As a certified grips nut, I'm always on the lookout for unique oddball gun grips and at some point picked up a set of tortoise shell grips for a Beretta Jetfire. The problem with them was that because the material is translucent, tortoise shell really only looks good when light is allowed to pass through it, otherwise when placed against a dark background, it appears to be merely a solid dark brown or black color. See these examples (photos from Brad Taylor's Beretta collection website):




Both pistols are wearing custom tortoise shell grips, but you can't really tell- they look like plain dark plastic grips. The grips I have looked just as bad on a gun, little to no color at all:



I spent some time thinking about this and realized what was needed was a reflective background on the backside of the grips. This would allow light to show the nice color the material possesses. White-colored paint is exactly what is needed:



Painted and suddenly they come alive, even on a black background:



On the gun with cleaned-up and fire-blued screws, the difference is night and day:

__________________
SWHF #448

Those grips are absolutely stunning! I have no experience with tortoise shell grips - are they fragile?

Regards,

Dave

Dave, I'm pretty sure it's not real tortoise shell but some kind of fancy vintage plastic, at least the set I have. You can see a manufacturers mark at the top on the backsides of mine from the molds they used. Mine aren't any more delicate than other plastic grips.

__________________
SWHF #448

That paint really did set them off...looks good!

If they were real tortoise shell, you'd be at risk of being burned on the altar of Mother Earth Goddess!

I showed my wife your photos with the reflective paint background and she said "I'll take it" !!! Very very nice,and if you don't mind me asking just where can someone find a pair of those?

I think I found them on eBay a year or two ago.

__________________
SWHF #448

Nice work! I've done the same thing with plastic embellishments on cars, although I used silver paint.

While they don't make them for lil' Berettas, Eagle Grips has their "Kirinite" grips. They're kind of expensive, but just going by Eagle's reputation they're probably pretty durable.


Colt Officers Model Semi Auto Pistol Grips - Eagle Grips, Inc. - The World's Finest Handgun Grips

__________________
TEAM DNF

A cool experiment with a grand outcome. Color me impressed.

I thought you were going to say that you cut a piece of white paper to fit the grips and mounted it between the grips and the metal.

I'm pretty sure that real tortoise shell warps and is probably illegal now.

I thought about that but the design of the grips, with the protrusions and cutouts on the backsides, makes that unworkable.

__________________
SWHF #448

Hmmmm... Now you've got me thinking about snapping turtle shells as donors.

I have no idea whether or not the material would warp or not...but am pretty sure that it has been illegal to import into the U.S. for decades.

It is not illegal to posses a real tortoise shell item. Say an old brush. But, it is even worse than elephant ivory. If it is a brush it has to remain a brush forever. You can't take the brush handle and make it into folding knife scales or anything else. Even if its a broken brush it has to remain a broken brush.

That's probably what I would have tried first, is that too hillbilly? Mostly because I probably wouldn't have thought of painting them. My "sweetheart" grips are simply pictures sandwiched behind clear material.