Dirk construction

[PiobBear]

Do you have a contact for Vince?

www.arscives.com/vevans
vevans@localnet.com

[McClung]

I was surprised at how quickly you can rough this out. I went down to my shop and grabbed a piece of cedar (not a good choice for real project) and practiced carving up a grip while the Seahawks-Bears game was on. Carved with a pocket knife and then went over that with a dremel after the game and in about six hours had a grip that was ready for detail sanding. Not having a lathe I grooved the blank on my table saw and then just freehanded the curves to get the shape. I drew in three rows of braiding to carve which was a mistake as it made for small, tight detail work that was hard to keep sharp edges on so the weaving doesn't look near as nice. When I do this for real I'll only have two rows of braiding as in the photos as well as using a harder wood that will keep nice edges. All in all though this is a very doable project even without a lathe. Now if I only had a spare $1800 for the Craftsman carving machine that there was an ad for during the game.......