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Author Topic: Faux stags on my '51 Richards  (Read 2243 times)

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Offline AtlLaw

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Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« on: April 11, 2013, 07:20:40 AM »
Mostly a heads up for CoyoteJoe, continuing a discussion on these grips from the C&B Revolver forum.  He posted pics of his '60 Army there.
 
I got the stags I bought from GripMaker fitted to my Uberti '51 Richard's Conversion.  Finished last night.   ;D  They really look good but they are very white!  Probably because I went all the way to 1500 grit for the final sanding...  ;)
 
Now I can't make up my mind if I want to stain them.  I'll probably give it a shot as the leather dye doesn't color much and I'm sure I could sand the color off if I didn't like it.   :-\
 
I was thinking of fading the color into the white to give the appearance of the antler being worked down in shaping the grips, or maybe just coloring the whole grip to give it an "aged" look.  What y'all think?   ???
 
Oh BTW, I'll post pics tonight!   ;D
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Offline gcrank1

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2013, 03:46:17 PM »
Iffn ya use it this summer as much as ya should it'll color up  ;)
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Offline Lloyd Smale

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #2 on: April 12, 2013, 12:35:16 AM »
lots of guys soak them in a cup of coffee to stain them. I might be an easier way to control how dark you make them.
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2013, 07:33:10 AM »
I believe CJ said in his thread that he tried soaking his grips in tea and the material (synthetic) didn't color at all.   :-\  When I tried it with dark brown leather dye they just turned it a little off color.  And I'll bet the dye doesn't penetrate much if at all.
 
The color didn't rub off but I'd also bet it would come off with a few strokes of sandpaper.
 
I'll post those pics tonight!   ;D
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Offline coyotejoe

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #4 on: April 12, 2013, 09:14:08 AM »
Yep, a few strokes of sandpaper or even fine steel wool will take off the color. I'm still experimenting with colors, I'm not happy with anything I've tried so far. ;D
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Offline gcrank1

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2013, 09:23:42 AM »
Ive tried all the above, and more, through the years and the best Ive ever found is 'nose oil' and handling. Yep, just wipe yer finger up along the outside of yer nose and rub it into the bone, antler, etc. and burnish it in by hand. It makes for that natural patiner everybody wants  ;) . Ya can do color with all kinds of artificial substances and it all looks, well, artificial to me........
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2013, 03:56:20 AM »
O-tay!  I been 'sperimentin!   ;D
 
First, let me show you the grips after fitting.
 
The look pretty good, but a little, um... bright for stag in my opinion.   :-\
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2013, 04:01:54 AM »
Now, let me set the stage for the next pics.

Last night whilst enjoying my Friday night libations in the man cave, I looked at the grips, then the leather dye and said "what the heck!"  So I grabbed some cotton swabs and spread the Fiebing's Dark Brown dye on.  This is the result.  Well, not actually... I hit those with a few swipes of 400 grip sandpaper.  But you get the idea!
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Richard
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2013, 04:19:44 AM »
So what did I learn?  Several things actually.
 
First the dye did just what it will do on leather.  It streaks.  On leather this is caused by uneven absorption of the dye, but I'll bet it's caused by dye build up on this material.  I'll probably have to use an airbrush like I do on leather to get an even coat.
 
Next, the color is actually pretty nice but I'd like it a little lighter.  The bad news is you can't do that by sanding as you can tell by the picture.  I'll probably try the medium brown dye I have.
 
I'd like to be able to color the grips by putting some dye on and then wiping it right off.  That yielded a nice light coloring in my earlier experiments.  But I don't know if I can do it without over runs that will cause the streaking mentioned above.    :-\
 
So I decided to sand the grips back to bright white and try again!   ;D
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Richard
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2013, 04:22:03 AM »
And this is what we have!
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Richard
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Offline coyotejoe

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2013, 04:25:11 AM »
I like it.
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Offline gcrank1

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2013, 04:30:58 AM »
At least you wont get your nice white buckskin gloves stained up too bad now  :o .
I guess the big question is, now that you did it, are YOU glad you did or wish you didnt?
(Inquiring minds want to know)
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2013, 04:32:21 AM »
Now, this was really educational!   :o
 
More lessons learned!   ::)
 
First, it's obvious that even after finishing these grips down to 1500 grit, I missed some file marks!  The next thing is that the dye will settle into these marks.  And these marks can be made to mimic age cracks!   ;D
 
Soooo, I'm going to do some more sanding, I hope I have some grips left when I finish...  :( , then study pics of real stag/ivory grips to see how these age cracks run and try to duplicate some.
 
