I have been wanting to build a rifle since high school.Well; long bouts of insomnia have given me the time to work on it. I knew this was going to be a practice run and that there would be a lot of mistakes.
I have actually held only one custom made rifle in my years and it was the Scholarship Rife in Reno.
It was quite some time back but I do remember it was perfect!!
This was from the lightning killed tree in 2002; to me sawing it up and managing to get two somewhat blanklike pieces out of it.
I have learned a lot about layout,scrapers, and making them and using them right.
The layout from the blank was much more problematic than I anticipated; the actual wood removal much easier.
There were many issues that did not show themselves till much later when the wood was already on the floor.
I am open to any critiques; but it is what it is and I think the mauser up next will get a much nicer job. This was an all economy job in case it really went north like some of my projects
The metal has not been worked at all. the barrel is a rem. '06 take of barrel cut down and rethreaded for the sako.

Hi--Very nice--thanks for posting
Sydney

I wish the first one I tried looked as good.

That is very nice. I quite admire that.

What did you use to cut the tree into blanks? My neighbor has a very large Walnut Tree, which are semi-rare here in Montana, that I secretly keep hoping will need harvesting soon. I would likely use a chainsaw mill if I ever get the chance. I too like to do stockwork and find it relaxing and rewarding.

quote:

Originally posted by dempsey:
What did you use to cut the tree into blanks? My neighbor has a very large Walnut Tree, which are semi-rare here in Montana, that I secretly keep hoping will need harvesting soon. I would likely use a chainsaw mill if I ever get the chance. I too like to do stockwork and find it relaxing and rewarding.

First you will need a backhoe to dig it up as your figured wood will be in the rootball.

I've got 8-10 Black Walnut trees that are up to 42" in diameter along a trail on my property. They're old, and starting to show their age. I wish there were still guys around who could bring big portable band saws out, power wash the stumps, and cut them into rough blanks.

butch, I would get a backhoe. This tree has some huge crotch sections as well and is what peaks my interest.

Thanks fellas;
I might put on the real recoil pad this week. It came in fri. evening before sat. deer season opener.
I cut it all with a chain saw. When the dead tree blew over it pulled the root wad up with it.
The roots had so many quartz rocks grown into it; it was almost impossible to use. I went thru 5 chains in two afternoons. My brother has a portable band saw mill; after he looked at the little rocks in there he said, no way.
Add to that there were years of old wire grown deep into the tree from ground level to about four feet high,; not just one run of hog wire either.
I cut this blank out wrong. I couldn't pull my grip back more or drop the stock more because the chain saw had already got it years ago. I needed a little more drop in the heel but the chain saw got that too.
The stock looks long in the picture but my ape like arms are on the sling swivel when shooting off hand.
The better blank of the two is waiting on me to digest all the mistakes I made on this one. it shoot pretty well too.