making a stock

[Joel Russo]

Here's one of my left handed stocks you can use a reference for the hole. The laminates will help you carve in a straight pattern.

 

[shortgrass]

You may find the benefits offered by a laminate, also have some serious detractors. I hate the glue used for laminations. It dulls my tools and I get a rash from it. As you are working without having an experienced stockmaker looking over your shoulder, I'd choose a 'simpler' style of stock, other than a thumbhole. I'd, also, be looking around for a plain jane blank of English or Black walnut. Either of those go cheap. Buy from a reputable wood supplier. Claro (not one of my favorite walnuts, but one I've used, none the less) could also be a choice. Tools and a solid plan need to be in the works. You can't really go anywhere without a plan and quality tools speak for themselves. I've had the luxury of a formal education in gunsmithing, and most of those hours were dedicated to stockmaking (4 semesters out of 8). We learned (some of us!) "by hand, from a blank". The only power tools we used was a jointer to square the off cheek piece side to the top, a drill press with a spade bits and a 1/4" bit for the guard screw holes, a band saw (a very good one!) to remove excess wood at the right place and time, and a hand held router to help establish "the hole". The rest was done with hand tools, chisels & gouges (not from Ace Hardware!), a couple of straight edges, a good scale, numerous double cut files, a square, a #49 Nicholson Pattern Makers File/rasp, and scrapers we made of high carbon steel (the only store bought scrapers I've found useful are made by Jerry Fisher). Our goal was a 'classical shape' with the metal on a 'as close as possible perfect bed' without the aid of glass, and NO GAPS. My first classic used a piece of highly figured Black Walnut and a custom barreled '03 Springfield. Looking back, I couldn't have choosen a greater challenge (except maybe a thumbhole using a piece of ewe, and my instructor wouldn't have allowed that!). Blanks needed to be 2 1/2" thick, because you're going to 'wander off' the centerline, at least on the first one. If my memory is good, even under the eyes of the instructor, I spent 8-9 weeks of that 11 week semester on that stock, before I started sealing and wet sanding. Many have gone about this task in their own way. I was taught an "order" in which to proceed and to this day I follow it. It makes sense and I don't get ahead of myself, that way. When I make one now, I visit the local cabinet shop for the use of their jointer. The rest of the tools I have/need, I own or make them. I have no idea how many $$$$ that translates into. Not having an "on site" instructor, I'd check into some printed reference materials. Jerry Fisher used to have published "to scale" drawings, where dimentions could be taken straight from the drawing. You can, also, do this from an exisiting stock. A good read is "Professional Stockmaking Through the Eyes of a Stockmaker" , by Dave Wesbrook and available again on Amazon. Alvin Linden wrote some books, too (I don't care for his writing style but he had good info). He made some pretty good, full sized, drawings that accompanied them. Those are "collectors" today, but still available at a price. When I first started stockmaking it was a formatible task, one I may not have accomplished without the aid of the instructor. After the first one it became much easier. It takes a good amount of dedication to accomplish such a task. I wonder how many pre-inletted stocks that have been purchased from the various pre-inletters are sitting in the corner, unfinished, because of lack of dedication. Good luck with your project. My advise is worth what you paid for it,,,,,,,,, nothing!

 

[TheFishBox]

thanks for the info any other information you guys can offer I will take. I'm not discouraged yet but my project is barely started so I will see how far I can get.

 

[wyld]

I have making rifle and shotgun stocks for about 50 years; 90 % were from wood blanks. I now use only blanks that have been "normalizing" in my atmosphere-controlled room for 30 years (after the kiln treatment).
I try to do best-quality work, 95% with hand tools. It takes me about 40 hours to inlet and shape a stock, 10 to 20 hours to finish it, and about 20 to 30 hours to checker it. If you are the impatient type, hire someone to do the work!
Your choice of wood is not good. I think it will never fully stabilize. It will be hard to work with hand tools and the finished stock will have near zero value if the rifle is later offered for sale.
All of the above is just an opinion and is offered strictly for you to consider.
RF

 

[shortgrass]

^^^^^ what he said!^^^^^ The only reason I'd suggest a plain jane blank is because you don't have an on site instructor, and could easily get discouraged and abandon the project. Not much sense in having a chopped up blank that you spent several hundred dollars on sitting in the corner. There's another book, that I think is out of print but still available on the used market called "Custom Rifles in Black & White", by Steven Dodd Hughes. Page after page of fine examples. No instructions in that one, just some fine looking rifles!

 

[TheFishBox]

Thanks for the info keep it coming. I think I am going to have to buy a blank anyway the yew wood ends up cracking on me when it gets close to being dry so I was going to lean towards maple because I like the way it looks. I am not worried about resale value so if it comes out looking like crap I will just admire it as my first attempt

 

[TheFishBox]

I have another question, so when you are working a piece of wood that has tiger stripes in it do those go all the way thru the wood or are they just on the outside due to how they were cut? I don't want to buy a piece of wood and then start widling away at it and carve the part that I thought looked cool off of it.

 

[specweldtom]

Look at the other side of the blank. The stripes may or may not go through, but they aren't just on the surface.

I hope it works out for you. Stockmaking is a slow, messy process. Be sure to wear a good dust mask. Most stock woods have toxic dust.

Good luck, Tom

 

[shortgrass]

I had a 'thing' for fiddle back maple 15yrs. ago. Tiger-Hunt will take you to a small company owned and operated by Mike Barton. His main interest is in traditional muzzle loaders but, he also cuts blanks for modern bolt action rifles and 2 piece stocks. I've bought 4, maybe 5 rifle blanks from him and never been disappointed. His blanks are nice and prices reasonable. I've always bought his top grade, no sense in putting work into less. I still have one in the rafters of the shop. I'll see if I can manage to get it down and get a good pic.

 

[shortgrass]

Here's one I got from "Tiger Hunt". Nop! Thats a piece of Turkish Walnut that I'll be starting soon.

 

[shortgrass]

Here 'tis. I sprayed it down with denatured alcohol before I took the pic

 

[specweldtom]

Shortgrass, how the heck did you decide where to lay the stock out on that Turkish blank?

Wow. Tom

 

[shortgrass]

That's just that 'patten' tracing every wood supplier thinks they have to put on a piece of wood. I may look at turning that 'pattern drawing' over to miss that knot. There's pleanty of wood there. It'll depend on how the grain flows as whether I can do that, or not. Both sides of that blank have lots of figure. The knot doesn't go all the way through, and it's solid. I can't stick my scribe point into it. It's a hefty 2 7/8" thick. It's been in my shop for 12 years, best I can figure. Was told it was four years old when I bought it. Had to move it to get at the Maple so, got it down and took a pic, too.

 

[Joel Russo]

Hey shortgrass...

I'll call your Turkish piece: