I hope this site will be of help to you, either as resource for information you might find helpful in designing and building your own spadegrips, or in helping you decide if it's just more work than you care to get into. Not everyone's skills are in metalworking, and not everyone, even with the skills, has the time. If you decide to buy instead of build, at least you will know why the better spades available on the market are so expensive. Spadegip vendors can be found on  the Links page.

The first thing I did was to try to find an authentic example of a Browning .30 caliber machine guns with factory spadegrips. I found a photo of the experimental T-152 in the 1969 printing of Small Arms of the World by W.H.B. Smith. The T-152 led to the development of the M-37. I did my initial design from that photo. Since then I have found, or been given, several photos of the ANM2 .30 cal. aircraft machine gun. The images below can be enlarged by clicking on them, as can most of the images on this site.

The experimental
T-152's spade grips

A color photo of the ANM2 showing it's brown Bakelite handles. You can find more information about this type of handle on the Handles page. The link is at the top of the page. I am reproducing this handle in polyurethane resin.

Another color photo of an ANM2 showing the early banded wood handles.

This ANM2 variation has round banded wood handles. It gives a good look at the trigger components and the safety, set on "fire", peeking out from behind the left side of the spade.