I'm thinking to buy a set of ahrends retro banana's in maple with no finish. As a poor college student I am considering applying the tung oils finish on my own and saving the $20. Is this a bad idea?

Buy the grips from Ahrends without the oil finish and see how you like them. I like the looks without the oil finish. If you decide you don't like the grips without the oil finish, then I would think you can apply yourself. I don't know what process Ahrends uses in applying the oil finish.

The retro grips are a good fitting grip for my smallish hand.

thats a good idea... is there any special caution i should use with unfinished grips?

The unfinished grips still have some sort of finish on them and wear well. You may want to call or email Ahrends and ask what they do to the un-oiled grips. They have a finish that is pretty durable and make for a great looking and feeling grip.

I've never had a problem with the wear on the standard finished grip.

Good grips but I have a comment: in this day and age no company can afford to spend the time finishing a grip a poor college student can. I've not been a college student for over 25 years but I too am thinking of doing my own. Why? I can afford to spend more time finishing my grips than Ahrends can (for the price they charge - which is fine). My observation is that I do not particularly care for the way the grain is only partially filled. Either oil a grip and leave lots of grain texture of fill it completely (my preferences - not the only ones in the world).

What finish would be put on "unfinished" grips?

I got unfinished in maple and Moradillo, oiled them myself, and they turned out fantastic! I cannot see how you can go wrong doing them yourself, it just takes patience to get all the coats on and looking good. (5 minutes of rubbing and 24 hours of drying per coat). The results are amazing though.

What sort of oil did you use? Thanks!

Uh, pictures?

I got two sets of grips for S&W revolvers and they were beautiful. I got another set for a 1911 and splurged and got the oil finish. I was very disappointed. I didn't like them as much as I did my regular grips. Don't know if it was just the piece of wood or what. It was the first time I was disappointed in an Ahrends product. I guess it does look better than the plastic grips that came on it.

Below you will see two cocobolo retro target grips from Ahrends. The 617's was ordered unfinished - and has four coats of a homebrew petrating resin type oil finish, similar to Watco's Danish Oil or MinWax's Antique Oil finish. The first coat was thinned with turpentine, the remainders were full strength. The finishes were kept 'wet' for 30 minutes+, then rubbed dry with soft rags - and allowed to set for 20+ hours before the next coat. Don't forget the backside - all surfaces should have the same finish for best results re humidity changes. The oil finish goes into the resinous tropical hardwood - and darkens it - those grips had bright yellow-orange bands like the ones above it - on my 627 Pro - before the oil finish.



The normal finish Ahrends uses is like Deft's Varathane - and is a clearcoat that can be sprayed/brushed/dipped to cover. It's fast and durable. It preserves, like a regular lacquer coat, the wood's color. You can enhance any of them with a good furniture paste wax coat - MinWax made a great one (I have been out of furniture making for a while.). I just buy regular finished Ahrends grips as I can strip/refinish them quickly, if I get a wild hair. Okay, I'll come clean - I'm lazy - they are the same price as unfinished - and more likely to be in-stock - I had to wait for the ones on the 617. Patience is not one of my virtues.

Stainz

Good luck. I received Ahrends grips via Brownells for my 686 this week. The cocobolo wood has the color and figuring of a chocolate bar. The grips didn't fit the gun without some sanding and filing. And a piece of wood broke off the bottom...I've glued it back on and it looks OK now. I also have managed to put them on the gun, but I still have a gap at the front.

Lesson learned? If the grip doesn't fit the first time, send it back. Particularly if they are ugly. I'm sure either Ahrends or Brownells would have made good on them. As it is, I'll chalk my sanding and 'fitting' up to a $65 lesson for me & stupidity. The gun once again has Pachmayr grips on it.

I vote for spending that money on living expenses. Broke college kids have better things to spend their money on than something they presumably all ready have a working alternative for.

While Brownells is a very good company, when you are dealing with wood you need to see a picture of what you are getting. I have purchased several grips from ebay dealer gripseller without any problems. The picture you see is what you get. All mine have fit without a problem.

My "hold " on a revolver is called a "loose hold" which means I don't choke the s*^t out of the grip frame! This dictates I use a set of grips that don't slip in your hands under recoil which means most of my shooters wear rubbers.

