Bedding Rosewood Grips - pictorial

[Laguna Freak]

Last week I received Rosewood grips for my Taurus Raging Bull 444. The grips are a unique pattern with both heartwood and sapwood, and some very dark streaks in the heartwood. The wood is very hard across all of the color variations and the craftsmanship is quite good in my opinion. I bought these grips on ebay from a seller in Thailand. I’m sure some of you are familiar with his products.

As good as the grips look, they were far from a perfect fit which was not a surprise with after-market grips. So, I did a full bed job with Devcon 10110. I use 10110 for bedding rifle actions. One thing to be aware of when using this product is that in addition to being incredibly strong and machineable, it also gets a little bit bigger as it cures. This characteristic made for 1 more step as I finished the bedding job.

These first 3 pictures show the fit to the grip frame and the initial mounting which was not able to prevent the frame rotating in the grips under the force I could apply by hand.

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[Laguna Freak]

After evaluating the fit and how the two halves mated together, I used my dremel tool to remove the finish on the frame-side of the grips, remove a very small amount of wood contacting the sides of the frame to allow for expansion of 10110, and apply a slight bevel on the edges of the grips to ensure the outside surfaces touched perfectly along the joint between the halves when mounted.

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[Laguna Freak]

Here I have filled the hammer, spring, and other openings with modeling clay and applied kiwi neutral shoe polish with a coarse artist’s brush to the clay, frame, side plate, trigger guard, and anywhere else on the revolver that needs epoxy release agent when I clamp the first half up.

[Laguna Freak]

After 1 to 2 hours of cure time I used an exacto knife to trim away the excess epoxy that was pushed out by squeezing the grip half on as hard as I could and then clamping. When the epoxy is cured enough that it just resists the blade of the knife, it cuts and pulls off easily.

Very little epoxy was required. I used 122 grains of epoxy and hardener on this first grip half.

NOTE; Devcon 10110 mixes 9 parts epoxy to 1 part hardener by weight.

[Laguna Freak]

The next morning I used a 1/4” hardwood dowel and 16 oz hammer to drive the grip half off the frame. I had my wife hold the barrel while the barrel and frame rested on my pistol bench block. With the dowel in the lower grip frame hole it only required 2 moderate hammer blows on the dowel to remove the bedded grip half from the frame.

[Laguna Freak]

As I began matching up the 2nd half of the grip, I had the idea to allow a thin line of epoxy to form between the sapwood portions to mimic some of the dark lines in the wood. To accomplish this I had to remove the remaining wood finish on the sapwood portion of the 2nd half and bevel the inner edge a bit to provide a less sharp transition so the epoxy would build thicker. Also because the epoxy didn’t quite fill to the mating surface of the bedded first half, I needed to make sure to fill that space along the grip frame with modeling clay so the grip halves would not get locked together.

All prepped with release agent and ready for epoxy.

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[Laguna Freak]

I used 152 grains of epoxy on the 2nd half. All clamped up with Irwin Quick Grip bar clamps;
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[Laguna Freak]

After 2 hours cure time the epoxy filled in everywhere I wanted it and was just stiff enough to trim neatly with the exacto knife and pull off the excess. After trimming, I removed the bar clamps and applied the spring clamp because 10110 tends to grow as it cures and I did not want to risk cracking the wood.

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[megasupermagnum]

I like this method. I did it for one of my grips for my GP100, and it turned out great. I should do it to the other, but I'm lazy. Instead I've been running that grip for a couple years now with nothing but some painters tape around the grip stud to take up the slack. I also used this on a grip I tried to custom make myself for my SP101. The fit inside turned out, but I'm not so good a carver, and had to scrap those grips.

[Laguna Freak]

As with every bedding job there is always a hint of apprehension the next day when its time to separate bedded components. I’ve heard of incidents when clay filler failed or release agent was inadequately applied. I hope to never experience that. Fingers crossed.

The next morning I used a small flat screwdriver between the grip halves and tapped it with a hammer. The 1st half I bedded popped right off. The clay all stayed in place to prevent the wet epoxy from creeping into the hammer spring area or to bond with the other half.
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[Laguna Freak]

Did I mention that Devcon 10110 grows a little as it cures? I had to use my dremel to carefully remove epoxy from the trailing edge which came off easily because I had applied release agent to that portion of the 2nd half. I also had to remove some epoxy in the large flat areas of both halves where they contact the sides of the grip frame so the halves would come fully together.

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[Laguna Freak]

I’m happy with the finished product; Custom fit rosewood grips.

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[Laguna Freak]

I carried this very sweet 44 Magnum the next day while stalking feral hogs in rain soaked woodland. Didn’t see any oinkers but I did creep up within 20 yards of some deer and blackbuck antelope. I wasn’t authorized to shoot either so it was just fun! Next stop may be the shooting range.

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[Laguna Freak]

Delete

[Laguna Freak]

I like this method. I did it for one of my grips for my GP100, and it turned out great. I should do it to the other, but I'm lazy. Instead I've been running that grip for a couple years now with nothing but some painters tape around the grip stud to take up the slack. I also used this on a grip I tried to custom make myself for my SP101. The fit inside turned out, but I'm not so good a carver, and had to scrap those grips.

It works well. A little diligence goes a long way toward a successful bedding job.

[EMC45]

Very pretty

[Laguna Freak]

Very pretty

Thank you

[Catshooter]

Nice work & nice entrance into the forum man!


Cat

[Laguna Freak]

Nice work & nice entrance into the forum man!


Cat

Thank you for the kind words. I hope this thread may help some folks who have never done any bedding work. I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer in the realm of cast boolits. All I know about them, I’ve learned in the past 90 days.

[Catshooter]

Don't feel bad. I started casting in '73 and I just thought I knew how to cast, then I came here!


Cat

[leadeye]

Nice looking work, heard of people using Kiwi neutral as a release, but have never seen it done. Lecithin solution in VM&P naptha is what I've used at work.