Aged My Ivory. Wink! Wink!

[BirdsThaWord]

Thinking of my next project, and needing a diversion while giving the hands a break, I aged my "American Ivory" grips I got from Boone Trading.
I sanded the gloss finish off. Already, the character of the simulated ivory lines started showing up much better. Left sanded, right unsanded:
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With a dental pic and a needle file, I scratched in simulated damage around the grip screws, made some bone fractures/separation lines, etc. I then took some instant coffee and slathered it on. It took well in a few areas, others not so much (these grips are resin after all, so a gel stain would be more appropriate). I did this a few times to get enough to somewhat stain them.
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I then wet paper toweled them and polished them with a dry rag. Here is what remains. I'm happy. I polished them well, to make sure what I was seeing was going to stick, but if it goes away I will gel stain and do a light sanding after.
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[Bawanna]

Are those officer size or full size grips. Look great. I have some stuff used to bring back antler that has bleached out, have to go look. It's something pomegranite ? It works good.

[BirdsThaWord]

Are those officer size or full size grips. Look great. I have some stuff used to bring back antler that has bleached out, have to go look. It's something pomegranite ? It works good.

Hey thanks man! These are full sized. They are going to go on the STI USPSA when I can get back to that one. I know you and I had talked about something used to stain back when I got these grips and mentioned aging them. Being that they are mostly resins, I did not think much of anything would hold. I think the linen used in them was a little exposed with my scratching, so it stained a bit. I do wish the self inflicted damage around the screw holes would have held a bit better, but overall happy. I mentioned the gel stain as it would act just like a resin, fill in what I’ve removed with stain and I can then sand away any excess outside of where I want it. If that fails, I’d definitely hit you up for the pomegranate (then some mangoes and bananas and I’ll make a smoothie )

[340pd]

Nice

[BirdsThaWord]

Nice

Thanks! 😁

[King Rat]

Nice

Ditto. Smart thinking. Looks great!

[BirdsThaWord]

Ditto. Smart thinking. Looks great!

Thanks King! 😁

[BirdsThaWord]

I received my real bone, officer sized grips that I ordered off of Ebay. Amazing how cheap they were in comparison to the faux ivory grips that I started this thread about. I decided to see how these real bone grips would fair with the same treatment. I set about with the same process, which was sanding away the glossy exterior of the grip. I then started to do the similated aging and damage from useage. I have only done one grip as of this posting. Why? This one grip took twice as long as both of the previously posted, faux ivory grips did. I was a bit surprised. I thought the natural porosity of bone would make the damage, aging, patina, etc a cinch. NOPE! In order to get one of the tiny dots you are seeing (trying to simulate bone marrow), one of the lines you are seeing, or anything with a substantial difference other than a than a slightly off white glossy finish, I had to cut 4 - 5 times as deep. A little dot (marrow simulation) on the resin grips was nothing. On the bone grips, I had to spin, spin, spin the dental pick to create a deep hole for the staining to set. Same with all of the damages, cracks, etc you see. My advice, if you want an aged ivory or bone look is to start off with the resin/epoxy stuff
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[Bawanna]

It seems pretty dense and difficult to penetrate. When I do antlers there different depths and colors. The stuff I use penetrates differently. I don't know that it would work any better than what your doing on those. They look great both before and after.
Define cheap, usually real stuff is out of my range.

[BirdsThaWord]

It seems pretty dense and difficult to penetrate. When I do antlers there different depths and colors. The stuff I use penetrates differently. I don't know that it would work any better than what your doing on those. They look great both before and after.
Define cheap, usually real stuff is out of my range.

Thanks for the response and comments Colonel. These grips were right at $42 with shipping. If I remember correctly, the “American Ivory” grips were about 3 x’s that.