You handgrip guys
Have you ever seen any grips made with spalted oak? I have three pieces, about 1.5 inches x 1.5 x about 24 inches, give or take a bit. I haven't measured them exactly yet. Anyways, do you think they'd be good for grips?
*Edit*
Yes, I know pics would help, but I'm just curious if anyone thinks spalted oak would look good as grips, not if these particular ones would work good.
*Edit*
Yes, I know pics would help, but I'm just curious if anyone thinks spalted oak would look good as grips, not if these particular ones would work good.
0
-
Don't know what a spalted is.
Doug0 -
Doug-Thats what spalted oak looks like. Its a fungi that creates black lines in the wood.0 -
i see them on sleazebay from time to time 0 -
In the next couple days I'm going to get all my handgrip wood organized and see if anyone is interested. My dad owns a woodshop that mainly deals in exotic and rare woods, and I used to get tons of walnut, cherry, and maple runoffs from Quaker Boy here in town. 0 -
spalted ANYTHING is durn nice wood, price varies from dirt cheap to "are you outta yer mind!?"
would like to see what you have and what kind of price you have in mind as i seem to be going through quite a bit of wood lately...
post up here or shoot me an e-mail so i dont miss the post0 -
quote:Originally posted by oldemagics
spalted ANYTHING is durn nice wood, price varies from dirt cheap to "are you outta yer mind!?"
would like to see what you have and what kind of price you have in mind as i seem to be going through quite a bit of wood lately...
post up here or shoot me an e-mail so i dont miss the post
I'll round up what I have tomorrow, and email you. To be honest, I'm not even sure what I have anymore, so I can't promise you anything. Also, I'm not even sure how to go about deciding on a price, I don't deal much in plain wood.0 -
...Great wood! Spalted Oak/Maple is a pretty wood and makes really nice looking grips, durable and beautiful when the correct finish is applied...but it does have it's downside.
...I don't know much about prep/finish of woods since I'm fairly new at it, only have about 45 years of finishing woods...so take what I say with the proverbial grain of salt.<sarcasm [;)]
...NO MATTER how good the piece looks from the outside, once being worked you are apt to find worm holes/voids inside; which is a real heartbreaker when you have rough cut/shaped your grip panels then only to find a void or hole.
...Voids and such are inherent to spalted wood unfortuanately.
I have three completed (except for the 3-4 coats of tung oil which I use for a finish) scales Im looking at that have the worm holes and voids.
...The 3-4 colors inherent to spalted maple is a double edge sword. 1> If the void/hole is in a darker part of the pattern a dark filler of some type works pretty well, kinda "self camo's" the filler.
DON'T use any type of putty, it ALWAYS shrinks and will end up concave.
...2> If the void/hole is located in a lighter part, it's much harder to "hide". We can send men to the moon but, there is NOT a wood filler of ANY type made that will match almost perfectly a particular wood shade; nor is there a wood filler made that will take a wood stain (if you so desire to use a stain) that will take the stain the SAME as the wood surrounding the void/hole...the filler will ALWAYS take the stain different than the surrounding wood, and show.
Now if your one of the talented high dollar folks that can take a $50,000 table with a 6" long 1/16" deep scratch in the center, and thru colorants/waxes/specialty hand irons years of experience and make the scratch "dissappear"...no problemo [8D]...and yes there are people that good, Ive seen it done many times.
...IF you have a void/hole, and your not one of the talented elite, the best way I have found to fill the voids/holes that are not "too" noticeable; take the wood (NOT the piece your making grip panels from, a scrap piece) that your are working with and use a fine paper 300+ grt and sand the hell out of the same type of wood you want to fill. Save the VERY fine sanding dust, you want to use VERY fine grt paper to get a VERY fine sanding dust, the SAME type wood you are going to fill so the color will match the surrounding wood.
...Take just a TOUCH of a good wood glue and mix with your sanding dust to make a paste, probably like 1 part glue to 15-20 parts of the sanding dust, mix well and fill the void.
...Too little glue and the "filler" you made will be too dry,not good. If you do not get "just the right amount of your "homemade" filler, if you have to re-apply the filler to "even" it out it usually (not always) will not bond well to your original filler and will flake/chip off.
...As long as you do not find any voids/holes while shaping the scales, spalted Maple makes a beautiful set of grips...[;)]0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
7 comments