Hand-made 1911 Grips

[Sixxgun]

I too thought of making grips and selling them (not super fancy wood) but just not have had time to do them.

[Nelson674]

Very nice work on those grips. I too made some 1911 grips and know what it takes to make them turn out that nice. Not trying to knock your work, because it is top notch, but if you want to talk about patience, get yourself a set of checkering tools.

Here is a set I did for my real steel .45
I believe these are Maple
I also did some out of bamboo flooring material. Cant find the pictures though..
Those are the tools you use to cut the checkering.





Find someone near you that lays hardwood floors for a living. They will have scraps of all kinds of nice wood that they will probably give you for free because they are to small to be worth saving after a job is done. perfect size for some nice pistol grips though.



My thoughts on the market for this type of thing..

My dad is always telling me I should be selling these things. I always see them for sale at the local gun shows but nobody seems to be buying them.. Someone mentioned that most people cant tell the difference between CNC'ed and hand crafted. This is sad and true. You got to find people that can appreciate the work you put into them. I think it would be best to make them per request. That way the customer gets to select the wood. Also it would be a shame if you spent a ton of time making a bunch of grip sets and couldn't find anyone to buy them for what they are worth.


Dam that Walnut looks gooood.

[Sixxgun]

another problem I've seen is on ebay the market is flooded with overseas makers too

[John_234]

Well make anything cheap enough and you'll have a market, airsoft or real steel. Or unique enough for that matter - make Makarov grips and you'll have a lot of people hounding you with the limited market available for that gun.

Speaking of reel steel, here's an idea. Hit up some USPSA, IPSC, IPDA or club bowling pin matches and wear your grips. Keep a couple spare ones in your shooting bag. People will inevitably ask about your nice looking grips, and you can offer them on the spot. Most shooters are fairly impulsive buyers, and it's harder to resist a sale on good, sweet hardware in person.

You probably won't sell much, but you could get some people talking about your stuff on forums, which could be a nice source of sales.