To the professional stockmakers out there:

Should the foreend tip have a single radius in any plane, if the foreend is round in contour? If the forend contour is oval, what shape should the tip have in the horizontal and vertical planes? Single radius in the horizontal plane, different radius in the vertical plane? Is this clear as mud?

MKane160

Kinda like asking what is the perfect shape for a woman's butt. Depends on the woman and whether she's with you at the moment....

MKane, I went through 3 different iterations on my last forend tip before I got what I wanted. The thing that helped me the most was the shape of this tip on a Clayton Nelson Stocked rifle:








Sorry I don't have any closer at the moment. What it seemed to me is that it should flow smoothly without sharp transitions. This one flows down from the top and bottom in a side view as well as from the bottom. It should flow the same from every angle you veiw it from.
Still clear as mud? Hope it helps a little............DJ

quote:

Kinda like asking what is the perfect shape for a woman's butt

That is EXACTLY correct! No kidding. It should be astedically pleasing from all angles.

consider the pigtail like this one.

This one is small and some others are three times the size. I'd go a bit larger next time.

They are easy to do on a milling machine with an endmill.

McKane, make is look like a hemisphere - half round. The forend tip police will not come and get you if you diverge from that, although we gave DJ a good scare.

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:
Kinda like asking what is the perfect shape for a woman's butt. Depends on the woman and whether she's with you at the moment....

but you know what you know when you can see, touch, and shape it...

of course I mean the ebony!

jeffe

I'm only a stock user, not a stock maker, but I am happy with this shape:




[Click photo for larger view.]

[Edited for SDH - Mr. Cloward built this rifle. Had anyone inquired, I certainly would have said so before.]

For those that don't want to spring for a real contrasting wood foreend such as ebony, walnut, rosewood, cocobolo etc please just shape the end of the stock and do not (please do not) add a piece of bakelite.

Nor should they be shaped like the front of a Los Angeles class submarine.

Thanks all for the replies. DJ, the pics cleared up the mud nicely. The tip I'm working on now has 4 nicely radiused edges.....not a single radius. Looks blocky, kind of like an old woman's ass...... Back to the files and sandpaper....

MKane160

Mike, if you have a belt sander, you can get the material down a lot faster. I get real agressive with that part of the removal because there is a lot to take off. If you screw up, you just shorten it an eighth.

Thanks, Chic...and, yes, the belt sander has been in use. You said one time that a good stockmaker knows how to hide all his mistakes and a great one doesn't make any. How true! I've learned a LOT with this project, especially "sneaking" up on a part that I think is almost done, say, the cheekpiece. I've learned to go really slow, so as to not make the unrepairable mistake. Probably too slow. It's been a great learning experience... I really appreciate all the help that the "professionals" here are willing to give.

MKane160

it would be a wise man not to have his wife around while he examined the various shapes

Thanks, SDH... I worked on it this afternoon, and have just a small flat left on the front end. It's rounding up nicely.....

MKane160

Hey djpaintles,you screwed up with that rifle in the picture.The fleu de lys should go on a darker wood with a reddish tone.What kind of barrel shape is that to big and lacks refinement.It seems that you have difficulty with decisions regarding building a custom rifle.Perhaps it would be better to have someone make the decisions for you.

quote:

Hey djpaintles,you screwed up with that rifle in the picture...

go back and re-read what he wrote

Shootaway,
DJ did not build that stock, it was made by a very accomplished professional stockmaker.

And where in the hell did you come up with that comment about Fleur-de-Lis having to be on dark reddish toned woods????

That was incredibly tacky and uncalled for post on your part and you owe DJ, who I might add can build a very decent stock himself, an apology.

Chic I thought he was jokeing? Maybe not ??

Im thinking of going with this shape on Husqvarna rifle im stocking.

What do you think of this shape?


Boho/Cewe pic

GSP7, hopefully he was, although it seemed like a very strange joke if he was. If that is true then I can apologize and will.

quote:

Originally posted by Customstox:
GSP7, hopefully he was, although it seemed like a very strange joke if he was. If that is true then I can apologize and will.

Read some of his prior posts insulting just about everyone and you will not feel like apologizing. What a he is.

