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jimg11 wrote:

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We are looking forward to the pictures.

Hello Jim
It is Raining Cat's & Dog's here in East Tennessee today, so I Plan on starting the Outside Picture lay out tomorrow if the weather Passes.. H.D.

Hello
As Promised, here is the start of Forum Member Ralph Greer's Coke Profile grip project. Both of these have damage but nothing that can not be repaired. Below is close up's of what I have to repair on these Two set's of Grips. H.D.




This is what I call Set One. This set will be used on a drop dead Mint revolver when I am done with them, so they need to stand Tall. The Factory applied a Semi Gloss Lacquer finish on these back in the Mid 1950's and today all lacquer available is User friendly and does not hold up as well as the Older lacquer Paint's so I use a Product called Arrow. It is a combination of Oils and semi Gloss Urethane finish that has to be sanded into the wood during the restoring Process. I start out with 60 Girt sand Paper to remove all damage and then follow up with 150 grit to smooth them out and remove all scratch's left behind by the 60 Grit. I then switch grit's to 220 grit and that is when I start to apply the Arrow finish as I sand in this finish it Brings the grain right out to a more Pronounced state. Once I go over them well with 220 grit I change to 320 Grit and repeat the process. This finish actually fills the woods Pores as you sand it, and fills in the deep wood grain to bring out the Highest level of Grain appeal. Here is what the first set Looked like when I started this project..H.D.


You can clearly see that they have some very Deep Hack Marks Below the Checkering Line on the Lower Heel perimeter of them. I had enough material and the checkering Profile was set deep enough in these grips, that I was able to remove the Deep Hack Marks by sanding them out. I also sanded the Opposite Panel to match the One that needed repair so the repairs will Not Be evident. if you look very close in the Pictures, You will see the Outer channel Just Outside the Checkering has been deepened slightly. I do this as the Original channel was very shallow and most of these grips show Minor chipping of their wood Just Outside the checkering panel. By doing this it Makes the checkering Border Much More eye appealing and Pronounced.











This is the Same Pair of grips and Some "Idiot" Used a Branding iron to Place his Initials in The heel of these Grips as shown...

Here is the same set of Grip's with the Initials removed. I had No choice since they were Burned Down deep into The wood, to Use a Sanding Block and sand the wood off these Until The Initials disappeared. Here is how they Look Now, and not much material was lost in the sanding Process. I did loose some of the Height Profile by sanding them, but there was enough grip material to work with that it did not Ruin the over all Look or profile of these...











This is Set Number Two. They have Far More damage than the first Pair, But I can fix them to Look Decent. Ralph said he was Just going to keep this pair around as a spare set, But once he See's how well they come out or how Nice the grain is, he May change his Mind and Place them on One of His Prized revolvers. This is how they Looked before I started restoring them, and in This Picture you can see that the Relief is messed up pretty bad, But the Pictures that follow show how it Looks Now.....









Here is The Heel Portion of Set 2. You can see some deep Nick's that had to be removed. You can also see that the Original finish hid how gorgeous the Grain really was in Both Set's of Grip's. The finish I use will Make the grain striking and show the True Beauty of these grips...








Once I Looked them over closely and got them apart, I Noticed where some Idiot had preyed them off a revolver at some Point and time, so I removed the Hack mark from the Backstrap area and this Pictures shows the evidence of a screw driver inside of the grip panel. I will leave this Mark alone as it may make them Not fit tight and correct if I try to take the mark out that does not show anyways. You can see a Micro Pin size dent where this Prying them off was done, but through the rest of my Sanding Process it will remove it, and I did not want to rake off any More material than I needed to on restroing either set of Grips










This Type of Damage is Common and I call this area of the grips The Wing Tip area. I have cleaned up The area where the split wood is Missing and while I was sanding These grips, I kept all the Dust that fell from the sanding process to make repairs to this are and the Broken out Tongue area which I will show next...







This is the area that fits up close to The Trigger guard. I call it The Tongue area. It is common to break on these style grips as we Have to remeber in the time span these grips were made being back in the Mid 1950's S&W had Not standardized frame sizes yet, so all grips were hand fitted for the revolver's they were meant for. In most cases guys place these grips on different revolver's and this area Often Fits too tight so Recoil is The Culprit in breaking this area out. I use the sanding dust and Super glue applied to the damaged area as I roll The grip through The sanding dust, The super glue attracts the dust and that makes up for the Loss of wood. I then shape and sand off The excess to make it look Like New again...








This is also a common breakage Area. They made these grips to have a slight Radius Inside of the panel to hold the grips close to The Revolvers lower grip frame back strap area. As I said Before hand shaping was done on these for the revolver's they were Intended for so if these are placed on a newer frame, it Often breaks out this area from Recoil. I will Increase this area along with The Tongue area before completing the grip restoration so this can Not happen again to them...













Next, I have to sand them Using The Arrow Finish through The follow Grit's to achieve a Good finish 220, 320, 400. 600, 800, 1000, 1500 and I will finish them up with 2000 Grit sand paper. I have found by doing all the different grit grades of snad paper, it removes any and all Micro scratches and leaves behind a perfect finish. I will take Pictures of some of The sand paper grade differences, but to keep this Less Boring I will skip every other grade of sandpaper as the Marked differences are Minor and almost Undetectable..H.D.

jimg11 wrote:

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looking good Hammerdown. Looking at the first picture, Do you think they may have come off a gunfighter's gun with 3 "notches"

Hello Jim
I don't know but who ever did it made my Job More Intense. Here is some Pictures of Set 1 with the Arrow finish I use in 600 grit finish. I now will resume the sand in process with 800, 1000, 1500 and finish them in 2000. You can see how this finish brings out Maximum Grain Definition. Set 2 is currently in Sick Bay getting a New Tongue rebuild along with a Back strap repair.. More Later... H.D.

rfgtks3 wrote:

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Wow Hammer , that set looks great !!! The material you took off the bottom
looks perfect , you can`t tell . I was thinking you`d be able to see the difference where the bottom meets
the checkering but it looks great !!

Can`t thank you enough Buddy !!
Great pics too !!

Ralph

Hello Ralph
It is a Little after 11: 00PM and I have Both Set's completed. Set Number Two with the broken Tongue, Chipped Upper Wing and Lower back strap area chip came out great. They to me look as Good as Set Number One now. I will Post Pictures of Both Set's in the Morning now that I have them Done...H.D.

Hey Ralph
I enjoyed working them over. I have actually Fixed worse ones... Hammerdown

Hello Jim
Send them along. It would be my Pleasure re-working them for you. H.D.