I have found that the Ahrends grips are the ONLY wood grips I can shoot well with. I would contribute this to their finish, what ever it may be? The 610 in the pic is wearing Altmount grips and these have a high polished finish which means I must adjust my hold after each shot.
jcelect SWCA #LM723

That made so much sense that I just bought a pair from gripseller. You are right - it really is important to see in advance, and that is a great way to do so. Thank you.

You are very welcome

Joe,

Does that box come in a "3" slot

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SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

I used Tung oil, About 7 coats, smoothed with steel wool before the next coat was rubbed in. Hope the pics are okay, had to use flash. Retro combat Maple on the M19 and in Moradilla on the M581. I love the shimmer that the maple gives off, it almost looks like the grain has depth to it.

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Sorry to revive an old thread, but I am still grip-less on my 13-2 3". I've decided to get a hold of some ahrends retro grips and need to decide between round or square and finger grooves. This is primarily a ccw gun so, do square grips create a pointed issue for cross draw ccw, and how's the finger groove spacing on Ahrends? On Hogues it is to large for me.
I'll post some pics in a minute to help you visualize...

Here is the revolver in question...

The maple will look good on it, Model 10 or 13 ?

Noah,

If that was my revolver, and I wish it was, I would go with the Retro Combats in either walnut or padauk.

My only experience with Ahrends revolver stocks is with the "tactical" square butt with finger groves, but they are on a range only gun. For me the finger groves are spaced just right, I guess my hands are average size. Not much help I know.

Its a model 13, non pinned barrel but recessed cylinder. She's a gem. Or I suppose a diamond in the rough at the moment.

IMO, square butt will always print more than round butt. YMMV

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NRA - All Day

I want to buy a pair unfinished Ahrend's grips for my Talo 686plus. I own a mess of Uberti cowboy revolvers. I stripped almost all of them to bring out the European Black Walnut wood grain. I use Formby's Wood oil and I put more on all the time to prevent wood shrinkage. It works great for me.
Still trying to decide what wood and style that I want.

Man I really have to start looking at the dates on these things!!!

SORRY


Noah;

I love the Ahrend's grips and right now have 3 revolvers and a 1911 that are waiting for the funds to free up to buy them.

I have revolvers currently with the round butt tactical and the round butt boot grip on them.

The boot cut is the best for concealment BUT you loose some of the grip end and it makes it harder to grip with a full hand.

I have found the Tacticals to be the best for me and they do not have the finger grooves. I have small hands and finger grooves usually give me some problems without being able to feel them first.

Based off your revolvers frame and grip cut it looks to me to be a RB and the only way to get a Square Butt feel with it is to go with the RB to SB conversions. These will make the butt less concealable.

You may know the above already, and if you do I apologize, but if you don't you can google S&W Square Butt vs. Round Butt and you can see the difference. The grips are not interchangeable between the two if you want a good fit.

On my blued Model 19 I love the look of the Red Stained Maple! I have a 315NG that will some day wear the same color grips on her and I can hardly wait. My stainless models wear a lighter brown that really looks nice as well.

If you can locate a thread where HarrishMasher has posted a picture of his revolvers you will find a picture of what the Red Stained Maple looks like on a blued revolver.

I bought a couple sets of Ahrends grips off the trader...nice grips!

Then I got some 'Green Gun-oil' on the set I installed on my 629...turned the Ahrends finish to mush!!

I soaked the grips in acetone to remove all the mushy finish and then oiled with plain boiled linseed oil. The grips(Ahrends retro classic targets made from mordillo) look better than they did with the factory finish...just rub with linseed oil on occasion

I just put a set of Ahrends retro combat grips on my Model 1917 and they look great. I bought them from a secondary vendor for $70 and they came with standard finish. Did not like the look so I stripped them and finished them with tung oil and finishing wax. They look much better now. When I checked the Ahrends site they charge you $20 plus the $70 for unfinished but oil prepped grips so you might as well have them finished with the tung oil.

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If you can swing the $20, let Ahrends do it for you. They do a great job of it – especially considering the price. If you must do it yourself in order to afford the grips, then by all means knock yourself out. But don't forget that after you factor in the cost of materials, the only way it will be cheaper is if you consider your time to be essentially free.

OP, attached is a photo showing both styles installed on round butt K-frames. The 19-3 is wearing Tacticals in Cordia, retro Combats in Goncalo Alves on the 66 ND.

The retro combats are a bit longer but slightly thinner than the tacticals. The finger groove spacing fits my "medium" size hands very well.

You can't go wrong either way, IMHO.

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