Faux Ivory for grips

[Jonbenjon]

At the suggestion of my local wood source, I tried out making several pairs of Makarov grips using Holly wood. If you've never seen it, it's pale white, almost no visible grain pattern, and machines like a dream.

Finished the grips with a water based polyurathane, again at the wood guys suggestion. It did come out looking as close to Ivory as I could want.

On the down side, it's hard to find and pricey, $10 a board foot or so. But you can get a fair number of grips done out of a foot of wood.

I gotta admit too, I kind a real cheap thrill out of using the phrase Hollywood in conjuction with a gun!

John

 

[Larry Pomykalski]

That looks very nice.

How would you say it compares to Micarta in hardness?


Larry

 

[shooter1201]

Would holly be considered a 'fruitwood' due to its dense grain? Huckleberry makes AWESOME knife handles. BTDT.

 

[Jonbenjon]

I've never never worked with Micarta....how does it compare with walnut?

Not sure about the fruitwood rating.....

John

 

[C.R.Sam]

Guess one should rightly use a Hollywood press to load for a Mak with Holly Wood grip thingies.

I love it when an off the wall plan works out well.

Sam

 

[Larry Pomykalski]

Micarta is a synthetic material-it's used for a lot of knife handles.

As far as hardness, it's much harder than walnut, but still easy to cut and grind with abrasives. I don't think it would respond well to a chisel, but you can certainly file, sand and drill it with no problem.

I asked because many people who look for alternatives to ivory use 'ivory' micarta.

Larry