Why doesn’t this sell, really want input. Mahog/Coco grip
I’m looking into what guys want to see from a set of custom grips. This is a really nice set and will not sell, not even 1 inquiry, why? Is it a bit to out there? Should it be dumbed down to blend with the frame color a bit more? I was thinking of adding some stippling and staining that area black. Is it the design of the foregrip? I’m stumped as the set looks as good as alot of custom work in some regards better. Is it just to fancy for the platform? Cost is competitive if not cheaper considering what has gone intop it. Its not a matter of money really, just want to produce what guys are after. There is no way i’m going to get rich. Its more of a see how far i can go with it, i enjoy learning woodwork. A number of reasons other then monetary gain, my little contribution to our clan 😉 . Let me hear your honest opinions. If i can alter it some to suit someones needs i would, just hate to see a nice set just laying there. I’m about ready to set up a pass around with any interested parties. send it out to the first on a list and he keeps it for a couple of weeks and then sends it to another, done. Anyone interseted? I feel sad if i can’t give it away 😯 should throw in the towel then.
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Viewing 13 replies - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
Ive thought about it, but then I decide the grip might not be stable enough and I should put a flashlight in there instead.
I carve wooden duck decoys for a semi-living. We carvers are a catty bunch and quick to critique the other guys’ stuff, because we expext them to critique ours, since that’s how we improve. Here, though, I’m apt to hold my tongue until somebody asks for a critique. But you’ve gotten some really good input so far. When I’m working on a duck decoy, I’m working from a set of knowns. Size, shape, and field markings are defined by a living bird, and it’s my job to interpret the knowns into my design and composition. In the case of gun stocks, there are no knowns. It’s free form art, and as such, has no rules. If this stock was for your own use, and you liked it, well, mission accomplished: the artist has met his goal. But since you’ve offered it for sale, you’re at the mercy of my eye. If the goal is to create art, you did. If the goal is to create a marketable work of art, maybe not so much. Why is it not marketable? It’s not pleasing to the eye. What’s pleasing to the eye? Angles? Curves? A mix? That’s mostly arbitrary and there is no right or wrong.
You can go a few different directions and end up with a very eye-pleasing design. You can go for pure art or you can go for pure function. Mixing the two is gonna be a tight-rope-walk that I’m not certain you’ll achieve over the course of your firstt 5 or 6 stocks. From the functional perspective, the finger grooves, the flat bottom of the pistol grip, etc would be preserved, if in fact they’re functional. I personally don’t know what deep finger grooves bring to the table, so I’d be apt to leave them off my design. Same goes with the HK PSG-1 inspired flat on the bottom of the grip. Dunno what it accomplishes. If it’s not a feature, eliminate it. If it’s not performing a function, it’s wasted wood. Same with the angles and slabby look to the fore end. It’s not adding anything to the function, except a good place to snag something on. If you had a concealed carry pistol, would you want sharp angles and pointy surfaces? No. Not functional, and potentially hazardous. On the other hand, there’s the artistry of the design. Again, are the finger grooves functional or are they pretty. If they’re pretty, make them pretty. Spend the time to sculpt the grips so they flow and draw the viewer’s eye in a direction you want. Say, from the base of the grip, up the grip, and toward the fore end. Angles and conflicts pull the eye in different directions and you end up with a “busy” design that does more to confuse the eye than please it. The use of dark/light woods is nice, but I’d work on my proportions. A long time ago, some very intelligent people figured out that NATURE’S proportion or ratio is 1 to 1.618. What’s that mean? Different things to different people, but you’ll often find that living critters are 1.618 times as long as they are wide. Or tall as they are long. or dark as they are light. Etc. Rennaissance artists refined this ratio to the point that DaVinci’s Vetruvian Man, known as the perfect representation of the human form, made use of these proportions in every single attribute of the drawing. You might spend a little time googling Golden Section or Golden Rectangle or PHI. You can learn a lot in a short time about designing to please the eye. It’s been proven time and again that the principles Phi in design work yeilds the most pleasing designs. And generally, the viewer can’t put his finger on why he likes it over the other, but it’s because our brain, in some primitive way, still desires to see things as they should be, the natural way, known now as Phi. The Golden Section or Golden Rectangle. All the same thing, all will yeild superior designs asthetically.
“Anyone up for a foregrip with a laser mounted/concealed in the end?? Its an idea i got brewing”
I would be interested in that:)
Thanks friends for the feedback. I see WOK knows i can be “sensitive” about my work 😆 , I appreciate the honesty guys. Myself i like some wood on the frame, many don’t 😆 , but still some do. I’ve gotten some good ideas from the feedback in possibly saving/improving that grip set. I’ve thought maybe that design is getting to fancy for the frame and to stick with the lines of frame like i’ve done with some of the recent pics of foregrips i’ve put up. I like to always push myself to improve, try out different ideas, see how far i can go working with my hands. I’ve learned how to join wood well for caps Its a process i’ll eventually move to full circle and end up where i started. I post pics for this kind of feedback so reply in my gallery on what you like or dislike and why. If i know what guys are looking for i can then better accomodate them. Anyone up for a foregrip with a laser mounted/concealed in the end?? Its an idea i got brewing 😈
Aahhh tactical looking, black rifle owneing, ghille suit wearing, Rambo wanna bes 😛 😆 . Its a good thing when you can come to a place like this, ask a sensitive/personal question, like how i feel about my work and know your asking friends vs. strangers.
