Sarge43

My day job is in natural stone, so I know a little about fabrication with it.
Marble and limestone is soft enough that it can be shaped with carbide sanding belts. With belts, it can be polished reasonably well when worked up to 600 grit or so and then buffed. You can also take it up to about 400 grit and then finish both it and the wood around it (in the case of an inset) with the finish of your choice. Be aware that many marbles are very fractious and would not do well as stand alone grips, but would be great for insets with wood. Granite is a totally different beast and will require diamond tooling to be shaped and polished with any degree of reasonable speed. Granite is a material that could be used in stand alone grips without much of a worry. Whole books could be written on how to shape and work stone, but this is a very basic start. If you have specific questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer them.
Sarg

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bigo5552000

thanks for the info! i don't have a belt sander on a stand just a portable one... can i shape it by hand or with a dremel??

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Sarge43

Is it possible? Yes. Will you spend way too much time doing it? Also yes. You can build a jig for your belt sander pretty easily that wil hold it steady on it's back and make it a stationary sander. About $15 of MDF and an hour or so of time can get it done in style.
Good luck!
Sarge

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Sarge43

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the last day of the Memorial weekend sale. Just enter "remember" in the coupon box at checkout and you'll get a $10 discount on any set of grips. For details, swing by Home Page . Purchases of several sets will need to be accomplished by breaking them into single purchases. Doesn't end up costing you anything more, as shipping is included in the prices shown, it's just that I can't figure out how to get the coupon to apply to multiple purchases on one order. I've never been accused of being a computer guru.
Sarge

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Sarge43

Here's some very high figure maple to kick off the short work week.

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Sarge's Grips - grips that fit
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Sarge43

Todays set will be of special interest to a certain forum member here. They are not complete yet as I have to knock the finish down to satin, but they show well with the gloss too, so here are the pics -
Snakewood over Zebrawood.

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Sarge's Grips - grips that fit
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JCAz

automatic slim

How about some in Olive wood?

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Sarge43

I've worked with olive wood prior, in fact I have some in the shop. Hmm.........

Todays set of grips is not aged ivory, it's camel bone. It's difficult finding pieces large enough to use as stand alones that allow to you to get a fit to the frame that's good. I was fortunate and got my hands on a few. Camel bone can range from white, to aged, to a downright mastadon rugged look. It is OFTEN mistaken for Ivory as it's a bone and often looks just like it. The big advantage is that it's much cheaper than elephant ivory.
Anyway, I'll stop the book now. Enjoy the pics!
Sarge

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rhinokrk

order inbound

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