Then it's back to the coloring!   ;D
 
All comments, suggestions, ideas gratefully received! 
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Richard
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #13 on: April 13, 2013, 04:41:55 AM »
It's still in the working stages guys!
 
With this material I can eliminate mistakes with sandpaper and start again.   ;)
 
And even though it is removeable, the dye seems like it adheres to the material pretty well.  I'll finish the grips with paste wax and I don't think the color will wear off easily.
 
Ain't this fun!   ;D
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Richard
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #14 on: April 13, 2013, 04:43:13 AM »
I sure am glad I got this revolver Joe!   :)
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Richard
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Offline coyotejoe

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #15 on: April 13, 2013, 05:05:14 AM »
I'll let Nathan know you're happy with it . Funny thing is I think he was happy with it himself except that he was bored with the .38 special cartridge, he's more of a .44/.45 guy. ;D
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #16 on: April 13, 2013, 08:33:05 AM »
Well, this revolver reminded me how easy a 38 is to load for and how much fun it is to shoot!   ;D
 
OH! and... EURECA!!!  I did it!   :o
 
Check out these pics! 
 
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Richard
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #17 on: April 13, 2013, 08:53:58 AM »
Now let me told you what I done!  :D
 
I sanded the grips back to white then scratched in a couple of crack marks with the tip of a screwdriver.  I painted the marks with the dark brown dye then sanded the surrounding area back to white.
 
I tested 3 more dye colors on a piece of the grip material and settled on British Tan as it had a yellow cast to it when applied to this material.
 
I didn't want to set up then have to clean my air brush, so I thought I'd give wiping another try.  As careful as I tried to be, I still had overlaps that caused ugly streaks.   :(  I tried to sand them down to even out the color but wasn't having much success.   :-\
 
Then a thought struck me!  I grabbed a bottle of alcohol, not the drinking kind  ::) , put a little on a cotton swab and started rubbing the grips!  That liquefied some of the dye and I was able blend it all together and lighten it to the color I wanted!   ;D
 
Now I'm happy!!!
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Offline BobJ

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #18 on: April 13, 2013, 09:33:23 AM »
Outstanding! Great job!
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Offline Ladobe

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #19 on: April 16, 2013, 01:31:35 PM »
Not too shabby.   ;)   If you're happy with them, then they are done exactly right.
 
Always fun to figure things out for yourself too.   Did that a lot with the custom calls I made for over 5 decades, endless trial and error.  I ended up making all my own finishes from scratch myself from 100% ingredients to have the best of the best.
 
Rather than leather dye I would have been playing with aniline dye though. It's very easy to control colors with them when you are making them up.
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Offline gcrank1

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #20 on: April 16, 2013, 03:02:32 PM »
In your pics they do look good Richard, glad ya worked it out to your satisfaction!
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We are only temporary caretakers of the past heading toward an uncertain future
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45-70  SS Ultra Hunter with UV cin.lam. wood
12ga. 'Ol' Ugly OverKill', Buck barrel c/w  SpeedStock  and swap 28" x Full bird barrel, 1974

Offline coyotejoe

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #21 on: April 18, 2013, 05:52:08 AM »
Mine are about the same color but my "age cracks" are a little too straight and regular to look natural and too deep to easily sand out.
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Offline 44 Man

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #22 on: April 20, 2013, 11:09:34 AM »
Richard!  That is a great set of grips you have there!  Wow, and all that work!  Wouldn't it have been easier to just take the first set of pics and adjust the color on the computer and show us those and you wouldn't have had to do all that sanding and we wouldn't know the difference.  :)   he he.  I'm glad it turned out good for you.  I've had the same issues with the leather dye, seems you have it figured out.  Nice grips on a very nice gun!  Congrats!  44 Man
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Offline Oldshooter

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Re: Faux stags on my '51 Richards
« Reply #23 on: April 20, 2013, 12:01:36 PM »
Good job! Now I got a one eyed dog and a single shot rifle I will trade ya fer em!  ;)
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