Finish on inside of wood grip

[DadsMod12]

I was looking at the walnut grips on my Beretta 92FS and noticed that the insides were unfinished. Should I put a couple of coats of poly on the back side to protect it from any clp or oil that might get on the grips. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[sadsack]

M-12: It would be a good idea to finish the inside for the reasons you mentioned and more.

 

[Derekadavis]

i was wondering did the wood grips make the grip any wider i want some on my taurus pt917 but i was worried about it making it to wide..

 

[KEN K]

What Sadsack said.

 

[DadsMod12]

Thanks Sadsack & Ken. FYI the grips are custom grips and are 3/16" thick.

 

[Tom2]

Most wood grips are not finished on the insides. That probably allows some moisture to absorb from the palms of your hands. That may be why old guns have pitting all around the edges of the grips on the frame, underneath them. So I can't imagine a coating of something to seal the wood would hurt a thing. Then again there may have been a rationale for not doing it in the past, besides being cheapo on the varnish.

 

[roklok]

The first thing I do when I buy a new firearm with a wood stock or grips is to do my best to seal all exposed wood. I pull buttplates, grip caps off of long gun stocks and varnish under them, as well as handgun grip panels. I use Thompsons water seal in cut checkering, this keeps water from soaking into exposed raw wood in checkering pattern. If you carry a gun in the rain without weatherproofing the unfinished wood, the moisture will soak under the finish, causing it to flake off.