesting to see some pictures of the progress and the machinery you use...just saying, I know you have enough on your plate as it is. heheee

OS OK- http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?383952-Ruger-New-Vaquero-grip-making

That link will take you to my method of how I make them.

[Love Life]

246876

At this point the right grip panel is about 80% done. The left panel still needs to be sanded down closer to the final size, and then profiled.

Escutcheons have been installed, and the locator holes drilled.

[Love Life]

246885

Here is the left grip panel, fully shaped. In this picture I just finished with the 220 grit, wiped it with mineral spirits, and buffed it with 0000 steel wool to see what the grain is doing.

I think I’ll take it to 600 grit and call it done.

[Finster101]

That would be some nice looking 1911 grips as well. Maybe a Dremel tool to add some checkering on the flat side grips. Very nice work.

[Love Life]

246892

All done!

[TNsailorman]

Beautiful. Very well done too. Wish I had a couple of slabs of that stuff big enough to make N frame grips. I have 2 that would love a set. james

[Love Life]

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246896

Here they are at home on the Colt.

[jmort]

Excellent fit and finish
The dust has not settled, but I have no doubt there are more irons in the fire

[Love Life]

Excellent fit and finish
The dust has not settled, but I have no doubt there are more irons in the fire

246897

Yep!!

Top row left to right: Curly Maple, Curly spalted Maple, Claro Walnut
Bottom: Desert Ironwood heartwood. It should finish really dark for a nickel plated pistol.

[Love Life]

So I took the grips off and did some more profiling. I originally finished hen with flats along the backstrap and front strap to see how that felt. It didn’t feel right and the flats caused pressure points along the palm and fingers. They now have a traditional rounded profile and feel much better. I also took the finish from 800 grit on the wood to 400 grit. I’ll apply 3 coats of CA glue with a steel wool buff and wet sanding between coats and I’ll finish it all off by hand buffing in a coat of wax.

[Love Life]

So I took the grips off and did some more profiling. I originally finished hen with flats along the backstrap and front strap to see how that felt. It didn’t feel right and the flats caused pressure points along the palm and fingers. They now have a traditional rounded profile and feel much better. I also took the finish from 800 grit on the wood to 400 grit. I’ll apply 3 coats of CA glue with a steel wool buff and wet sanding between coats and I’ll finish it all off by hand buffing in a coat of wax.

[oconeedan]

Super nice!