Repair Mother of Pearl Grips?

Like most other repairs, the extent of damage can affect the quality of repair. The procedure is simple for the usual small knocked off corners. Basically I grind the surface of the break and glue in a piece of MOP and re-shape/polish it. An almost invisible repair is possible. Tiny faults can sometimes be filled with the epoxy alone.

First need is a piece of MOP to glue in. Old pearl buttons are a good source. In big-city department store button shops I have found a huge variety. I've paid couple bucks per button, generally several on a card. Your grandma may have just what you want. Maybe internet auctions. Lately I bought mid-1800s table knives with solid pearl handles for a buck apiece; a good source for MOP, too beautiful so far to sacrifice for their material.

The Devcon 5 minute epoxy is best. It is water-transparent when it sets up. The slow one has a yellow tinge. With a reasonably good fit, the joint can be invisible. Clear, colorless transparent is important, the eye seeing thru the glue as if it being a part of the MOP.

My best accomplishment is a pair of S&W N frame MOPs, damaged. The curved part at the top was badly chipped away with some missing. I found a big old pearl button, the kind with a thread tab on the back and no thru-hole. I carefully ground away a good fit to the grip and to the gun and epoxied it in place. It defies detection as a repair.


New Service distressed gtips --


Replacing butt end --


Finished --


Work in progress --


End Result --

I once had a job to replace MOP scales on a sword hilt & ordered a batch of 1/16" thick MOP from Malaysia -- fortunately I still had some of it for this job, the butt slab & the steer horn. I can make the added corner pieces less visible with a similar overlay.

Grips installed ------>

The approach that many around here take is to find a friendly dentist. We know a guy in Louisville who does great work. I have no idea what he charges, but I do know people who go back. I prefer my grips to be unbroken, if possible. My guess is the same method would work on ivory items.

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Dick Burg

Really impressive ...can't believe there's not more responses. Very nice job. Thanks for sharing

Very nicely done, probably not as easy as you made it look, but still gives me hope. I'll have to cruse the auctions for some damaged pearls in the future.

Thanks for a great post.

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GARY
SWCA #2897, SWHF #436