|
|
03-26-2010, 12:26 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Windham, Maine
Posts: 1,392
Likes: 47
Liked 621 Times in 142 Posts
|
|
Who makes the best repro grips?
I'd like to hear your suggestions on favorite companies offering reproduction S&W grips. Thank.
|
03-26-2010, 12:27 PM
|
|
US Veteran SWCA Member Absent Comrade
|
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Kansas, USA
Posts: 3,188
Likes: 1,308
Liked 3,521 Times in 577 Posts
|
|
Keith Brown has my vote-he can do anything with wood!
Bill
__________________
38-44heavyduty.com
|
03-26-2010, 12:50 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 3,795
Likes: 993
Liked 1,923 Times in 956 Posts
|
|
Ditto that for Keith Brown.Nill repros are nice too,but they don't have the same beauty factor.
|
03-26-2010, 01:42 PM
|
SWCA Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: NW Florida
Posts: 2,241
Likes: 6,347
Liked 3,401 Times in 582 Posts
|
|
For antigue S&W black rubber repros Vintage Grips in FL. They are hard plastic but look the part.
|
03-26-2010, 02:15 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Windham, Maine
Posts: 1,392
Likes: 47
Liked 621 Times in 142 Posts
|
|
Thanks. Those Keith Brown grips are gorgeous!
What about stuff in ivory and mother of pearl both real
and repro?
|
03-26-2010, 03:11 PM
|
SWCA Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 5,515
Likes: 936
Liked 6,449 Times in 1,323 Posts
|
|
I have a slightly different view. Let me preface by saying that Keith
does outstanding work. No doubt about it. I think he is the best
custom grip-maker today.
However, I don't think that anyone is making quality wood reproduction
grips. By the very name, repro grips should be a very very close match
to the original. I don't think anyone is doing that.
The factory used relatively plain wood . High quality walnut, yes, but
pre-WW2 the grain was very subdued. Nothing with a lot of swirly
grain. The pre-WW2 Roper stocks were made of the plainest wood
around. Sometimes I think they used old fence-posts !
The factory had a way of checkering the grips, particularly around the
diamond, that is not being replicated.
If you want a good repro wood grip, find an old pair, and let Keith
restore them. He is getting them very very close to original. I can't
say enough good things about the pairs he has restored for me. The
finish, while new, is as near to my nicest factory grips as one could
get.
Getting the color "right", meaning like an old factory grip, is probably
impossible. Oil and wax seems to age over time, turning the wood
darker. When that is all removed, for restoration, more of the grain
shows up. That is the most noticeable aspect of the restored grips.
Regards, Mike Priwer
|
03-26-2010, 07:18 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 200
Likes: 0
Liked 6 Times in 4 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikepriwer
By the very name, repro grips should be a very very close match to the original.
|
Agreed. Reproduction means as close to exactly like the original as possible. Anything else is custom.
-S
|
03-26-2010, 08:11 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Virginia
Posts: 1,368
Likes: 13
Liked 831 Times in 390 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1Aspenhill
Keith Brown has my vote-he can do anything with wood!
Bill
|
link KEITH BROWN GRIPS
__________________
WWSSD?
What would Skeeter do?
|
03-26-2010, 10:28 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Mesa, Arizona
Posts: 2,556
Likes: 882
Liked 1,719 Times in 549 Posts
|
|
So who if anyone makes a pair of standard wood (plain walnut or rosewood) Ropers with a plain oil finish?
Dave
__________________
RSVN '69-'71
PCSD (Ret)
|
03-27-2010, 01:31 AM
|
SWCA Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 5,515
Likes: 936
Liked 6,449 Times in 1,323 Posts
|
|
Dave
I'm sure Keith will do it for you - just tell him what you want.
Later, Mike Priwer
|
03-29-2010, 12:39 AM
|
Vendor
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Beavercreek,Oh,USA
Posts: 827
Likes: 2
Liked 2,907 Times in 440 Posts
|
|
Thanks to all for the kind words. I'll offer my answers to a few of the questions in this thread. First, when a customer is ordering grips the figure and beauty of the wood is right at the top of the list, plain wood is available but rarely asked for. In response to Mikes post, first, Thanks very much for the compliment. I have made a few sets to appear as close to factory original as I possibly can, from the wood selection to the final finish. I now make factory style escutcheons myself from nickle silver bar stock and the screws also when none can be found. The factory used a hand held power tool to cut the checkering and the rapid use of this tool left the telltale unfinished area around the diamond along with frequent overruns. I use only hand tools at this point and complete the diamonds everywhere on the pattern unlike the factory. Replicating these signs of rapid production could be done but the customer would have to be very specific in his order. Hope this helps explain some of the things brought up.
Keith
|
03-29-2010, 01:23 AM
|
SWCA Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 5,515
Likes: 936
Liked 6,449 Times in 1,323 Posts
|
|
Keith
You have to imagine that I am smiling as I write this !
