New Guy WIP Pistol Grips - Advice Welcome

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I will start by saying I am brand new at this and am just starting to catch on......maybe.

My project is to scan and carve pistol grips for a model 1911.

The scan shown is the best I have been able to accomplish so far.
I didn't do any cleanup other than to fill in the screw holes from the grips I scanned.

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I was hoping if I showed how I carved this, some of the more experienced guys might step up and tell me what I am doing wrong, if I am doing something potentially dangerous, or if they know a better way to go about it.

The first photo shows the carving sled I will be using.
The 2 pieces to be carved are about 5&1/2" x 2" x 3/8" I am using pieces thicker than I need. Final thickness of finished piece should be 1/4".



Next I have placed test pieces in the sled.



Finally taped the edges with masking tape then started carving.

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I carved these at optimal setting. They turned out the correct size and looked pretty good.





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The first Issue I need to deal with is the stepped edges.



I had planned to run these through my drum sander face down to remove excess thickness. I figured they would just drop out of the rectangle when I got to the depth of the carving but the stepped carving prevents that from working.

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Ideally I would like to be able to do a 2 sided carving the correct thickness with the features shown in the next photo carved into the backs.



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I thought it would involve an additional scan of the backsides. But after that I don't know how I would get them correctly lined up with the front side. Size and proportions have to be precise or these won't fit. Most of the grip makers do the backsides by hand. I was hoping to be able to do it more precisely with the machine.

Any help or advice is welcomed.
Thanks, Mark

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Here I went ahead and ran the pieces face down through my drum sander until I got to the desired thickness and could see some daylight come through from the carving.



Next I cut the scales loose with my pocket knife.

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It's kind of sloppy. I can make it work, but would prefer to put my time into doing things the right way. If and when I learn how.

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I take that back. This way is not going to work. Before cleaning up the rough edges on the sides I am already about 1/8" too narrow.

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If anyone can help, please speak up.
It looks like the first difficulty i need to deal with is how to get better edges and not too narrow when carved.
If I can get at least that much figured out I can make this work for me partially, at least enough where I could do the rest by hand. Otherwise my alternative is to cut out the shape on the bandsaw and do all the rest of the shaping by hand. I had kind of hoped to be able to do this on the CW machine.

I will go to the tips and tutorials and maybe find something there. But.........if anyone can help, thank you in advance.

[liquidguitars]

it's a good project that can be done on the CW, I could set it up for you but I found that most people just ignore the simple advice and sled designs and prefer to make the same mistakes. But your really close...

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it's a good project that can be done on the CW, I could set it up for you but I found that most people just ignore the simple advice and sled designs and prefer to make the same mistakes. But your really close...

I take this as saying I will value the lesson more if I figure it out myself, and you are probably correct. After figuring out most of the ways to do something wrong, the right way comes pretty easy.

First thing I have to figure out is how to maintain the proper size after carving. Seems I lose about 1/16" along each side that is carved at a bevel. The 2 ends that have vertical edges do not have this happening so the length is correct. I will be going back into Designer and see what I can come up with. I will post what happens here even if it doesn't turn out.

[liquidguitars]

Mark,

your a pattern maker now this is a different beast that just scanning or using a pattern off the net.

most pattern makers add and subtract the forms they make to incorporate the final finished shape. my advice would be to add 1/16" or more to the sides with bondo then re scan the grips but.

regarding the depth I think you could just shim the bottom plane of your sled.

The big advantage to making your patterns in 3D is you can just add a little more in the mesh to constipate for the carving bit. the classic error is when someone uses a probe on a guitar neck and when finished the neck is overall to small.