# Custom Marble Grips for a 1911



## JDM (Oct 29, 2011)

This is a counter top material that I am trying this with. I want to make some nice grips that conform to a right-handed shooter's hand(sorry lefties, im a righty). 









I carved an exact replica of the government models' frame so I can attach the blanks to it and actually feel how they are turning out when I am carving them.









Instead of using screws I used fiberglass rod to seat the grips and hold them tight, this way I can grind the fiberglass with the material and not have to avoid a screw and mess up the shape I want.









My initial carve, just getting the rounded shape and first.









Right here I am grooving a support for your thumb. (on target pistols this acts as an extra area that you can exert more pressure to lessen the recoil and stay on target)









After getting all of the major angles and depressions, I took some 80 grit to it to further shape the grips.









Wow. Not really one to toot my own horn, but these feel AMAZING. I know it is hard to see the angles and depressions and stuff but in this picture you can see the thumb rest for the left side grip.







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Like a "genius" the grips are backwards, the left is the right and vice versa. You can see the groove for your trigger finger on the right grip(left in picture), also a nice area that fills your palm under the trigger finger.









Here you can see how major the carving was.









Finished! (im deciding whether to polish them or not, I think they look alright like this though)









If you guys have any questions or interests you can email me.

-Thanks & Happy Shooting

JDM

"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.... Let them take arms.... The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
-- Thomas Jefferson, in letter to William S. Smith, 1787


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## spanish073187 (Dec 22, 2010)

Nice job. Came out looking pretty good.


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## JDM (Oct 29, 2011)

Thanks man I appreciate it.

JDM

"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.... Let them take arms.... The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
-- Thomas Jefferson, in letter to William S. Smith, 1787


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

I have never seen Marble grips before, but they sure look unique.


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## Gunners_Mate (Feb 17, 2010)

I think it's awesome you had an Idea and went through with it. and I think the craftsmanship and shape are awesome.

what I don't like is that particular grain of marble, and the added weight of using stone. I'd have used a different stone myself, the relative speckaling of the white and black dots with the grey substrate... I simply dislike it a great deal. especially on an all black gun, I'd've preferred something like a rainforext green...










or black maquina









of course thats aesthetics and purely subjective to the individual.

as for weight, your firearm is already pretty lengthy so it may be negligible to you, but you might want to consider skeletonizing it, hollowing out the inside except the outside edges and around the screw holes. with the level of skill you've already demonstrated it shouldn't be terribly difficult. but, personal preference comes into play again, the weight savings may be negligible anyways.

Again, I love the idea and follow through, and the shape seems about perfect. I hope you enjoyed the project and the final product.

Have you fired it yet, with those grips?


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

I wonder whether you should worry about fragility. Thin sections of stone break pretty easily.

Instead of marble (stone), I used an acrylic counter-top material. It was "free" because it was a remnant from our kitchen-counter re-do.

Check out the "shortie" 1911 at the bottom of the picture:


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## JDM (Oct 29, 2011)

Hey thanks alot man, this was my first attempt at grips so Im happy with them, I just made some new grips check them out.

These are my new ultra slim grips, they feel just as great the other ones and they are much lighter and thinner.









You can see how much thinner they are than the others. In this picture I havent sanded them yet.









I kept the mound that fits the right palm perfectly, also smoothed out a groove for your trigger finger, and kept the thumb rest for extra stability.









Top view, you can see the groove for your fingertips.


















Original grips.









My new ones, picture is crappy I know, and I know the grips arent flush but they fit trust me lol. Ill post new ones tomorrow.









These ones came out awesome, love the feel, you cant even tell the difference in weight, because of the slim profile and contours that fit your hand they make the gun feel slimmer than it actually is which is good when youre dealing with a larger caliber like this.

This particular material is called Corian, its a counter top material that mimics marble but is less fragile if dropped.

My next venture I will be making some grips out of some old plastic cutting board lol. These are the kind of things I like doing, just going in the garage and seeing what I can make by hand or machine that will increase performance. If you guys have any ideas for materials or want some grips yourself for any gun just email me.

Thanks for the support

JDM


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