Hows do you sand the pistol grip area to get is as nice as nice as the flat open areas?

Terry,

Get some cloth backed emery paper, tear off length wise strips and use them just like a shoe shine cloth across the front of the pistol grip.

Rick's suggestion is a good one. Woodcraft and Harbor Freight both have rolls of strip sandpaper in 1" widths. Works well on forend tips too where you don't want the flats you get with a sanding block.

I use sandpaper backed by a rubber eraser, the block type sold in office supply or art supply stores.

i use sandpaper wrapped around apiece of foam pipe insulation

Glen's method is a good one. I use a curved piece of rubber that allows me to approximate the curve of the grip. Glen, btw, is that you I see posting on Shotgun World?

I do not like to use strips as a shoe shine fashion as you can end up cutting a groove if you are not careful. It is easy to do. Far better to use a backing block of some kind.

Chic;

Thanks for the advice, and no, it is not me posting on Shotgun World. I'll look into those erasers.

I've experienced the same problem with strips used shoe shine style putting grooves in the wood. So, I buy hockey pucks and shape them to the curves I want to sand and use them as a backing for the paper. I've only done a few stocks, but have made hundreds of knives with the hockey puck backed paper working well. I cut the pucks in half, and then shape them on a platen backed belt grinder.
Don

Don't use the shoeshine style as previously stated. It does no lend itself to a smooth finish. What you get is high and low spots if that makes any sense. The wood usually has hard and harder and not so hard spots and by usint the strips shoeshine-fashion, it tends to cut more on the softer parts. I use paper backed by a firm rubber eraser and alternate direction in sanding. that keeps an relatively smooth, wrinkle free area.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Customstox:
Glen, btw, is that you I see posting on Shotgun World?
QUOTE]
Chic - Yes it's me. I have sorta gone off the deep end on shotguns and sporting clays.

Glen,
I have done the same with skeet. I was rabid about it in my 20's and then quit rather suddenly after a gun club volunteer burn out. I am shooting 3 times a week now and need to rob banks and pillage small villages to support my "habit".

Chic:

I'm with you, I used to shoot 3-4 times a week, and went to NSSA and ATA every weekend in the summer. Then one day I got tired of it, winning was great, but the pressure was no "fun".

Now I shoot only for fun, and never for money anymore.

Believe me, I am not shooting for money, though I am as competitive as the next guy! The only pressure I feel is to not look too much like a rookie!
I joined a club that is seven minutes from the house. I can shoot skeet, trap, or 5-stand there on weekends. During the week, the wife and I go in the evening and shoot for fun/practice using our own trap. I am saving (and selling off stuff) to buy an electric wobble trap. This stuff is very addicting!

I will not argue with people who build and finish stocks for a living...I don’t...but I have certainly used sand paper on wood more than a few times in my life.

If one has a tendency to be “careless†and “get carried away†then I don’t care what you back your sand paper with (foam, felt, rubber, wood, or even Hockey Pucks!) you are going to get less than satisfactory results.

I normally don’t use sand paper to try and take off allot of wood so I haven’t ever had any problems forming ridges or depressions using light pressure and finer grits of cloth or paper. I use wood, plastic and rubber blocks of various sizes and shapes when I need to or when I have to keep things level and square, but I’m not afraid to polish up a pistol grip using just emery cloth or even a cloth rag with a bit of oil and pumice on it.