Yet another grips question

[BC38]

Picked these up today. I'm sure they aren't a set of Hurst grips or anything like that, but I'm hoping folks can still help me ID them.

They look like walnut to me. I thought they were K-frame when I bought them, but SURPRISE they actually fit an N-frame!

Never seen N-frame square butt boot grips before.

So anybody ever seen a set like these? Any idea who made them? I guess they could be home-made, though they are really well made and look too professional for that IMO.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I don't understand how the term "Boot Grips" applies to this set. please widen my knowledge.

Thank you,
Ivan

 

[BC38]

Well, I doubt that I can teach you anything, because I probably don't know anything that you don't. Maybe I have misused the term, but here is my thinking.

I think of "boot" grips as a style with an open backstrap, that end flush with the bottom of the butt, with subtle finger-grooves, and that fill in the area between the grip frame and trigger guard.

Basically I'm using the term to describe any set that fits all the characteristics of a set of Uncle Mikes Boot Grips.

Is that an incorrect definition of the term?

 

[Grayfox]

That description sounds about right to me. And that set could very well be home made. You'd be surprised what a little sandpaper and patience can accomplish.
I've modified several sets of grips before to get exactly what I wanted. Creating a set of boot grips for a square butt snubbie was often the reason.

 

[BC38]

That description sounds about right to me. And that set could very well be home made. You'd be surprised what a little sandpaper and patience can accomplish.
I've modified several sets of grips before to get exactly what I wanted. Creating a set of boot grips for a square butt snubbie was often the reason.

I'm kinda doubtful about them being made by a hobbyist. The router work on the inside looks too uniform and neat for the skill set of 99% of the people to accomplish. If you look at the diamonds really closely you can see that the grooves are cut really deep and the grooves have a really square bottom to the cut too - like they were also cut with a router.

Seems like it would be really hard to do all that without a jig - which implies a professional job to me. But then I'm not much of a woodworker, so what do I know?

The possibility of a hobbyist cutting the bottom off a set of commercial grips does seem like a pretty reasonable explanation for their unusual design though. But I'm still left wondering who made them.

 

[Grayfox]

What I'm talking about is taking a set of existing grips and modifying them to suit yourself. You don't touch the inside work where it meets the frame, just modify the outside to fit your hand or needs.
Lots of folks have taken an old, worn or damaged set of grips and reshaped the outside to make something else. That's what these look like to me.

 

[2152hq]

I'd guess a decent woodworker/stockmaker made them. The inletting is chisel & scraper cuts. The marks show it.
At least that's the final cuts that show..Machine inletting may have been used to rough them out certainly.
Many use a Mill to chew out the bulk of the wood in inletting work. Then do the final fit by hand with chisel and scraper.
But a set of grips is not too time consuming to do all by manual methods.
A pantograph carver certainly can turn them out quickly and very accurately for production purposes.

Those diamonds around the screw holes look individually hand cut. Probably done with a veiner tool. Small over runs at most all the points. A couple of points where the lines do not meet.

Of the diamonds themselves, they do not match. One bigger than the other. Common with a lot of hand work.
But you can't see both side by side when the grips are installed so it's not noticeable.

 

[BC38]

What I'm talking about is taking a set of existing grips and modifying them to suit yourself. You don't touch the inside work where it meets the frame, just modify the outside to fit your hand or needs.
Lots of folks have taken an old, worn or damaged set of grips and reshaped the outside to make something else. That's what these look like to me.

Gotcha' - I was saying pretty much the same thing in my last sentence of my last post.

I'd guess a decent woodworker/stockmaker made them. The inletting is chisel & scraper cuts. The marks show it.
At least that's the final cuts that show..Machine inletting may have been used to rough them out certainly.
Many use a Mill to chew out the bulk of the wood in inletting work. Then do the final fit by hand with chisel and scraper.
But a set of grips is not too time consuming to do all by manual methods.
A pantograph carver certainly can turn them out quickly and very accurately for production purposes.

Those diamonds around the screw holes look individually hand cut. Probably done with a veiner tool. Small over runs at most all the points. A couple of points where the lines do not meet.

Of the diamonds themselves, they do not match. One bigger than the other. Common with a lot of hand work.
But you can't see both side by side when the grips are installed so it's not noticeable.

You may be right. There is a few hundredths of an inch difference in the height of the diamonds, and there do appear to be some minor tool marks on the inside.

Guess I'll have to find someone who needs a nice set of walnut boot grips for a short barrel N-frame. I don't have anything that would look right wearing them. I was thinking they were K-frame and would look good on a square butt snub nosed M10, M15, M13, M19, M64, or M66...