Did some stippling

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Did some stippling

Postby Scratch on Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:44 am

I've been wanting to do a stipple job and double undercut on my G17 for a long time now, but I wanted a certain design on it and couldn't figure out how to do the design, so yesterday I said F-it, and just did it without the design since summer is coming up and I wanted to have it done. Here are the tools I used.
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-Black & Decker RTX rotary tool (Dremel tool)
-180 and 240 grit sanding drums
-3/32" ball shaped engraving cutter tip
-25W Walnut Hollow wood burning tool with a screwdriver style tip
-Some 240 and 320 grit sandpaper for smoothing.


I first used the two sanding drums to remove all the factory stippling, and finger grooves, then did the double undercuts on the trigger guard and the recoil ledges at the slide lock lever. I also drew in pencil where I wanted my borders to be.
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Next I used the Dremel Tool with the ball cutting tip and cut in all my recessed borders. Yes, they look like crap, no I wasn't jacked up on caffeine.
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Then I started stippling. I knew I wanted to use this tip, but was torn between the "random sprinkles" pattern or the "flowered sprinkles" pattern. I finally decided to go with the flowered pattern. I'm glad I did. I like it a little better than the random pattern.
Image


I love the stippling pattern and am extremely happy with the look and feel of it, but the borders look like total crap! It doesn't really bother me that much since I really work this gun, and I have 3 other G17's that look nice. This gen 3 frame has already been butchered and Dremeled since I cut out the mag release hole for a gen 4 button so I'm ok with it, as long as it functions fine.
I do love the shape of the borders, but wish they were a little cleaner. I don't know how some of those guys get their borders so clean!
I really love the recoil ledges and stippling there. It feels way more stable in my hand with more downward pressure on my thumb there. I also really love the double undercut and no finger grooves. It feels much more natural of a grip now. I can't wait to shoot it to see how much it helps!
Anyways... here are some finished pics.
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Did some stippling

Postby INOR on Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:10 am

Nice job! I think it looks good. I don’t think the borders look too bad at all.


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Re: Did some stippling

Postby aprilian on Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:24 am

I like it. I'm always glad to see a functional mod.
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Re: Did some stippling

Postby Scratch on Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:56 am

INOR wrote:Nice job! I think it looks good. I don’t think the borders look too bad at all.


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They do when you compare them to what I was going for:
Image

By the way, this is the "random sprinkles" pattern that I was considering.
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Re: Did some stippling

Postby Ghost on Wed Apr 11, 2018 11:25 am

Saw it on Instagram. Nice job
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Re: Did some stippling

Postby Erud on Wed Apr 11, 2018 3:24 pm

That’s pretty cool.
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Re: Did some stippling

Postby mmcnx2 on Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:50 pm

As long as you love it you're good. Try to sell it and you maybe surprised on the depreciation loss.
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Re: Did some stippling

Postby xd ED on Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:59 pm

So how did the your work change things?
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Re: Did some stippling

Postby Scratch on Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:42 pm

mmcnx2 wrote:As long as you love it you're good. Try to sell it and you maybe surprised on the depreciation loss.

I've sold exactly one of my personal guns in the past 48 years, I didn't even know that was a thing....?


xd ED wrote:So how did the your work change things?

Huh...?
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Re: Did some stippling

Postby xd ED on Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:47 pm

Scratch wrote:
mmcnx2 wrote:As long as you love it you're good. Try to sell it and you maybe surprised on the depreciation loss.

I've sold exactly one of my personal guns in the past 48 years, I didn't even know that was a thing....?


xd ED wrote:So how did the your work change things?

Huh...?

Yeah, I should proof read my edits...

I'm curious as to how the stippling changed the pistol for you..
better grip?
more secure hold?
anything better/ worse?

Looks good, nice job and details.
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Re: Did some stippling

Postby Holland&Holland on Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:43 pm

I too am curious if it is just for aesthetics or you actually like the grip better.
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Re: Did some stippling

Postby Ironbear on Thu Apr 12, 2018 5:46 am

I was going to comment that your border might clean up a bit with some shaped wood-working tools... but the close-up example you showed actually appears to have melt lines along the edges of the border. I'm thinking that border was made with some rounded hot-tip. Or at least finished with one.
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Did some stippling

Postby INOR on Thu Apr 12, 2018 5:56 am

I wouldn’t worry about the border too much. There’s just something about a gun that shows some wear, tear, and imperfections from years of shooting the **** out of it, modifying it, and making that thing the best it can be for yourself. I dig it.


