Curly maple
- Thread starter Glen
- Start date
F
freebullet
Guest
Lookin good. Hope you'll share results.
Ian
Notorious member
That sure is purty, where do the cartridges go? (said the pianist/sax player) 
If my keys were vibrant wood grain colors they'd call me Liberace, but not because I have his talent. Guitar players get to have all the fun with mother-of-pearl and exotic woods, stains/dyes and custom paint jobs.
If my keys were vibrant wood grain colors they'd call me Liberace, but not because I have his talent. Guitar players get to have all the fun with mother-of-pearl and exotic woods, stains/dyes and custom paint jobs.
Well, there has been a bit of a delay in this project as I had an "ooops!" with a drill bit and laid my thumb and forefinger (trigger finger!) open a couple of days ago, which has limited how much I can do on this project. This afternoon I did some more shaping on the grip panels and have them ready to start sanding.
1911 grips are pretty easy to make. There is only one critical dimension, the distance between the escutcheons (I don't recall if it's 3.074" or 3.047"), and you need to use a letter "B" bit. I rough cut the slabs either using a table saw, or a cross-cut saw (depending on the size/shape of the original piece). This time I was using essentially a 1" x 4" piece of curly maple, so I cut out the first piece using a cross-cut saw, and then I split it using the cross-cut saw (make each grip at least .350" thick). Mark where the holes need to be drilled (I made a fixture years ago using a piece of 2" x 2" oak) and drill them on the drill press. Trace out the outline of the grips (using the holes and drill bits to align the grips onto the blanks). Shape the grip to the traced outline using a belt sander. Next, shape the rough contour on the belt sander. Place the rough shaped grip on the fixture in the vice and draw file it to a finished profile, then sand to the desired finish. Counter-sink the escutcheon holes on both sides, and finish the grips as desired.
Ian
Notorious member
Glen, that looks very much like what we called "Pacific coast maple" at the cabinet shop. It is very tough, dent-resistant, and a lot more difficult to sand than rock maple or sugar maple, and shows every pre-stain sanding scratch if you stain it. Some shops used it for cabinets when clear Alder was specified, since clear Alder is rare and expensive. I made a few sets as gifts when I worked at a cabinet shop, just using a table saw, 4' jointer, and drill press. Beats the pants off of using a 10-point crosscut saw, rasps, and files!
Here are a couple of pictures of the 1911 fixture I made for making grips. Those are 2 letter "B" (.237") in a piece of oak, roughly 2x2x4. The spacing in this fixture is 3.071" ctc (I was aiming for 3.074"). I use this fixture to mark the holes in the grip blanks, and then when I'm shaping the grips, I push the bits out the back of the fixture about .200" and mount the grip blank on the exposed nubs and put the fixture in my bench vise and draw file and sand the blanks as needed.
