Carving TOZ grips

[mikeyj]

Now that I have my "new" TOZ, and I'm starting to mark the grips for carving, I have a question. The grips have enough wood, and are drilled, for a left hand grip that completely encloses the thumb. I don't really see the need for this, it would be a lot easier to carve the grips with a shelf, and I don't think any of the aftermarket grips are made this way. Am I missing something? Is there a good reason to enclose the thumb?

[Ricardo]

Quite a few don't have that tunnel thing, including mine. Morini grips don't. I just did an image search on Google and found several examples. In addition, your thumb won't be touching the top of that thing unless you choose to raise the thumb a bit. I can imagine people choosing that for a reference point or to provide a counterforce of some sort, but I doubt many do.

[rmca]

The closed thumb hole is a "classic" russian target grip design.
It helps a little in cold weather or wind. Although the rest of the fingers are still exposed to the elements.

Hope this helps

[mikeyj]

All good advice, thanks.

[SamEEE]

If you imagine the top of the left half of the grip if only supported by the web of the grip wouldn't be particularly strong - you're looking at a massive bit of timber being held on through the web of your hand by way of a couple of mms of timber.

The big hoop over the top has two functions:

a) Looks badass
b) Holds the top of the grip on

[glr1]

Where did you get the toz from? Does it have the spare parts and box with it?i saw one @busgun shop but no details included in the ad. Thank you

[mikeyj]

Where did you get the toz from? Does it have the spare parts and box with it?i saw one @busgun shop but no details included in the ad. Thank you

I saw them listed at Bud's and at Cheaper than Dirt. Some web searching revealed that a LOT of people were complaining about the customer service from those two retailers, so I decided to see if my local FFL could order one. Cheaper's web site said they got theirs from Century Imports, so I passed that info on to my FFL, and that's where he got it. It came in the case, with all the tools and spare parts. An "Excellent" one cost me $585 out the door, including local tax.

I started carving the grip today, using rasps, chisels, mallet, and a bandsaw. There's about twice as much wood as grip there. I'm reminded of the joke with the punchline, "..there must be a pony in there somewhere!"

[SamEEE]

Can you please provide an inventory, or a picture of all the parts that came with it? Out of interest more than anything else.

[mikeyj]

Four front and three rear sight blades of different widths, firing pin, two firing pin springs, a sear spring, and another leaf spring I haven't yet identified.

[mikeyj]

I thought I'd post a photo of my work in progress. I've been working slowly with Microplanes and raps and a by of judicious band sawing. I've made more than a few mistakes, but I've learned a lot, too. If I can find anther uncarved grip, I'm going to see if I can't do a better fit.