I love 1911's and needed a new hobby so I've started making grips. I don't have much wood to make them from - sent a lot of wood, micarta and G10 to another knifemaker - but I do have some and have been giving it a shot. It's harder than I thought it would be, getting them to the right thickness and making them fit right is a challenge! Here's the first pair that fit the gun and came out halfway decent - my 5th try - just some crap wood that was laying around: Here's some more "mystery wood" but these came out pretty nice and fit my Colt well: Then here's the latest pair - not as good as the previous ones but they do fit well: That's what I've been doing! I need a bandsaw and I think I'll be buying one the end of the month. Other than that one guy is sending me a bunch of cherry wood so I'll be using a lot of that. Whatcha think?
Have you got templates for Springer mil spec? I have some black walnut "just the right size" for 2 pair of bookend grips.
I have a Mil-Spec but it's out getting custom work done. I'd need the grips off the gun I guess to use as a template, but it should be the same as my Colt.