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It will be right handed. The left handed ones have a slightly different frame inside of the grips to accomidate the bolt-on part of the lower grip, i know they aee out there, but there are not too many. Once you get going its actually pretty fun.
 
11 hours in, I am going to cut finger grooves for sure. Palm shelf still needs opened up more.

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15 hours in. Palm shelf interior is getting close. The tough part is opening it up just enough to squeeze my hand and then opening up and wrapping my palm around thr grip once through. I got some work in "yoking" up high and close, and will do more. Im saving the finger groves for the very end. Probably 75% done on the "feel" part.

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Had to take a week off to fix my truck. The brute is running again so my focus is back on this Soviet Beauty. I have been thinking about finishes and I havn't truely loved any finish ive seen on these. The old school Soviet finish was dark brown on these, and alot of the new ones are light colord or some forsaken neon color from plastic 3-D printers. I mentally always associate the color red with the Soviet Union, obviously due to thier old flag, but also because of the sheer volume of blood given and taken by them in the last 150ish years. I though it would only be appropriate to keep this in mind when choosing a finish. Im going for a deep blood red stain. A natural red however, not a synthetic red. I did some hunting and found an old recipe for what is referred to as "Red Oil." Apparently it was a common initial stain and sealant that was used in olden days on high end shotguns in the UK and Italy. Essentially its 2 things: Boiled Linseed oil and Alkanet Root. Alkanet Root is the root of a small ground plant native to the Mediterranian region and was used as a natural red stain/dye in days of old. You can find it online in powder form easily, but I wanted the actual chopped up root. I found some at a local "botanical" store in Seattle.

To make the sealant/stain combo you simpley put the root in a container and then fill it with boiled linseed oil. Shake the container at least once a day, and ideally do tgis for around 6 months. By that point you should have a deep blood red color. I will filter tge finsl product with coffee filtrrs. Yhe next step is to apply the final product to wood until desired depth and deepness is achieved on work piece, then stop applying, let dry, and continue to add intervals of non red (normal) boiled linseed oil to achieve final seal/finish.

I am doing a few experiments here. To speed up the infusion time im using a higher ratio of solute (root) and lower ratio of solvent (Oil). This should speed up the time. Im also going to shake it much more, im going to keep it by my stove for the light heat, and ease of access, both will help. Im also not using straight Boiled linseed oil, im using Tru-Oil. Everything that I can find says that tru-oil is esentially Boiled Linseed oil with a few other beneficial naturally ocurring oils. So I am infusing Tru-Oil, and I will probably have a ton left over. The recipe I found was from the UK, and the writer also posted a unique Boiled linseed oil sealant combo with turpentine and a few other oils. I am assuming Tru-Oil is a somewhat similar blend, and logicically it should work just as good, potentially better. We shall see, ill let this infuse till it looks good, but it should be good before then.

My theme song for this build, ive been primarily listening to Techno during this build:


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17 hours in. Worked on finger grooves. Was on the fence, but figured everything else is for my hand, so lets not do anyone else any favors! Im 6'9" so not many folks except my son will be able to shoot it. I think im done with the feel of the grip panels. I still need work on the palm shelf, making room for my knuckles. I am going to keep the part that hides my pinkie, no use, but I think it looks cool, kind of like a sword hilt. I will go for a true one handed grip and leave the left panel fairly flat/plain. First two photos are generally what im shooting for, hopefully clise at least, im just winging it by feel and look.

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22 hours in. Feel is great! Tight enough that I can let my hand dangle and the gun will still stay in my grip. But not so tight to be anoying. Im basically done with the feel and moving on to aesthetics. Lots of wood to take off. My Tru-Oil experiment was a bust. It doesn't leach the color red out of the Alkanet root, so I switched to the advised boiled linseed oil, and instantly I can tell its going to work for that deep blood red!

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tru oil has some polymers in it, which is why some guitar neck manufacturers will warranty tru oil as the only oil finish they will accept. It does provide better water protection than plain boiled linseed oil. IMO it might make for a good final couple coats.
 
tru oil has some polymers in it, which is why some guitar neck manufacturers will warranty tru oil as the only oil finish they will accept. It does provide better water protection than plain boiled linseed oil. IMO it might make for a good final couple coats.

Yup, you are definitely right, ill do at least a few coats of tru oil. Good thinking! You can really tell it has man an made polymers in it if you shine an LED flashlight at it. Lights up neon blue, similar to some full synthetic car oils.
 
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25 hours in. Feeling awesome, the palm shelf makes a huge improvement. Still debating how much wood to take off. I am leaning towards almost calling it good. I like the bulky look and feel. The 90deg angle on the left side is basically perfectly parallel with the barrel. It could act as a great support for odd ball target practice. Like putting on the corner of a fence post for a stable rest. What do you guys think?

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