CA on gun grips?

[JRay8]

Hey Guys, it has been awhile since i have been around. i hope everyone is well.

i am working on making grip panels for handguns and wanted to use CA to finish them. so of course i thought i would pose the question to the CA experts here.

unlike a pen the grips won't be turned so polishing to a glossy finish on the lathe is out. how might you guys polish them? i figure build up the finish and hand sand them until the surface is even but then what?

also, what finish do you think would give a satin finish? i tried a spray on poly but didn't get good results.

heres a photo of one i just did.

thanks for the help
jim

 

[TimS124]

I wipe CA finish on by hand for some of the antler items…those with natural tips that can't be spun on a lathe during finishing. I wear nitrile gloves and wipe on a few layers of thin CA, a layer of medium CA, hit it by hand with 400 grit Abranet to knock down anything annoying, then another layer of medium or thin (usually medium because by then, I've already capped off the thin so it's easier to just use another coat of medium).

I may follow the 400 grit up with a couple grits of micro mesh, depends on what it looks like and what I'm after...

Final step is to polish by hand with the satin polish from a StickFast CA finishing kit. It doesn't take long to get a good enough shine. For the things I'm doing this on, I don't want the perfect, super-shiny, high gloss CA finish. Eggshell would be even better than satin, but I haven't found that.

I've been pleasantly surprised at how little rubbing it takes to make the satin polish look good by hand. No need for buffing wheels…

Like all such things, try it on scrap first of course. (oh yeah, I'm NOT a CA expert and I don't play one on TV…but the above is how I finish things that end up looking pretty decent).

 

[mredburn]

I have several wood pens with wood clips that I hand finished the C/A on. I would build up layers of CA and then hand sand them down. I use sanding sticks alot to keep the flat surfaces flat. I have them from 220 grit all the way down through the micro mesh 12,000 grit. You can get a real high gloss should you choose to. Small buffs in a Foredom or other hand piece and some white diamond with a touch of water to make a soft paste with a light touch will do curved surfaces. For a Satin finish you can stop earlier.

 

[ohiococonut]

Birchwood Casey Tru Oil is specifically made for finishing gun stocks. They make a whole host of things such as conditioner, stain, filler, etc. You can buy the Tru Oil in liquid or spray. It would be the easiest approach for you.
I've been making/repairing gun stocks/grips for a little over 30yrs. and there's much more than just wiping on CA or spraying poly on them to make them functional as well as look good.

Here's a set I did for a customer a couple of years ago. The grips are pictured on my gun for illustration purposes only and are not appropriate since my gun wears full mag well grips. These were done with CA since he only wanted them for display and the amboyna panels were very thin, especially on the knife.
Pictures fuzzy because it's from my cell phone and photography just isn't my forte.



A little google on the web for gun stock refinishing will yield a lot of info.

 

[plantman]

Birchwood Casey Tru Oil is specifically made for finishing gun stocks. They make a whole host of things such as conditioner, stain, filler, etc. You can buy the Tru Oil in liquid or spray. It would be the easiest approach for you.
I've been making/repairing gun stocks/grips for a little over 30yrs. and there's much more than just wiping on CA or spraying poly on them to make them functional as well as look good.

Here's a set I did for a customer a couple of years ago. The grips are pictured on my gun for illustration purposes only and are not appropriate since my gun wears full mag well grips. These were done with CA since he only wanted them for display and the amboyna panels were very thin, especially on the knife.
Pictures fuzzy because it's from my cell phone and photography just isn't my forte.



A little google on the web for gun stock refinishing will yield a lot of info.

Now that's what I call a desk set!! The wood realy complements the metal. Realy nice work. Jim S