A few days ago, somebody here wanted suggestions about how to fill laser cuts in 1911 grips.
This is neither a suggestion nor a recommendation. I wouldn't dare try it, because I'd certainly make a mess of it. (And I'd have to get it
right the first time.) Even if you're more daring and skillful than I ever was, it'd be wise to
try it first on something that you can afford to throw away. Starting over would NOT be an option.
Brownell's may still sell Epoxy Black Pigment as a fine powder. I've used it to install butt plates and recoil pads (with release agent on plates and pads that were to be removable). Used that way, it does a beautiful job, easily.
One could (theoretically) fill laser cuts with a black epoxy paste, making sure that there was no little internal (infernal?
) bubble, then sanding it flush and refinishing the grip.
I once had to replace the missing grip cap on a fine European rifle. The cussed thing was too wide for any
commercial grip cap that I could come-up with, so I made one out of a ¼-inch-thick slab of solid-black Plexiglas.™ After I filed it to shape (curved side-to-side and fore-and-aft) and fine-sanded it, it looked like solid-black buffalo horn.
My guess is that solid-black epoxy, fine-sanded, would have the same look.
The big problem, I think, would be allowing plenty of working time before the paste got too hard to work with.
Marinas and boat shops sell a water-thin epoxy — Cure Rot™ — that might be better for black-epoxy inlays than Brownell's Acraglas.™ I haven't tried it, so I don't know about that.
Carolina stock-maker Joe Balickie told me about Cure Rot™ in the late 1970s — said that he had extra-good luck using it to toughen gun-stock areas that he was about to checker. (Also said that he was tempted to try it as an extra-tough stock finish.)
