Bone for grips

[Doc O]

I want to make bone grips for an 1860 Army.
I've worked with bone on smaller projects before such as knife handles.
My problem is getting bone large enough locally for 2 piece grips.
I have seen bone for sale on the net that would be large enough but very expensive.
I want to keep the cost down.

Would anyone have a sugestion?

Thank you    Doc

[Silver Creek Slim]

Holstein.

Slim

[Delmonico]

Bison

[Angel_Eyes]

We have a few butchers as members of my club and I asked if anyone could supply me with a suitable bone.
The day before I fell ill, one of them gave me a monstrous thigh bone, wrapped in plastic, (still with scraps of meat on.)
A week or so later I had the dubious pleasure of clearing a bluebottle colony, plus one reeeely smelly bone from my workshop.

Be warned, beware of butchers bearing gifts!!
(And don't fall ill before boiling the damn things clean!)

AE

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

We have a few butchers as members of my club and I asked if anyone could supply me with a suitable bone.
The day before I fell ill, one of them gave me a monstrous thigh bone, wrapped in plastic, (still with scraps of meat on.)
A week or so later I had the dubious pleasure of clearing a bluebottle colony, plus one reeeely smelly bone from my workshop.

Be warned, beware of butchers bearing gifts!!
(And don't fall ill before boiling the damn things clean!)

AE

    As stated above by Angel Eyes, BOIL the heck out of them, or they will stink to high heaven, the problem with getting large bones today, is that they kill the beef earlier than they used to in order to keep the portion smaller, if you can find a 24 month old STEER, not a heifer, you will get the size you need to make a SAA gun grip, the older the steer the better in this case, have you meat cutter cut the knuckles off both ends of the femur bone, then have him split the marrow bone down the middle , this will make cleaning and boiling a lot easier, and you will see what you have to work with. They kill beef at 11 and 12 months now, so you will need to ask around to see if a grower has an older steer ready for slaughter.

                                     Regards

                                  tEN wOLVES 

[Shotgun Franklin]

If you don't find what you want before the weather cools then post again. I usually stumbled across cow bones while hunting. It's cooled down a bit lately but 102 ain't the best temp for bone hunting.
BTW, for years I wanted SAA grips made from moose antler, stuff's rare around South Texas.

[James Hunt]

2nd the bison - I have two Colts with such grips and they almost look like ivory (for a fraction of the price).

[Doc O]

Thanks everyone for the ideas.
There is a farmer near by that raises Bison and also has them butchered localy.
I'll keep in mind the 24 month old steers. I never thought about that much.
I have worked with Deer bone, a much smaller scale so I can see large bone would be a bit more work. But not to bad.

Shotgun Franklin, I will keep that offer in mind. Thank you very much.

[Shotgun Franklin]

Some place in Texas is a Colt SAA with a one piece grip made out of WT Deer antler. The grip is kinda crude but imagine the size of a Deer that had an antler that big. My Late Friend Constable Skip Gay tried to buy that gun but couldn't match the asking price.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

FWIW....

My Schofields came with actual bone grips ... I was told they were made by Eagle Grips.

I can't say enough nice things about them  >.. not only do the look really good, but when the temp gets up over 100 degrees here on the left coast, the grips stay drip and have good adhesion ... not like the faux bone (i.e. plastic).

When I get my little pocket pistol, one of the first things I am going to do is to take the cylinder out (so it is pistol 'parts' and I don't need a CAFL) and send them to Eagle Grips for more of the same ....

http://www.eaglegrips.com