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Plastic Stippling--I may have gone crazy!

30K views 46 replies 23 participants last post by  primer1 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Back in the fall, I bought one of those electric wood-burning tools at Sears with the interchangeable tips, and followed some of the many tutorials I found on the net to try my hand at grip stippling

Just pick out a tip and let the tool heat up. Try out different tips on some scrap plastic(I used the feedlip covers that come on P-mags) to see what each shape tip does. Press the hot tip briefly into the plastic, you should see the plastic melt and "roll" up the wood-burning tip. Vary the length and depth of the holes to find the amount of texture you like. I found I liked the texture a rounded tip about 1/8" across left. If you want it a little more aggressive you can lift the tip out of the depression at a slight angle dragging the edge of the crater.
Once I was kinda getting a feel for what I wanted, I started stippling the panels of p-mags themselves. it's really hard to screw up, but if you do you can re-stipple the same area again and fix it. If you really screw up and burn through the mag, well then you're only out about $12 or so.
I stippled a border around the finger groves, then proceeded to fill in the area by placing adjacent craters until the area was filled.


I like the feel of it so much I stippled all my P-mags :p
The P-mags are great practice, because they are the same type of plastic as the rest of the magpul furniture.

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#2 ·
Once you get a good feel for what texture you like working on the p-mags, just use the same technique on the furniture you want to stipple.
Pick out what you want textured, and what you don't-- like where your finger/thumb moves to work the safety, or where the sensitive web of your hand rides up on the grip, etc.

Draw out a border with a black sharpie if you like then stipple the border the same way as you did the panels on the p-mags. Then fill in the bordered area. If its not agressive enough just drag the edge of the crater or go a little deeper. If its too aggressive, you can knock the edges down a little with some sandpaper....or grow some callouses



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#3 ·
Did my AFG the same way as the p-mags/grip

You will probably notice where the molded grooves are in the AFG you need to hold the iron a little longer to displace the right amount of material. And go a little light where the center seam is so not to "weld" the two halves of the AFG together

Well that's about the best I can do. I'm obviously no writer and if I could ever stop buying components or guns maybe i could buy a decent camera. :p Sorry for the bad pics

The grip surface is now super aggressive, and gives a rock solid grip with even the wettest or muddiest hands. I've been running it like this since sometime last fall and couldn't be happier!
Anyway, I hope this helped.
 
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#4 ·
That's super cool Gate.

I used to use one of those to finish off some of my leatherwork. Burning a thin line into a leather belt about 1/16" from the edge creates a really attractive finish, especially on brown belts. Could be used to border stitching etc on a holster too :cool:
 
#6 ·
I used a wood burner with several different tips to stipple both of my Gen 3 Glock grips. I had originally stippled only the center of the grips, but then decided to stipple them from the rear serrations to the front serrations as well as the bottom of the trigger guard. I also used my Dremel tool to remove some material from behind the trigger guard and from the upper rear end of the grip creating a higher grip on the pistols.
 

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#10 ·
Looks great. Have you ever tried it on wood or does it just work for polymers?
Stippling has been done on wood instead of checkering for hundreds of years.
I read an article a while back they do wooden stocks by tapping a sharpened nail, or pointed chisel into the wood in a random fashion. That displaces and lifts the wood grain giving the texture, similar to how the burner lifts and displaces the plastic on the grips.

I don't know how the wood burner would work for wood stippling, never tried it. It would be removing material instead of displacing it so i doubt it's effectiveness... but that's what checkering does so it may work.:confused:

Not my work or photo, but an example of wood-stippling with a nail
 

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#11 ·
I used a wood burner with several different tips to stipple both of my Gen 3 Glock grips.
Nice work Davo! (I see we have the same camera:p)
I think I'd still be nervous doing the grip on a pistol, looks like you done good!:cool:
 
#12 ·
I think I'd like to give it a shot on a set of grips sometime when I have time. I know about stippling on wood, I just wondered about the effectiveness of the woodburning tool. A hammer and a nail would sure take a long time. I'd think it would almost take as long to just do the checkering.
 
#13 ·
I think I'd like to give it a shot on a set of grips sometime when I have time. I know about stippling on wood, I just wondered about the effectiveness of the woodburning tool. A hammer and a nail would sure take a long time. I'd think it would almost take as long to just do the checkering.
Sounds interesting. Try it out and let us know how it turns out!:cool:
 
#20 ·
New work done on my glock. A re-stipple, didn't really like the first go around.

Wood Electric blue Bumper Personal protective equipment Plastic




Wood Auto part Electric blue Fashion accessory Bicycle part




Finger Trigger Gun barrel Air gun Gun accessory




Hand Finger Bicycle part Tool Bumper




Gesture Finger Thumb Auto part Bicycle part




Air gun Trigger Gun barrel Wood Gun accessory
 

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#21 · (Edited)
I am a fan of stippling. I have done it to several guns. Here is a picture of two I stippled. Would I prefer deep checkering? Sure. But I can't draw a straight line, never could, and checkering requires perfectly straight lines drawn on a curved material, special tools, and probably gun-type specific specialized jigs too. Much easier to just grab the old centerpunch and start punching. It helps to use masking tape to border the areas so you don't cross into another area.




BTW, note in these two images the original Mustang 380 allowed safety on with the hammer down. For pocket carry, combined with the Series 80 firing pin, I found that locking of the hammer to be pretty cool as it allowed remarkably safe chamber loaded pocket carry.



When you have a tiny gun with only a small gripping area, or when you may find your hands slippery with blood or other fluids, stippling is very appropriate.
 
#26 ·
See.....

Wood Composite material Metal Tool Blade




Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content
Gesture Sock Grey Automotive tire Thumb




Bicycle part Wood Auto part Gun accessory Metal




Shoe Textile Automotive design Grey Rectangle




Grey Wood Gun accessory Air gun Gun barrel




Air gun Trigger Paintball equipment Machine gun Shotgun




Air gun Machine gun Trigger Shotgun Gun barrel
 

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