checkering ... need help

[LTK]

howdy everyone ...

I've been making my own pistol grips now for a few years. Nothing fancy, just plain walnut grips for the Vaquero's. After I joined sASS, I made another pair, more 'gun fighter' style, very thin, since I have small hands. I now want to learn how to 'checker' for better grip and less slippage. Brownell's has tons of checkering tools, I just have no clue where to begin. Any thoughts or suggestions, or even a 'this is how you do it', will be greatly appreciated!

[Camille Eonich]

See if this helps any at all.


http://www.gunline.com/checkguide.html


You may want to check their tools too.  You get free patterns and guides with the sets.

http://www.gunline.com/checkering.html

[LTK]

Nice ... thanks for the links!!

Like the avatar!

[Camille Eonich]

Thanks!

[Ozark Tracker]

A couple of weeks ago there was a show on Saturday morning TV about checkering,  It made it look awful simple,

they first layed out the pattern on the wood with an outside border line, then a line was established paralllel to one of the border lines.this was marked with a sharp scribe, then they used a single cuting tool to cut that line they established. then they used a double cutting tool to continue the process. when they used the double tool it was overlaped back to the pevious line to keep everything parallel,and cut to the same depth.  they continued cutting until all the lines in this direction were cut. then established the next line to cross the first set of lines.all these lines were then cut.  then the border was cut last with the single edge cutting tool.

Now if you can follow all of this it really looked simple, but very time consuming,  I've been thinking about ordering a few tools and practicing on some scrap wood and just see how it works.

I think a good book and a video on it would help a lot

[Micheal Fortune]

I saw that show, Guns and Ammo TV?, American Rifleman? You might want to check their web site.  Those guys sure made it look simple.

[DarkBlack]

That's how they get ya . . .

[Laredo Crockett]

 Getting a few lessons from someone who already knows how to checker is the best source of information. Barring that you have to rely on books and videos. About three years of intense practice in your spare time will have you doing marketable checkering.

[dangerranger]

Wife gave me a starter set from Dembart for christmas one year.they came with pretty clear directions. about the best book Ive found is by Monte Kenedy, checkering and carving of gunstocks. the hardest part for me is getting it layed out corectly to begin with. kenedy shows his layout tools in his book.Ive checkered all of our knives in the kitchen drawers, but have not tryed any pistol grips. Ive tryed drawing them on but have not gotten a design that Im happy with.[ trying to make the two sides semetrical seems to be beyond me.] Good luck. DR.