touching up, or refitting real MOP grips...

Magnum Wheel Man · February 16, 2011, 09:06 AM

curious if any of you guys have done any work on Mother Of Pearl grips...

as a collector of black powder era guns, I often find / buy guns that have a poorly fit or ill fitting set of MOP grips that have been added to the gun at some point in it's life... perhaps ( & I have one like this ) someone scratched their initials into a part of the grip, or an edge that was maybe proud, got chipped...

I personally don't have an issue swapping around a set or two of these "non original" grips to guns that they fit on better... but so far I have been hesitant to actually "work" on a set...

I assume, the proud areas can be ground down, sanded smooth & polished to look like new... obviously if the area is short material, there is nothing I can do there, but look for a better fit on a different gun... so far, I don't have any severely broken grips to play with, so I've been leaving them alone... but they had to be worked into grips in the 1st place...

anyone with suggestions on what to use to remove material ( a common file ok ??? ) what to use ( anything special ) to polish those areas & the rest of the grip to blend in the worked portion of the grip...

also, anyone with broken MOP grips they want to give up ( I'd gladly pay for shipping ) to have something to expiriment / practice with

James K · February 16, 2011, 03:21 PM

I did some checking a while back and MOP is still available in sizes large enough for grips, and not that expensive. A Google search should turn up several sources along with instructions in cutting and polishing it.

Jim

February 16, 2011, 09:06 AM	#1
Magnum Wheel Man Senior Member Join Date: July 26, 2006 Location: Southern Minnesota Posts: 9,333	touching up, or refitting real MOP grips... curious if any of you guys have done any work on Mother Of Pearl grips... as a collector of black powder era guns, I often find / buy guns that have a poorly fit or ill fitting set of MOP grips that have been added to the gun at some point in it's life... perhaps ( & I have one like this ) someone scratched their initials into a part of the grip, or an edge that was maybe proud, got chipped... I personally don't have an issue swapping around a set or two of these "non original" grips to guns that they fit on better... but so far I have been hesitant to actually "work" on a set... I assume, the proud areas can be ground down, sanded smooth & polished to look like new... obviously if the area is short material, there is nothing I can do there, but look for a better fit on a different gun... so far, I don't have any severely broken grips to play with, so I've been leaving them alone... but they had to be worked into grips in the 1st place... anyone with suggestions on what to use to remove material ( a common file ok ??? ) what to use ( anything special ) to polish those areas & the rest of the grip to blend in the worked portion of the grip... also, anyone with broken MOP grips they want to give up ( I'd gladly pay for shipping ) to have something to expiriment / practice with __________________ In life you either make dust or eat dust...

February 16, 2011, 03:21 PM	#2
James K Member In Memoriam Join Date: March 17, 1999 Posts: 24,383	I did some checking a while back and MOP is still available in sizes large enough for grips, and not that expensive. A Google search should turn up several sources along with instructions in cutting and polishing it. Jim