Canadian Airgun Forum

I'm well on my way to completing my very first set of wood grips to match my other wood furniture for the 13xx/22xx pistols. Let me tell you plain and simple it is no easy task, at least not for a novice with basic equipment. I thought cutting out the rough shape would be the hardest part and wasn't prepared for how much precision woodworking goes into these things. Here is the the outcome - at least 8 hrs work into them so far, lots of boo-boos too. Next will be shaping the hand hold contours. It will likely come down to something very simple - I'm no match to the people who know what they're doing, but I'm having fun and learning my limits - maybe I'll get good at it!

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Iacio, ergo sum

You're getting there Duke, off course you need more tools to shape that, so you need more toys for the new hobby

LOL, so true. I just ordered some new "right size" router bits on e-bay which will come on the slow boat from China, but it will make the work go faster and neater in future builds.

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Iacio, ergo sum

Nice work!

I would love to know how guys were making these and selling them for $40... Seems like a good 2 day job...
There has to be an easier way. I suppose more tools would help, but if a guy isn't a wood carver, how do you know what you need?

Template is the key, if you want to make it easy on everything and repeatability use cnc

'Aint that the truth. You won't be getting rich if you do go into production - it would take me about 10 sets just to cover the new tools I bought for this!
You need a table router and some good bits, a band saw or scroll saw, a belt sander, a drum sander, some rasps, drill press, and a lot of patience. I have a good supply of "free" wood, but nothing too exotic just maple, birch and a bit of what I think is mahogany. I have some poplar as well that has a green hue to it, it may stain green pretty nicely. In the spring and summer I spent a lot of time working on my wife's hobby (looms and spinning wheels), so now it's my turn to make stuff for me! It takes skill, but for sure it also takes the right tools; there is big difference between making a shed and a cabinet. I usually end up making a shedinet or a cabined whatever i set out to do.

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Iacio, ergo sum

LOL - "shedinet"
I can relate!
I actually would like to make some grips for my 2240. I really do not like the shape of the originals and I have a piece of foam insulation taped on to make it feel better to me.
Perhaps looking at the great work that you have done will get me down to the shop to make some sawdust.

Well done!
Rob27

I made this years ago, used a bandsaw and rasp file, belt sander

Power tools are a necessity if you want to make ANY money at this game.

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Best Wishes
Daryl

But if you wanna build some weird neck/shoulder muscles you didn't know you had, use chisels

Did shaping with router, drum sander, belt sander and rasp.. Here is the next intermediate step.
It feels pretty comfortable in my hand, so I'm on the right track. After I took these photos i took of some or the rough edges on the sanders, next I'll start smoothing it out with an orbital sander and hand sanding. I will make a smaller fore stock to match these grips when my router bits arrive, the fore stock goes well with the shoulder stock but looks too big for the hand grips. I've put 3 more hrs into it, and I think 3hr more should get it ready for finishing, so overall it's about 2 days work to make the first set.

_________________

))))----//----------==
Iacio, ergo sum

Finished! Well almost, still needs some oil on it but I have to let the stain dry for a while. It was a lot of work but it turned out nice. Now time to try making a shoulder stock, lessons learned from this grip project will come in handy going forward. First pic sanded before staining, then the finished grips on my 13xx (2289) pumper.

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))))----//----------==
Iacio, ergo sum