Grip pics.

[G.T.]

Hi Viggo! Unfortunatly I believe you are correct! From the contacts both in the US and in Europe that have answered my questions on this subject, they all say the same thing...European walnut of that quality, has been long gone....I would imagine that WW1 used up most all of it....and WW2 probably used all that was left in Germany, and all that could be found in co-belligerent and conquered countries....I have had people say they could supply this high quality walnut, but none has become available despite my best effort's to purchase some!! Can you imagine how many grip panels could be made from one large tree! As for substitute woods, Current European Beech is very dense and of high quality, and can be purchased in quantity....ash, and hickory although hard, are tough to stain, and don't have a very pleasing look when finished, large grain like oak...(small parts look bad,looks great as a baseball bat!)...maple is worse...it is the densest wood I have ever worked with and is great for setting your fixtures and tooling, but it is unappealling when finished.....can't hardly make it take stain! The best dense walnut that is available now, is exibition grade French walnut, it is great to work with, but has so much figure, that it doesn't look like the Luger grip panels or mag. bottoms we are used to! It is pretty expensive also....A real shock was mahogany! I found some that seemed a dead ringer for the red/orange color that is so popular with Luger fans....every thing was going great ...until I applied the finish..they actually seemed to glow!! They were so bright that they just looked strange! Nope, Mahogany wasn't the ticket! Cherry wood has some potential, I will experiment on this next summer, and I will continue the search, but it has not been to rewarding up to this point! till...later...G.T.