When you're inletting a stock to fit a rifle, what can you put on the barrel and action, that will leave a mark on the stock, so you can see exactly where to remove wood?

They make an inletting black for this, Brownells will have it.

Red

intletting black, get it from Brownells. It comes in gold also but I have never used gold color.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=7599

Might steal some of your wifes mascara (sp?), might work if you didnt have any inletting black, just a thought.

I use a smoke pot. I don't like that greasy black stuff that Brownell's sells, though it works well.

For my smoke pot I have an alcohol lamp filled with paint thinner. It makes a nice sooty smoke that I just pass over whatever I am inletting.

Scrollcutter, I use Jerrows inletting black but have never tried the smoke pot. Doesn't the smoke give off a fair amount of soot. Seems to me it would make a bigger mess than the black. Incidentally, the best way I have tried to get the black of the action parts is to spray with Birchwood Casey's "Gun scrubber". I sure makes short work of the cleanup.

Thanks, all! I appreciate the help.

Jim

No, it's not that sooty and it only takes a second to black everything up.

Marterius

I don't know what pot goes for these days. Probably less expensive to burn than, the grease based inletting black.
Can't say how the stock work would turn out though. Most likely spend all day blacking the metal with little inletting going on.

I've been using Permatex Prussian Blue for nearly 30 years, applied with an old tooth brush. Available at auto parts stores.

The nice thing about a smoke pot is it lays a thinner layer of black on the steel and that will help you get a tighter fit and an all around better job I think...sometimes the greasy stuff goes on a little thick if your not careful...

I've never inletted a stock before, but when I used to shoot IHMSA competiion back in the 80's, we used a carbide smoker to "black" the sights with soot so we wouldn't get glare. Why wouldn't that work?? It makes a nice, black sooty coating.

bowhuntr

Well, guys, I did try chalk, which doesn't work worth a dang. I called around to some of the sporting goods stores, looking for Jerrow's black, and nobody had any. One guy at the sporting goods store said that he gets a cheap tube of liptick, and dissolves it in a jar of Vaseline, and uses that.

I gave up on that, and just cut some little strips of paper. I ground out wood until the paper would slide under the stock, from the tip of the stock to the recoil lug. It may not be the best way, but that barrel is floated now, and it looks good.

BTW, it's a #4 contour Pac-Nor 6.5x55, on a FN Belgian action. I think it's going to be a nice shooter.

Thanks again for the helpful suggestions.