Best way to thin stag?

kamagong

kamagong

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Jan 13, 2001
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I have a set of stag grips for my 1911. The problem is that the slabs are too thick, and when screwed on make my Springfield feel too fat. I want to take them down some and I'm thinking of doing that on the back end so as to preserve the bark.

What is the best way to do this? I was planning on taping a large sheet of sandpaper to a piece of cardboard and then have at it.
 
Disk sander or a granite plate and sandpaper. I don't know how the grips are made, but if you take too much off the back and the scales are really round you could end up making them to where they are not wide enough. If that makes any sense.
 
Make sure that the paper is flat and against a hard surface, rub the grip against the paper. Be very careful about sanding near the edges of the paper if the paper is loose. If you don't have a hard, flat surface, if you let the paper curl against the grip as you thin you will most likely wind up with rounded edges around the back edges of the grips.
 
Glue the paper down. Use 50 to 80grit. Pencil a line parallel to the edge for a reference. Check out the back side for finish. You don't need to use finer grit than that, and what you may see is router marks.

You won't have to take off as much as you think you may... take some off of both sides and tape them in place for feel. In the end, you are going to have to deal with the grip screws... they are going to be too long.

If the edge at the inside face is sloping very much, like Ryan mentioned, this isn't going to work and the only way to reduce the bulk will be to take down the outside.

Mike
 
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