Well finally got the nerve up to try some stippling.
First off i'll go over what i used:
*soldering iron: Weller soldering iron $14 at lowes came with 3 tips and a blade tip as well.
*A2 pistol grip for practice (dirt cheap and had one laying around i wasn't gonna use)
I also have the bigger weller soldering iron that has the 2 heat ranges but it was way to big and bulky to get really detailed with. So thats when i decided to just pick up a cheap regular pencil style.
As far as the tip, i used one that i modified that came with the iron. I sanded it down flush, it was the flat blade. After sanding i grabbed my 1/2" breaker bar because it has a nice knurled/ checkered handle and whacked the handle porting on the tip a few times holding the tip with a pair of vice grips. Then sanded off the mushroomed portion around the edges and cleaned it up and started getting a feel for the pattern it layed down.
pic of the tip:
pic of the pistol grip i practiced on using the pointed tip for dragging lines and then the tip i made for doing quick random presses for varied depths. I'll probably sand the pointed tip down some to make it really fine for doing nice thin detailing lines but for now i really like the tip i made for its purpose and i can manipulate it pretty easily for getting in small spots and what not.
Anyways onto the real fun...... Took bout an hour and a half to do the front and rear backstraps on my pair of M&P's 9mm fullsize and the compact i carry daily.
Started by outlining the edges:
Then just picked a spot and used random light and progressively harder presses/ short drags holing the iron flat and on edge to get varying patterns. Seems the more random the presses the more natural it looks and the better it bites into the hand.:
Heres a pic of the fullsize done and getting ready to start on the compact. I did the compact a little lighter so it wont want to grab on my clothes and such for carrying around but still a much much better feel than before.:
pics of the both frames finished up. Biggest deal was the material for the backstraps is much softer than the polymer for the frame so i had to uses a little more pressure on the frame to get the texture i wanted so it took a little longer and more concentration vs the backstraps. I also did the pinky ext. as well just for kicks still gotta do my others.
But other than that it was a very pleasurable project didnt take a whole lot of time and i feel great about it and best of all didnt have to pay anyone to do it for me
.
Anyways let me know what you guys think of it and add anything that i may have missed but most importantly grab a couple test pieces and try it out then just take your time and dont get in a hurry because once you start its not gonna be the same as before.
First off i'll go over what i used:
*soldering iron: Weller soldering iron $14 at lowes came with 3 tips and a blade tip as well.
*A2 pistol grip for practice (dirt cheap and had one laying around i wasn't gonna use)
I also have the bigger weller soldering iron that has the 2 heat ranges but it was way to big and bulky to get really detailed with. So thats when i decided to just pick up a cheap regular pencil style.
As far as the tip, i used one that i modified that came with the iron. I sanded it down flush, it was the flat blade. After sanding i grabbed my 1/2" breaker bar because it has a nice knurled/ checkered handle and whacked the handle porting on the tip a few times holding the tip with a pair of vice grips. Then sanded off the mushroomed portion around the edges and cleaned it up and started getting a feel for the pattern it layed down.
pic of the tip:
pic of the pistol grip i practiced on using the pointed tip for dragging lines and then the tip i made for doing quick random presses for varied depths. I'll probably sand the pointed tip down some to make it really fine for doing nice thin detailing lines but for now i really like the tip i made for its purpose and i can manipulate it pretty easily for getting in small spots and what not.
Anyways onto the real fun...... Took bout an hour and a half to do the front and rear backstraps on my pair of M&P's 9mm fullsize and the compact i carry daily.
Started by outlining the edges:
Then just picked a spot and used random light and progressively harder presses/ short drags holing the iron flat and on edge to get varying patterns. Seems the more random the presses the more natural it looks and the better it bites into the hand.:
Heres a pic of the fullsize done and getting ready to start on the compact. I did the compact a little lighter so it wont want to grab on my clothes and such for carrying around but still a much much better feel than before.:
pics of the both frames finished up. Biggest deal was the material for the backstraps is much softer than the polymer for the frame so i had to uses a little more pressure on the frame to get the texture i wanted so it took a little longer and more concentration vs the backstraps. I also did the pinky ext. as well just for kicks still gotta do my others.
But other than that it was a very pleasurable project didnt take a whole lot of time and i feel great about it and best of all didnt have to pay anyone to do it for me
.Anyways let me know what you guys think of it and add anything that i may have missed but most importantly grab a couple test pieces and try it out then just take your time and dont get in a hurry because once you start its not gonna be the same as before.