JFK, Thanks for the words, good luck in your endeavor, study pics and more pics of stocks which catch your eye. Start a folder on it and add to it when you see one you like. That way you can employ an idea from one, and a curve from another and come up with something all your own. Maybe even do a rough draft out of some glued up baltic birch plywood. Its good to do a rough draft especially when it comes to little details the the actual inletting and fitting to the frame. If you screw something up recut and forget about it. Make a note of it and move on. I would say its very different from say making cabinets, or knowing joinery techniques. You can only work with the power tools so long then its sculptural after that. But your decades in woodworking will be a big help. Especially if you know a router well and have the bits to back you up. That is a tool i need to get and learn to use well. Very good choice for wood i like how it works. I’m doing 2 target style grips, 1 walnut and the other poplar and i’ve noticed how much nicer/easier it is to work the walnut. The poplar tends to tear where the walnut 😀 works so much nicer. If you can, i’ve heard it from another that quarter sawn planks are the best to work a stock from. If Dave G said it, i take it for gold. Would look dam nice as well. Gary Barnes’s site has some good advice/insight on working with figured woods for gunstock applications.
🙄 my bad double post.
At least it helps my post count(i just looked) fricken WOK 2289 posts. It was my first decent AG 😆 you POST WHORE. How does he do it.
Hey Bod,
I give you a lot of credit in the persistant department, you keep trying and I’m sure you will produce a successful design eventually. I really like your application of different colored woods (a lot) but your grips just looks too…..”blocky”. I have a nice size wood working shop in my basement and I’ve been doing woodworking as a hobby and for profit for over 30 years. I’ve never attempted to make a gun stock before but I’ve watched your continuing efforts and it inspired me to get a huge piece of walnut to try something. Like you, I’m sure, I researched and researched ideas for a stock design of some kind to go on the Air Force guns but as WOK says above its got to be black (dark) to go with the tacticle look of these guns. I really applaud your efforts. You may not be able to sell it (yet) but your efforts are not in vain. If I may suggest, look at AR15 grips, hand guards etc and think “tactical look” for these guns. For my own efforts, I’m thinking of turning (on a wood lathe) a front fore grip (AR15 style) and fitting it to my Condor. I would never have thought of doing it or been inspired to try something like that without people like yourself leading the way and sharing your ideas with all of us on the forum. I’m currently looking at wood stock designs for my FX Monsoon, that gun deserves to be wrapped in American Walnut and thanks to your ideas, I’m looking to incorporate a two/tone wood design with ebony. Trust me, your efforts have not been wasted, now get back in the shop and keep cutting.
John
To me, it looks unfinished. Its not rounded enough. The piece on the end of the foregrip looks like it just doesn’t belong. I like the grip, but it looks uncomfortable.
It is like the Sesame Street song…”One of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong”.
Good execution, wrong application in my opinion. The Talon is a tactical looking gun and those who like fancy woodwork on them is going to be extremely limited. Most people are going to want black, black and more black with the tactical look.
If you were making grips for the Crosman line or for the LD then I think you would see much more interest in that style of work.
Whenever I make something for the talon I think SWAT, SEAL Team not oil treated inlayed walnut.
I think if you made that style for the popular pistols out there you would give the other grip makers a run for their money.
Think it over and now go make something black for the Talon.
Exactly what I was thinking.
I want mine to look tactical, not like a sporter or target gun,
Black, black, black.
I agree I would round it off a bit and use a good black bedliner paint as without true metal bluing woodgrain seems a little out of place but then that is just my opinion as I bought my Condor so I wouldn’t worry about scratching up the wood.
But regardless of my comments still nice work beyond my fill and paint black standard method of working on guns.
Randy
You asked. So I will tell you.
It is like the Sesame Street song…”One of these things is not like the other, one of these things does not belong”.
Good execution, wrong application in my opinion. The Talon is a tactical looking gun and those who like fancy woodwork on them is going to be extremely limited. Most people are going to want black, black and more black with the tactical look.
If you were making grips for the Crosman line or for the LD then I think you would see much more interest in that style of work.
Whenever I make something for the talon I think SWAT, SEAL Team not oil treated inlayed walnut.
I think if you made that style for the popular pistols out there you would give the other grip makers a run for their money.
Think it over and now go make something black for the Talon.
I love the use of multiple types of wood. I do some woodworking also, including the grips on my ss.
Based on personal preference and my own woodworking I like the shape and that it looks nearly one piece. To me it appears “rough/unfinished”. Like a shape was decided on but quite finished (blocky). Foregrip needs to be rounded over on the bottom gripping edges and front of pistol grip looks almost square (uncomfortable) could be contoured down substantially across the front of the finger groove area. keep the grip inlays for sure they look great!
here’s mine:
Woodwork is a creative art to be sure. Very enjoyable to watch a block of wood turn into something of beauty. Keep after it and enjoy (a complete hobby in itself).
😀
It’s too square for my taste. I prefer rounded flowing lines. The rounded grip looks nice.
Good Luck, Bruce
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Chad,
The Golden Ratio….very nice.