Will you make grips out of my wood? We will be glad to make grips out of that special piece of wood you have.  We can’t guarantee that the wood will survive the machining process. If you contact us with the species we can let you know our results.

What finish do you use and how do I care for it?  We use a water-based polyurethane.  It has good resistance to chemical and solvent damage but should be treated as fine furniture for long life.  This is the material we used on our hardwood floors because of its durability. If they become dirty a soft wet rag with a mild detergent should do.  Our Tung oil option needs only to have the occasional wax applied.  We use a MinWax paste furniture wax.

Can I get my grips unfinished?  Certainly, we will be happy to send the grips unfinished.  Just make your request known.  I will caution that some finishes will not dry on some of our rosewoods.  We will sand these to the level we give our standard polyurethane finish.  If you would like them oil ready then we charge the optional finish price. 

If I pay extra will you select extra fancy wood?  No. Sorry but we don’t want to travel down that road.  We will for no charge select say dark or light examples of a given species.  We do aim to please.  Grading wood is too subjective and we would not want to risk your disappointment.  We would rather offer good quality for a fair price.

Why can’t you make grips for this gun?  We would like to offer grips for a wider selection of guns.  There is just not the demand for some grips to justify writing a CNC program and making the custom fixturing necessary to make them.  There are weapons from some manufactures that do have the necessary demand.  These are not offered because there is too much variance in their product for us to produce a grip that fits to our standards.

Why don’t my grips fit?  There can be many answers here.  The wood may have warped.  Wood by nature will have a tendency to move.  Humidity can be a factor.  The more complex the figure the more likely the wood will experience twisting and distortion with humidity changes.  Contact us about returning.

There is also the chance that the weapon is an older model and has variances due to the hand craftsmanship that went into it.  Older S&W revolvers had serial numbered grips; these were fit to a given weapon.  We make a production grip that was designed to fit the majority of the guns out there.  Please don’t ask to send your weapon in for a custom fit set.  We don’t have the time and the cost would be way more than I would be comfortable charging.

Could you make a set of grips like those from another manufacture?  No, absolutely not.  There are plenty of unprincipled grip makers who will.  When we developed our Tactical 1911 grips there were plenty of grip makers lacking creativity and principles who copied them.  You won’t find reputable grip manufactures offering a similar grip and you won’t find us offering copies of another grip maker’s product.

Would you make a set of grips to my specifications?  Sorry, but that is something we won't do.  We only produce grips of our design.  Our grips are all produced on CNC equipment and developing a new grip is both expensive and time consuming.  It is our wish to produce functional grips that fill a need and well represent Ahrends Grips.

Could you install a medallion or inlet the grip for a piece of bling?  No, we don’t want to get into a licensing situation with the medallions or install something that is non-functional.  Here again, there are grip makers putting unlicensed medallions in, we won’t be one of them.

I hope you have found the answer to your question.  If not, call or email us and we will try to help.

Silver-Black Dymondwood Checkered Combat Bobtail