My foray into custom exotic wood 1911 grips

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the last pics from me for 5 days. Getting ready to head out on a dive trip here in a couple of hours.
Beautifully deep white Box Elder Burl with a gloss finish

Moradillo - rich brown with dark veining. solid wood! Oil finish

 

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Back from the dive trip with all my toes, fingers, arms and legs.
Bloodwood over maple in a bobtail configuration. I like the layered and framed look with the curve of the bobtail. Very cool.

 

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A set in marblewood that reminds me of lightning during a storm. I had another set from the same block with the same pattern that was stippled at an angle on the lower half. Looked really cool, but I let it get away before I took pics of it. I'll just have to make another set that way.

 

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A set from this weekend in what I call "spotted" Bocote. Many times bocote is straight grained when grain cut and circular when crosscut, but every once in a while you find pieces that have upheavals in the layers or rings that produce this spotted graining. Very unique and beautiful. Bocote is an oily wood, so either an oil finish or a lacquer is best suited for it.
Enjoy!

 

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I had never heard of this wood up until a few weeks ago, let alone worked with it. It's name is Rambutan and it is a dream to work with. Hard and dense, it shapes well, takes a finish well and is just flat out beautiful. A soft red color with reddish brown veining that moves through the piece randomly as you can see. This is great stuff! If you get a chance to work with it, do it. You'll be glad you did. Makes for some gorgeous grips.
Enjoy!
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The beautiful wood for today is from Hawaii, and is called Pheasantwood. You can't tell it from my lousy photography skills, but the grainging very closely resembles the feathers of a pheasant (hence the name). The colors and graining have a great depth and chatoyance to them when rolled under the light and the wood is a delight to look at. This wood is becoming harder to come by as it's been somewhat over harvested, but it is on the comeback trail due to restrictions now in place.
Enjoy!
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Another set of bobtails done in Olivewood. Olivewood is heavy, dense and oily, but is beautiful and fairly easy to work with if you dry it properly. A straw colored base with light brown to black veining wandering throughout, it is a visually pleasing wood as well and the total package translates into great grips. I urge you to try this wood if you get the chance to get your hands on some. Make sure you dry it properly first, or you'll experience a curling of cupping factor that will drive you nuts. Patience is a virtue with this wood when it's green (wet). The payoff is high if you are indeed patient, so give it a shot!
Enjoy,
SRT

 

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Just came out last night. These grips are done in Bamboo. I'm still learning about bamboo as I've not worked with it before now, but the color variation is casued by heating the wood under pressure with sporadic heat. There is also a uniformly dark bamboo that is done the same way just with even heat. The heat gets into the wood and it works much like toast does - the heat burns the sugars present in the wood (bread) and darkens it. It keeps to my personal rule of "no stains used" so I'm happy. When pressure is applied, bamboo becomes quite hard and is suited well to making grip panels that will see heavy use. It has the added advantage of being beautiful as well.
Enjoy,
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A set of bobtails in the Spotted Bocote. I really like this wood, it's beautiful as well asa having an interesting story attached to it.

 

