Grip Finishing

[yjo]

Hello all,

My IZH-46M just arrived (& survived HM Revenue & Customs), and am very pleased with it. As has been mentioned many times before however, the standard stock supplied is extremely blocky and unweildy, to the extent that it was almost painful (90deg edge under fingertips) to use. Straight away (perhaps a little too haphazardly) I set about modifying the grip, taking away material in various places to make the grip more comfortable and consistent.

The problem I am now left with is re-sealing and -finishing the wood: I have coarse-sanded the entire stock and would like to preserve it from the elements whilst leaving a finish which is nice to grip. I'm not particularly taken by the idea of covering the grip with Wing-Walk (were I even able to find such stuff), and any materials I use I would have to buy (and don't have a large budget).

Any ideas on varnishes/waxes &c? Is it worth trying to stipple the stock myself?

Thanks in advance :)

[jrmcdaniel]

As I and others have posted, go to Home Depot (or the equivalent) and get some stain and penetrating finish (I like Minwax products). Stain the exposed wood so it looks like the rest (take the grip to the store and compare colors or just restain the whole grip). When that has soaked in, use the penetrating finish.

Stippling is somethat that one can do (I am told) with a Dremel or similar tool and some burrs. Supposedly not hard but I would practice on some scrap wood first.

If you take off too much wood, I like the Elmer's wood putty as it is very easy to shape once dried. The plastic wood stuff is smelly and harder to work. I put on a blob, put on a vinyl glove, and shape the grip under my hand. Remove hand, let dry, clean up as needed, finish as above.

Best,

Joe

[Nicole Hamilton]

Stippling can also be done using a large blunted nail and a hammer to make all the little dents. I haven't done it myself but a friend back in Massachusetts had a grip on her AP she'd done that way and you simply couldn't tell it wasn't factory original.

[Lanning R. Hochhauser]

Stippling. I have done a number of grips and find that an ingraving tool such as the craftsman tool Sears sells works just fine. It has an adjustable setting so you can set the depth of the stippling for the piece of wood you are using. It looks like factory work.