Bitter Sweet and a few Thank You's

by SKgrips, Thursday, July 04, 2013, 07:42 (4105 days ago)

My oldest son has graduated from high school and is departing for Air Force basic training on July 23rd. I wanted to do something memorable for him as I know after the 23rd, I wont get to see him very often
Tomorrow, we depart for Northern Quebec for a week of Northern and walleye fishing, I'm taking along his buddy who departs in September for the Air Force as well. My son Scott will be a firefighter and Jacob is going into special ops. Im very much looking forward to spending time with these young men before they depart to serve our country.
For his graduation present, I wanted to get him a nice handgun and holster that he can use anywhere in the country for hunting. I wanted to create a family heirloom set that we could keep forever and continue to pass on to the next generation of a family. I chose the new Ruger flat top Bisley 44 spl in 5.5". With the help of Jason at Lipsey's, we were able to obtain two with consecutive serial numbers. Then it was off to my good buddies, Mike Barranti to have the rigs made, Mike designed these rigs for us.....they are spectacular!
I then created a set of grips for Scott's Ruger. I wanted something memorable. So, when he was in 10th grade, we were at our Air Force JROTC summer camp, and he spotted a big burl on a cherry tree, and I told him what burls were all about. Before we left, I decided to harvest that burl...he had know idea...and its been in my shop for three years. ai decided to cut it up and use it on this gun for him. I was impressed by the figure in that burl. He has not seen them yet, I will give them to him today, the 4th of July! I wanted to say thanks to Mike and Jason for helping me with this project. I have included a picture of one of the rigs, this is Scott's, and I have the same matching rig, just one serial number prior . One day, he will have both as our family legacy continues.