OOHH K, I didnt know , Such weird post I thought it had to be sarcastic.


Anyway,,, anyone like those swedish style tip shapes?

quote:

Originally posted by GSP7:
OOHH K, I didnt know , Such weird post I thought it had to be sarcastic.

Shootaway what a Bonehead post dude!

Anyway,,, anyone like those swedish style tip shapes?

Never mind, I deleted the -- sorry for the sidetrack. I think you should use the shape you like as you are trying to please yourself.

This shape (of foreend tip) is not at all unusual and it's a matter of personal preference.

I shaped my 404 (see photo in previous post) this way.

Is this traditional from some historic gun maker?...anyone know who made this popular?

GSP7, that is a common forend tip on British stalking rifles and DG rifles. I put one on the guild rifle. Installed a buffalo horn tip and the damn thing had the audacity to crack, but it did wait until I finished everything. So sawed it off and did one in ebony. I rather like that type.

seriously dj,that is a beautiful rifle.I really like the engraving.I was thinking of having Chuck Grace do mine,unless customstox can convince me that he could do one just as good or better.I feel that the fleur de lys would look nicer on a darker and reddish stock.On the American custom gunmakers guilds site it shows one of the raffle rifles in that pattern and says the reddish color and engraving pattern go well together(its the whitetail tribute rifle).I always imagined the fleur de lys to be associated with red and Winchester.I don't know why.

MKane160,the forend tip shape is an interesting topic that I had neglected until you brought it up MKane.I would like to thank you for doing so.

post edited to be nice. Not my style but what the hell.

Shootaway, thanks, I brought the question up because of the one I'm working on, and I'm trying to learn something. There are a LOT of good, knowledgeable people here that are more than willing to share their knowledge, so long as a sincere question is asked. Personal attacks aren't tolerated well here, but with 800 posts I'm sure you already know that.

Live and learn.......and I don't like the slanted foreend tip either. But, that's JMO.

MKane160

Shootaway, Chuck can create a good stock for you, I am not interested, to be honest.

I knew I had seen that left hand M-70 somewhere before. It is for sale on the Champlin Arms site. Here is what they have to say about it.

#G289067, Duane Wiebe Full Custom Left Hand Model 70 chambered to the very practical 375 Weatherby Magnum with a 24" barrel with a 1/4 rib with 1 standing & 1 folding, Barrel band sling eye, Barrel band front ramp with night sight and a spring locking sight protector, Winchester factory left hand action that was completely polished with a built up & checkered bolt stop release, Two panel teardrop bolt knob checkering, Heavy duty belly magazine box with a straddle hinged floorplate with a center bow release that has a round capacity, All metal is rust blued, Jeweled bolt & follower, Talley lever quick detachable scope rings with a mounted 1 1/2 - 6 x 42 Swarovski scope, A superb piece of English walnut done by the great stocker Duane Wiebe in a pure American Classic style with grace and magic in the hand. It is complete with a full wrap around point checkering pattern with a subtle and neat border, Ebony forend tip, Double engraved cross bolts, A neat European style cheekpiece with a near perfect shadowline, Skeleton steel grip cap with wood checkering, Double screw rear sling stud, 13 5/8" L.O.P. over a 7/8" kickeez pad, 9 lbs. 2 oz. without the scope and 10 lbs. 6 oz. with the scope. The rifle is accurate and has been field proven. The blue is 98% and the wood is 96% with light & scattered handling marks and the bore as new. Here is another pure classic rifle with great taste that meets the eye beautifully and comes to the hand with a Midas touch. This is good looking nice stuff here gang that you can't replace for anywhere near this money.

John

I actually like the Cewe rifles, but the Wiebe rifle is of course perfect!

I'm partial to this one.....

quote:

Originally posted by SDH:
The steep angled tip looks like shit, IMHO.

Who's lefty M-70 pix did you hijack? Is this your work GSP? If not, please identify!?!?
then vaporsdog re-hijacks, still no attribution! how clever.
SDH

Maybe it's time someone just said it
SDH.....you're being an asshole

C'mon guys, I don't think that the insults going back and forth are equal to the quality of most of the people we have on this forum...................DJ