Getting to the point, most of the grips I've seen, that are attirbuted
to you, are pictures posted on this forum, by happy owners. Most of
them are of much much nicer wood than the factory ever used. And
that, of course, makes the grips more in the custom area, than in the
repro area, in my view. There were one, or more, N-frame pairs posted,
which I think were the small non-magna grips. What caught my eye
was the area just below the medallion. It appeared, to me, to be
shaped a bit differently. It was my impression that they resembled
more the modern non-magna grips, than the early pre-WW2 grips,
in that area of the grip.
As to the diamonds, its not the checkering that has caught my eye,
but rather the shape of the diamond. I recently examined several
pairs of early K-frame small grips, and the diamonds are not all
the same. Generally, they are longer and narrower than what I've
seen of your comparable work. But - they are inconsistent, and I
must say that I did not realize how inconsistent they actually are .
(I am referring to the factory grips.)
What can I say ?!
Regards, Mike
|
03-30-2010, 11:23 AM
|
US Veteran Absent Comrade
|
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: San Diego, PRK
Posts: 9,237
Likes: 11,531
Liked 11,249 Times in 3,916 Posts
|
|
Strickly my own uneducated opinion, but repros are never going to be "original" so unless one were trying to pass something off why NOT go for nicer wood & finer checkering?
Of course, *I* would see it and simply admire, blissfully unaware that the checkering was a full 1/16" too wide the no S&W EVER had that type of wood...
But ya never know. Once in awhile I see a 10/22 in a store with some drop dead pretty furniture...
|
03-30-2010, 11:39 AM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Mesa, Arizona
Posts: 2,556
Likes: 882
Liked 1,719 Times in 549 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fishslayer
Strickly my own uneducated opinion, but repros are never going to be "original" so unless one were trying to pass something off why NOT go for nicer wood & finer checkering?
|
Perhaps because you don't have the proper grips, can't find originals and want to restore the gun to its original condition or appearance. Not every one is trying to "pass something off" which implies some degree of dishonesty.
Dave
__________________
RSVN '69-'71
PCSD (Ret)
|
03-30-2010, 11:42 AM
|
SWCA Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 5,515
Likes: 936
Liked 6,449 Times in 1,323 Posts
|
|
Fish
In a sense, its related to the issue of refinishing, and even restoration. I'm sure you're aware of the effect of refinishing on the price of collectible pieces. With collectible S&W's, its all about originality, originality, and originality. A lot of us spend a lot of time and effort, trying to ascertain if the piece is original
When it comes to custom grips, there is generally no concern about originality, because the factory did not produce them anyway. With the exception of Roper stocks, the only question is: who did make them ? Some grip makers are more desireable than others, and the price's reflect that.
Roper stocks, along with Kearsarge, are somewhat unusual. There is a big demand for original Ropers, I suppose in part because of their affiliation with the factory. Kearsarge is another story, perhaps because there are not that many of them. So, trying to ascertain the originality of even these two makers is becoming important.
Regards, Mike Priwer
Last edited by mikepriwer; 03-31-2010 at 12:57 AM.
|
03-30-2010, 12:54 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 307
Likes: 479
Liked 325 Times in 93 Posts
|
|
Thanks for the links W.E.G.
|
03-30-2010, 01:26 PM
|
Moderator
|
|
|
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Suburban Chicago
Posts: 5,202
Likes: 1,048
Liked 6,619 Times in 1,535 Posts
|
|
I hace to agree with Mike that S&W normally used rather plain wood on their grips. I suspected that plain straight grained wood is more stable and easier to work than burled material and perhaps they specified this from their suppliers. On occasion you do run across a very nice original grip such as the one I have on a pre-war 38/44 Outdoorsman. I think the wood on that grip compares favourably with the wood Keith used on a set of my grips pictured below the S&W grip. The Smith grip was just the luck of the draw rather than by design as Keith's are. I further agree that Keith is the most talented grip maker around today. The grip pictured is a very early set, number 6 if I recall and wonderful quality.
__________________
John. SWCA #1586
|
03-30-2010, 04:22 PM
|
|
Moderator
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Indiana, USA
Posts: 9,399
Likes: 1,322
Liked 30,432 Times in 4,367 Posts
|
|
A set of Keith Brown coke bottle stocks made of Goncalo alves on a 44 Magnum engraved and inlaid with gold by Wayne D'Angelo.
Bill
|
03-31-2010, 12:02 AM
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: OR
Posts: 3,516
Likes: 5,499
Liked 1,026 Times in 350 Posts
|
|
Here are some pre-war magnas that Keith Brown restored for my RM. The wood grain seems fairly nice, actually.
Jerry
|
03-31-2010, 12:56 AM
|
SWCA Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 5,515
Likes: 936
Liked 6,449 Times in 1,323 Posts
|
|
Jerry
Would have been nice to see what they looked like, before Keith
worked on them. I'm guessing they were darker. Now, of course, they
are spectacular. 50 years of oil and wax really darkens wood. When
Keith removes all that old finish, the original colors of the wood
come back.
Regards, Mike
|
|
Tags
|
44 magnum, checkering, coke bottle grips, colt, engraved, goncalo, k-frame, kearsarge, keith brown grips, n-frame, nill, outdoorsman, roper, rosewood, sig arms, smith-wessonforum.com, walnut |
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
|
|
|
|