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Eye candy of the day is provided by a wood that I ordered in from Hawaii - Curly Mango. This wood has unbelievable depth and shimmer to it. It just flashes over it's entrie surface when rolled in the light. Absolutely gorgeous!
Enjoy!
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Todays beautiful wood is Black and White Ebony which, when crosscut, dsiplays great veining moving through the cream colored base wood. Hard and dense it can be difficult to work (especially if not dried properly), but once done, the beauty is worth any additional required effort.
Sorry for the blurry pic.
Enjoy!
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The beautiful wood of the day today is Ambrosia Maple. The streaks and different colors found in this wood are stains made by the secretions of the ambrosia beetle left as it chews it's way through the wood. The base color is of course the creamy color of maple, but against this are the beautiful blues, grays and even reds formed in this process. It's woods like this that confirm my decision to never stain or artificially color any woods. I mean come on, how can I improve on this?
Enjoy!
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eye candy provided courtesy of Amboyna Burl. Amboyna Burl can be curly (as shown) or have the burl swirl and eyes in it. Both are stunning and both have great depth to them. Amboya Burl has long been considered one of the worlds most beautiful woods, and for good reason. Solid bur easy to work with, you really should pick some up if you get the chance and try it out. Very aromatic, it gives off a very pleasing scent while working with it.
Enjoy!
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Some of the most dramatic and beautiful woods can be found right in our own little corner of the world and this is an example. Bird's Eye Maple is from the good ol' US of A and is a very unique wood. Believe it or not, no one can definitivley say what causes the eyes, or how they form in this wood. They've tried, but just can't come up with the answer. In the higher end pieces, this wood will have a "crisp" light color and a good concentration of eyes throughout.
BE Maple begs to be finished in polyurethane and looking at the pic I'm sure you can see why. Poly really makes the eyes stand out above everything, while allowing the depth of the wood to come through. Lacquer works too, but mutes these qualities slightly. Oil makes it look way to flat in my opinion and keeps much of the natural beauty from being shown. But, to each his own.
At the very least, enjoy the beauty shown here and have a good day!
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Another wood that is highly sought after is Sapele Pommelle. It's more mainstream applications are hgih end furniture trim and pricey car interior panels, but I like them on my pistol just fine. The wood is saturated with figure and flashes at you from an almost 3D depth as you show it in the light. A real attention getter! The wood works well and takes finish well, so if you get the chance give it a shot. You can usually pick up blocks from the internet dealers.
Enjoy!
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The beautiful wood moment of the day today is provided by Indian Ebony. Ebony is prized for it's jet black color and tight, uniform graining. Gabon Ebony is considered to be the darkest, truest black among the Ebony's, but I don't have any of that yet in my shop, so I went with the Indian. While still jet black in normal interior lighting, it does show some grey tones when out in bright sunlight. To the casual observer, none of this is noticeable. Just something to keep in mind if you're looking for some to work with.
I like the way these look on my CBOB. There is a very nice contradiction going on between the shiny steel and matte grips, and the light colored frame and the black grips. Very nice.
Anyway, enjoy!
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Here is an unusual piece of Fire Box Elder. Unusual because you normally find EITHER rays or heavy burl pattern, but in this piece both were present. I'll post pics of both grips and then one mounted so you get the feel for the beauty of this wood and it's WOW! value.
This type of thing is what draws me to the woods. Exposing and then highlighting the beauty that is often hidden inside, figuring out how to tell what's in there without actually seeing it. Both are fun and rewarding.
Enjoy the beauty!
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The beautiful wood moment for 14AUG08 is provided by Beeswing Narra. The beeswing refers to the figure in the wood (which you can plainly see in the pic) while Narra is the wood. Narra is the same wood/tree that Amboyna Burl is harvested from, it's just the non burl part. Still has the rich red color and of course some great rolling figure running throughout. Pieces with this figure are usually found towards the base of the bigger trees and is formed by the weight of the tree as it grows pushing everything downward and compressing it. Some time when you're out and about, look at some of the bigger trees around you and you'll probably notice what I'm talking about even through the bark. Some of this happens below the dirt line, so if you don't see it on every big tree, just keep looking you'll eventually find it. Just a detail that most overlook.
Anyway, enjoy today's beautiful wood!
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The wood of the day is from Hawaii and is called Curly Koa. Koa is native to the islands and has been used for everything from building material, to battle clubs, to iimprotant ceremonial and religous objects. It's a hard wood which made it ideal for battle clubs and oars (sometimes the same thing). Koa with figure like this piece shows is of particular interest and was used on the more important things in life. This particular piece is dark with stereaking, but Koa can also be more of an even honey color that can also have the curly figure.
Another beuatiful wood that you can now say you've seen.
Enjoy!
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Oops. Double tapped that one.

 

[~z]

Ever work with zericote? Very interisting wood. Good work, I have been perusing your thread and have been impressed. I do a fair bit of wood work, primarly lathe work these days, made a few grips, primarly for wheel guns. Very impressive work, I am impressed!
~z

 

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Thanks ~z, I appreciate the kind words. Latheword huh? I don't think my parents saw me for two days straight once I discovered the wood lathe back in the day. It's very addictive!
I just this morning received my first ever chunk of Ziricote. Very unusual graining the way it looks like two or three trees overlapping each other inside. I can't wait to get it home to the shop.
Do you have any pics of your wheelgun grips to share? I'd love to see them! I never turn down a chance to see good wood work done in beautiful wood.
Thanks again,
Sarge

 

[~z]

No, dont have any pictures to speak of, nothing too fancy, more utilitarian than fancy. I had much difficulty working with burls and "pretty wood" as I was looking to run before I was completely comfortable walking. I may pick it up again as you have inspired me (and my skills have improved somewhat since those days). Most of what I was working with was just cherry and walnut.
As for the lathe work, yea, addicting. Have you tried any pressure pot and colored casting resin to fill cracked wood? Amazing stuff! I bet you could make some pretty pistol stocks with that mathod!
You will be quite impressed with the zericote! One of my favorite local woods to work with is badark (bois de arc or osage orange) Beautiful bright yellow that eventually fades to a warm honey brown. I may have to make some pistol stocks from some!
~z

 

[~z]

See if that works. An example of pressure pot casting.
~z

 

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~z,
I think I crossed a wire. You said "zEricote" and I said "zIricote". I guess their two totally different woods. The ziricote that I have is a dark brown wood from Mexico that really looks like three or more trees have grown together in the graining of it. Your zericote being yellow would lead me to think we're not talking about the same wood. (My Momma didn't raise no dummie ) Sounds beautiful though. Is it like Hedge? Some call it Osage Orange. I'd be interested in hearing what it is.
P.S. - That's a beautiful bowl!