Ted - grips
 

Ted: I have some 1916 wood Luger grips which are almost black in color. Was it you who posted a method (about a year ago) of bringing out the wood tones in old grips with out damaging them? If so would you mind posting the method again? Seems like it was baking them in an oven.

Thanks,Paul R.

Re: Ted - grips
 

NINE!!! Dont BAKE them, look in FAQ secton of the GENERAL INFORMATION SECTIon, The procedure is in there!

Re: Ted - grips
 

Where do you buy you "Murphy's Oil Soap"? Thanks, Paul R.

Re: Ted - grips
 

Grocery Store it is very common item in furniture care or kitchen cleaners! If you cant find any, I will ship you a bottle! Ted

Re: Ted - grips
 

Paul,


If you follow Ted's direction, you will clean the grips and they they will look great when finished. Just be sure to use boiled linseed oil, not raw.


Marvin

Did we forget where we were? (EOM)
 

Re: Did we forget where we were?
 

I already warned him, hehe A slip of der tongue!

Re: Did we forget where we were?
 

Well.

every once in a while a person goofs up.


Marvin

Re: Ted - grips
 

Hmmmm..grips in the oven..maybe strawed grips? Nah, it just wouldn't be wise. I personally have had an experience with a really nice old walnut grip, placed in a low heat oven to dry out the moisture. It warped it severely and permanently. I even tried to soak it and 'bend' it back into the proper shape. Soon I was looking at a two piece warped grip. Fortunately it was not an original grip to one of my pistols, but NEVER put a grip in the oven (unless you plan on a little BBQ with authentic walnut/Hoppes wood smoke flavoring). Now I have made myself hungry. Later...

Luger Wood! Fun with heat!
 

There have been a lot of different ideas about how Luger wood was treated when it was first made.......Well,...I can tell you one way it wasn't!!! I know you have all heard the one about all the parts were thrown in a vat of hot boiled linseed oil....I couldn't wait to try this one, so I heated up some oil and tossed in about a half dozen mag. bottoms...I took them out and they looked beautiful, only problem was, they had shrunk about .030 from lose of moisture! They were worthless, attempts to replace the moisture, futile,........live & learn!...till...later...G.T.

Re: Luger Wood! Fun with heat!
 

If the wood did not crack then allowing the bottoms to rest in water for a very very long time should eventually enable equilibrium of higher moisture content in the wood. The oil-filled voids might need to be cleansed with an organic solvent first, perhaps pentane or isooctane or other non-hydrophylic solvent. Acetone would probably work but also remove even more moisture and promote cracking as the wood dried (rapidly!). The pentane, cyclohexane or whatever, (chose something lighter than the water) would seep out of the wood through normal osmosis and float away--the water would replace it in the voids.


This is speculative but is a variation of the process used to replace salt water in old water-logged oak with ethylene glycol. This was done to preserve the great 1628 shipwreck of the Wasa.


dm

I hate it when things like that happen... (EOM)