I went to a gun show over the weekend. I was walking around and found a pair of K frame Combat grips. I looked them over and saw they had been broken and glued back together. The emblem washers were gone but the emblems were there.

I made the deal for a fraction of what a good pair would cost. I have carefully removed the dried glue from the grips and have smoothed up the finish with 0000 steel wool.

What I want to do is refinish them or fix the finish issues. What kind of finish did S&W put on thier grips? It is a thick plastic type finish from what I can tell. What do I use as a stripper?
Thanks to all for thier help. John

In some cases I've used non-chlorinated brake cleaner to strip off poorly applied finishes and stains on grips I've bought...Combat grips are cool......Ben

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John:

Acetone is the go to stripper and works very well. Don't use plastic containers and try to have some ventilation. let them soak in it. Fair warning it will likely remove any glue.

My understanding is the original finish would be a lacquer and quite glossy. A semi-gloss polyurethane works nicely to replicate the original with light coats and fine sanding in between. I try to avoid the heavy plastic look even if some stocks had such a look. Attached are a couple examples of ones I have done recently.

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