2017 Montana Stockmaking Seminar
We just completed the 2017 Montana Stockmaking Seminar with four students from Virginia, Connecticut, Washington and Oregon.
Two fellows were shaping bolt rifles from the blank, one was inletting a G33-40 into a pre-machined blank and the fourth was a returning student doing final shaping to a Browning Low Wall he had rough shaped from the blank last year.
All student work is with hand tools, shaping mainly with French rasps. I do the band sawing, to the students layout lines.
The class was an unqualified success with all students accomplishing much and all quite pleased with their work.
It is always a treat for me to see a nearly completed stock shaped from a blank in five days by a fellow that never knew he could do it!

2018 Seminars will be the last week in June and the first week in September. I've got at least two students ready to sign up, drop me a line at my website if you want the announcement for 2018, sometime in January.


Karl Inletting a G33-40


Alfonso finish sanding a Browning Low Wall shaped from the blank.


Franks Mauser stock shaping.


John's M-70 on Friday, it was a square block on Monday.


Bastone .375 Mauser.


7x57 G-33.


Drawing cheekpiece 6.5 M-70

Nobody else is commenting so I will.

Looks like a lot of work, but also looks like it was great fun. What a talent to have to be able to take a blank of wood and using hand tools craft a beautiful stock from it.

Looking forward to seeing a photo of each project all done up.

We always have fun in class although I have to crack the whip to get as much done as John did. He was the most experienced coming in and had the most prep work done on his stock. He also wanted to do an American Classic which is the easiest following my directions.

Each student leaves with a 40+ page manual on How To Do it, but I wouldn't suggest trying without the individual instruction for at least the first time. There are a lot of the details that are learned by doing and we spend a bunch of time discussing styles, dimensions, pragmatism, geometry etc...

Drop me a line at my website if you want to be notified about next years Seminars.

That is really cool - I have always wanted to try my hand at it.

That is outstanding. I remember a pic from one year a fellow student and friend of mine at CST, Pete Forthofer, I think Pete is doing knives now.

I'm considering offer a class next year with 2 1/2 days of hand-forged, chisel making and the rest of the week inletting the stock of your choice. This would include a dog-leg tool for the recoil lug.
Toolmaking is great fun and using your own handmade tools adds much satisfaction to stockmaking. I've been using the set of chisels and gouges made at Trinidad since 1977.
Tools are forged, filed, hardened, tempered then sharpened.
One student from this year is interested in returning for toolmaking, drop me a line if you are.

John's M-70, 6.5x06 as seen above after finishing, checkering and rust bluing.
John is a very experience gunmaker that had never made a stock from a blank.
(John's pics)