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Re: Did some stippling

Postby Scratch on Thu Apr 12, 2018 6:18 am

xd ED wrote:

Yeah, I should proof read my edits...

I'm curious as to how the stippling changed the pistol for you..
better grip?
more secure hold?
anything better/ worse?

Looks good, nice job and details.




Holland&Holland wrote:I too am curious if it is just for aesthetics or you actually like the grip better.

I haven't actually shot it yet, but yesterday I did a lot of dry fire practice with it. Drawing, transitions, etc...
I also compared it to my carry gun which is almost the same. Gen 3 G17 with WML, same modified mag release, but no mag flare, and with a factory trigger.
The grip was way better. The texture makes it much more grippy. I thought it might be too rough on my hands, but after an hour or so of playing with it, I've decided it's not. I liked it so much Im considering doing the texture (but not the borders) to my carry gun, so I removed the mag flare and tried it IWB against the bare skin on my waist, and while I could definitely feel it was more rough, it didn't bother me. I wore it around the house for a while and didn't notice any redness or it feeling uncomfortable at any time, but I think I'll have to do more testing with it before I do my carry gun. I'll have to try it for a full day and see. I have to imagine that it might get kind of uncomfortable after a while. We'll see how it is in the summer heat...

I didn't notice the undercut a whole lot. I could feel it was different than my carry gun, but just by a little bit. It felt like my fingers were more relaxed and maybe not as much tension on them... Its hard to explain. I'm not sure if it was the undercut or the no finger grooves, or the combination of both. It felt better than my carry gun, but not as much of a difference like the texture did. I really like the texture difference, the undercut wasn't so drastic of an improvement I felt.

The double undercut... The front cutout under the trigger guard for my off hand... I couldn't even tell that was there. I didn't notice that at all. I thought it would be a good reference point for my off hand like they say, but I didn't notice it at all. Maybe if I cut it not as long as I did so my finger would actually rest in a finger sized slot rather than a two finger sized slot, I would have noticed it more, but I saw most of them are this long or longer so that's what I did. Maybe I'll notice it with more practice, but for now, I couldn't even tell a difference.

The lack of finger grooves I'm also undecided on. They never really bothered me on other guns, but I felt that if I did the undercut, I should remove them so I did. Not sure if it helped, but I don't feel it hurt either.

The recoil ledge, stabilizer ledge, thumb support ledge, shooters cut, (I've heard so many names for it) I really love that! I've seen others put in a recessed border on the angle there also, to match the other borders, but I wanted as much of a hard ledge there as I could, so I left it kind of sharp and I'm glad I did. I can instantly feel when my thiumb is in the correct spot for me or not, and it feels like I'll have much more downward pressure there with my thumb. (Again... I haven't shot it yet so I'm not sure)
I'm as excited about that thumb ledge as I am the texturing. The undercut not so much, the double undercut and no finger grooves, hardly at all.

Im still super glad I did it.

As far as looks...I really love the look of the stipple pattern. I've looked at a lot of patterns and this one has always been my favorite. The pattern turned out exactly how I wanted it. Random with a slightly hidden pattern... it was super easy and the stippling itself took about 45 minutes so I'm glad I didn't pay someone to do it. I also love the look of the double undercut even though the "double" part doesn't seem to do much for me.... That I can tell right now anyways... The no finger grooves, I'm indifferent to. I could take them or leave them. I think the recoil ledge turned out great as well. I didn't stipple it at first and I was like meh.... But after I stippled it, I love how it looks there too.

Those borders though.... Ugh... I'm NOT happy with the look of them at all. I wish I could have sent it out just to get the borders done, but that would have been kind of silly. I'll get over it. I already have. It's a tool. One that is much more secure now!
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Re: Did some stippling

Postby BigBlue on Thu Apr 12, 2018 6:56 am

Scratch wrote:As far as looks...I really love the look of the stipple pattern. I've looked at a lot of patterns and this one has always been my favorite. The pattern turned out exactly how I wanted it. Random with a slightly hidden pattern...


Random?? I thought it was snowflakes to honor our never-ending Minnesota winter of 2018?
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