To apply the paint fill, some grips may be entirely coated with the color of the paint fill to start. After which the paint is then “buffed” off the outer surface portion of the grip that will be black or whatever the base color of the compound is. After this initial sanding, the nearly-finished grip is given a final sanding by hand to remove any unwanted edges that may be left. Non-buffed

grips, such as those made from EPDM, have the paint fill applied, excess paint wiped away and then allowed to dry. These types of grips will not be buffed, but rather leave the tacky, high sheen outer surface intact.

A relatively new type of grip has emerged in the past decade consisting of synthetic polymers. With proprietary materials such as Elastom ETM® used by Winn or polyurethane by Karakal and others, these space-aged materials are wrapped over a rubber underlisting to provide the