What's new at Sarge's Grips

[Sarge43]

Today's pic is Mammoth tooth inset into Gabon Ebony. I really like the contrast/compliment thing of the whole package. It's very cool to me to think that this inset was alive and walking the earth 50,000 years ago. Wow.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[QKShooter]

Your inlay work is just immaculate and absolutely some of the nicest 1911 grips that I've ever seen.
Fantastic wood selection also.

[Sarge43]

Thank you QKShooter. Making grips is something that I really love to do. In fact, I'm thinking seriously about moving it from a hobby to a full time thing. Time will tell. Anyway, the making of the grips is the easy part, nature took care of all the beauty for me!
I'm glad you're enjoying the beauty of it all, that's the reason for this thread!
Sarge

[Bumper]

In fact, I'm thinking seriously about moving it from a hobby to a full time thing. Time will tell. Anyway, the making of the grips is the easy part, nature took care of all the beauty for me!

I believe that once you've had your website out there for awhile you would be able to make a good living making them. They are better looking and less expensive than most everything else I've seen out there.....

[Sarge43]

Wow. Thank you Bumper, I appreciate that.

[Sarge43]

Venezuelan Rosewood - a heavy, hard and dense wood. Very nice reddish brown color with great veining.

[Sarge43]

Red Mallee Burl from Australia. Beautiful wood with a LOT of eye appeal.

[Sarge43]

Today's beautiful wood is one of natures oddities. It is Maple burl believe it or not, but it has been mineral stained. Mineral staining occurs naturally and happens when the tree itself or its water supply is exposed to minerals that turn the wood colors other than what would be considered normal for that wood - like this maple that looks for all the world like Cherry. One of natures beautiful curve balls.
Enjoy!
Sarge

[David in FL]

Beautiful work!

Where are you getting your wood?

Have you used Rambutan at all? I use it a lot for jewelry boxes and humidors. Even figured pieces and burls machine pretty easily and it's dense enough that I always thought that it'd be well suited to grips.

[Sarge43]

David,
I get my wood from anywhere I can! I spend lots of time digging through the backs and bottoms of wood bins at the few local dealers, and order some online whenever the beautiful stuff is available.
Yes, I've used Rambutan quite a bit and have a few blocks in the shop right now. It is a great wood to work with. Good to "meet" another wood worker in here.
Sarge

[Bumper]

Darn, you make some nice grips, Sarge. You tempt me every morning when I get up....

[Sarge43]

Thank you bumper. I'm glad you enjoy the pics. Just imagine how I feel on Saturday and Sunday mornings when I wake up and get to go out to my shop and be surrounded by this stuff all day. Those are the only days that I actually look forward to getting out of bed early. The wife usually ends up dragging me back in the house around 10 at night. I have the best and most fun hobbies in the world. Very blessed.
Sarge

[Sarge43]

Today, we'll take a very short break from the woods and show you some of the non-wood grips that I do. I vastly prefer the wood myself, but understand that there are applications that are best served by other materials.

[Sarge43]

Here's some of the best quilted Maple I've ever seen. I was lucky enough to find a block of good size that looks like this over its entirety. Very lucky find and I'm happy to say that it's sitting in my shop right now.

[Sarge43]

My other lucky find was also in the Maple family. This block of curly fiddleback Maple is big enough for about 40 sets of grips and is VERY consistent in this look throughout. This is some exhibition grade stuff right here. I'm lucky to have it. Wow.