I have publically stated here that while I like the 1911, I like them more for their asthetics than their functionality. As such, I have decided that my quartet of Commanders are all going to have smooth wood grips (which is an odd word since they will probably not be 'grippy' LOL) that will compliment the pistol they're on.

So first....what vendors? I've gotten grips from The Finer Grain (Sarge's Grips) and Raasco. Of the two, I think I prefer Sarge's. Esmeralda's Grips are next on the list.

What I have so far....



Sarge's Grips - moradillo, slim profile

I think the grain of the wood goes nicely with the slide serrations.



I have some nice burl of some kind on my Colt stainless, from Raasco I think, but I think it'll get switched out. Buckeye burl maybe? Or desert ironwood? I'd like the grips to all be different from one another.

I haven't put really picked anything out for the other two. I really like the English walnut on my Valor, but they are too chunky. I'd also like to keep it semi-gloss or matte, as the Valor appears more "business-like". Lastly I have the Kimber Pro Carry II...a blued slide that I hope to send to CCR to refinish and an odd (IMHO) silver alloy frame. I was thinking maybe some sort of light spalted wood? Or maybe some heavily figured reddish cocobolo?

So inspire me, please. LOL

Wood looks great on 1911s but I always prefer some form of texture over any smooth surface treatment. It does obscure the grain and natural beauty of the wood but to me on a proper 1911 a textured set of grips just feels AND looks correct for the genotype. The grips need to augment the gun, not the gun serving as a pedestal to showcase the wood.

Esmeralda

Take a look at Cherokee Hills for outstanding wood.
http://cherokeehills.biz

Wilson Combat Starburst: https://shopwilsoncombat.com/G.../productinfo/351MFS/

Recently picked these up

I prefer thin wood grips, either checkered or half-checkered.

I have a set of Herrett's Ultra Thin Pau Ferro checkered grips on my Valor Commander. (Sorry, but I don't have any photos of them mounted right now.)

Armorer's Supply is clearing out their stock of Herrett's wood grips for $9.99 each. Looks like they still have some full size standard thickness smooth walnut ones left in stock: https://www.armorerssupply.com...-grip-smooth-finish/

Fusion also makes decent wood grips, for the price, and they're available in smooth too. About on par with Raasco for price and quality. Here's a crappy photo of their standard thickness half-checkered cocobolo grips on a Dan Wesson A2 I recently traded.

Just put a set of woodcaliber cocobolo grips on my Dan Wesson, really set it off.

I still favor Sarge for grips.

I recently ordered 2 sets of Wood caliber grips using their cusom configuration feature. I think it took me longer to choose a configuration than it did to receive the custom made product. There is literally hundreds of combinations to chose from. The fit and finish was excellent and I am very pleased. Biggest problem with grips is they are very addictive

If traction isn't a requirement, I've always liked the Herrett D45 grips (not my picture):

Cheroke2u/Henry...those are both very nice!!

I'd love to try the 'build your own' at Woodcaliber, but they don't offer slims.

What I may do is get one grip from a different source. One from Sarge (done), one from Esmeralda, one from High Figure Grips, and one from Cherokee Hills.

Ah, I didn't notice that you wanted Slims.

These Ultra Thin smooth walnut Herrett's are a steal at $9.99:

https://www.armorerssupply.com...h-finish-ultra-thin/

Just another option. In the past I did my own searches to purchase exotic woods and would contract grip makers to carve them out for me. I went a bit overboard purchasing woods as you could imagine, so many different flavors and beautiful figure. One of the best shapers and makers was a great guy named Brian Challis who owns the Challis Custom grips site. He made several pairs for me and can work his magic for just about any project. One such project was that my Wilson Supergrade came with the stock starburst cocobolo grips with the Wilson emblem on them. I liked those grips a lot and contracted Brian to make a pair using nicely figured cocobolo's carved by hand with the starburst pattern of the Wilson's for my customized Ed Brown Kobra Carry, which btw I sold to a forum member here a couple years back, here's a photo...



Challis Custom Grips.. Challis Grips

This message has been edited. Last edited by: just1tym,

Challis definitely does good work, and his bushings are awesome. At ~$20 a set (including bushings and O-rings), replacing the bushings along with the grips would be money well spent.

You'll also want to pick up one of his bushing extractor tools for your existing bushings, and a 7/32 hex driver for install.

Figure ~$100 in tools and bushing sets for your four 1911s.

LOL I have already been to the Challis website and have two sets of stainless bushings, two sets of black, and the O-rings. LOL

quote:

Originally posted by AllenInWV:
LOL I have already been to the Challis website and have two sets of stainless bushings, two sets of black, and the O-rings. LOL

Oh well...I didn't see that you mentioned his site so I tossed it in the hat. He's a very good guy and straight shooter. When I first got bit by the wood bug I won an auction for a chunk of highly figured desert ironwood, actually it was a 32 lb chunk that I arranged to ship directly to Brian. When he received it he found it was not as completely dried out as the seller had mentioned in his description. Brian agreed to keep it and dry it out before cutting into it. What I didn't realize was that it takes a lot of work and thinking to cut chunks of wood to get to the nice color and grain figure to make a decent pair to carve up. He almost had to chop up the whole piece just to get a few decent pairs, figure and color wise. Since, I now just get small blanks and have a hand held tester to check how dry the wood is before shipping. Anyways it looks like he's still doing well and is quite flexible with getting you what you want. Had very good experience with the Sarge too, I might add.

Esmerala's are certainly my favorite!!!







I have found a few nice RAASCO grips on occasion:

Those are some beauts! My Raascos look a lot like yours. That second one is really nice!