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I have fitted the pad. Ground undersize to accomodate leather thickness. Leather was soaked in water and then stretched and held in place with rubber bands to dry thoroughly  I have used contact cement to glue pad and leather...work fast! Pie shaped cuts are to glue leather to the inside of the holes without raw edges.  Dowels turned to snug fit to form leather. Be sure to wax dowels to prevent sticking.  | ||
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 I like to mount the pad to make sure base is nice and flat, check for fit.  I have put a groove in the base with a small round file. Using a home made iron, warmed up with a heat gun, press and work the "quirk" into that groove. With the right heat, the quirk will be permanently set.  Here clearly shows a well set quirk.  This pad is only 1/2" thick, so was unable to use my normal plug made from cork. making room for the mounting screws was an issue, so made up lugs from aluminum. At this point I'm pondering the finish I'll apply. Most times, I'd use "Saddle Lac", but I'm awaiting an oil/wax product for trial. Anyone can simply cover the pad, you earn your money in the undersize dimension...Make it too undersized and you'll see a very ugly raw edge of wood. Not enough and the pad will be sticking way above the wood, which is equally ugly. The leather I use mostly is traditional pigskin in 1 1/2-2 oz weight. It does not stretch like goatskin and does not have that nice grain pattern. For your first time, goat skin is not a bad choice. This is not the only way to cover a pad, some apply the leather without the soaking process, but what's shown here should get you started. | |||
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Nice tutorial Dwayne, well done! Thanks! "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading". | |||
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Looks great. I can't wait until I get to present it to my son. | |||
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Great tutorial. I have a couple questions. What glue do you use for attaching the skin to the pad? Have you tried other colors? Lastly, will deer hide work, or is it too thin? Thanks. Larry "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands around reloading" -- Thomas Jefferson | |||
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Barge cement is traditional. Any good quality contact cement will work fine. You can use any color you want. I happen to like cordovan. Any leather you can stretch will work. Deer skin? If you like it,,up to you. You'll want to choose the part of any hide near the legs. Across the shoulder, the skin usually becomes harder to form...and wrinkles look like hell Not sure why photos showed up twice, only changed a bit of wording ??? | |||
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Thanks Duane! I may try it. Larry "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands around reloading" -- Thomas Jefferson | |||
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I take it you set the pad in the mill and drill the holes in the rubber with a sharpened piece of tubing and a liberal amount of grease and then pull out the holes with needle nosed pliers or the hemostats from hell Duane? When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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I have been doing it just like you described here. I found my inspiration in your article you wrote for the ACGG in 1988....nice to see I don't have to learn it all over again to get a good job!! Dennis Earl Smith Professional Member ACGG Benefactor Life NRA Life NAHC | |||
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by speerchucker30x378: I take it you set the pad in the mill and drill the holes in the rubber with a sharpened piece of tubing and a liberal amount of grease and then pull out the holes with needle nosed pliers or the hemostats from hell Duane? Good of you to point this out. I use a nice sharp forstner bit. Of course, Silvers type pads are already set up with plugs | |||
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Can't say that I have ever used a Forstner bit. When you get some time to kill, try tubing on an old junky pad. I have used it for years to make clean holes in trap pads so that the goobers with the Perazzis and Berettas have a hole to run their stock bolt wrench through. Cuts mighty slick holes. I just grabbed a cartridge case and drilled and sharpened it in the lathe. I seem to be out of the slim wall tubing that I usually use. To poke the hole in the pad, sharpen the inside of the tubing and it will cut straight walls. To cut old pads to make the rubber plugs, sharpen the outside of the tubing to cut straight wall plugs. Lube the SCHNOT out of it with lacquer thinner and oil or whatever your favorite grease happens to be. Make sure you fill the inside of the tube with grease so the plug will slide up as it cuts or it will bunch up and twist off. After you get the hole cut in the pad grab the bung with needle nose pliers and give it a pull and it will snap off at the base. I turn the tube at about 500 RPM. DON'T grab the pad in the mill vise. Just the base. If you squitch the pad and cut the hole, your hole will be oblong when you take it out of the vise! (Done did that a time or two. Not so bright are I!) Dunno if it will work better than your conventional method. But it's always fun to try something new.  Pad Drill by Rod Henrickson, on Flickr Pad Drill2 by Rod Henrickson, on Flickr Pad Drill1 by Rod Henrickson, on FlickrWhen I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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Your method works well. I've done similar thing, but put some teeth on the business end to make a sort of hole saw. and use such a dev ice to make plugs If the pad is kind of firm, the bit does a nice job and cleans out the bottom of the hole in the bargain. I suppose it MAY not work as well with some pads such as Kick Eze, but I don't use them anyway | |||
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 Don't get me started on those Rubber Ducky, Limb Savers and Kick Ease pads. I have the name of my worst enemy on the wall and I send him every customer that brings in one of those fool things for installation. I stick pretty much to the Pachmayr Decelerators, but will install Pachmayr's regular pads as well. I just got a bad case of the hebby-jebbies just thinking about installing one of those garbage pads with the melty plastic backs, no steel spine and the rubber that grabs on to the belt and takes you for a lap around the sander ! B U R R R R R r r r r r r r ! ! ! ! When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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Beautiful work. I tried covering a pad with leather ONCE... I'll hire a professional next time. That takes WAY more patience and skill than I have. You guys earn your money on that project. Keep up the great work. | |||
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Speerchucker--I heard that the trick to getting a good finish on a Pachmayr decellerator was to freeze it and work it while frozen. Any truth to that? Years ago there was a gunsmith in Wichita Falls, Texas that ordered recoil pads from Pachmayr that had his name embossed on the bottom. Perry Wright, Gunsmith Wichita Falls, Texas This was before zip codes and Tx abbreviation. I have one on my dad's 30-30 Marlin. | |||
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I never have froze them. I never found the need. I start with 100 grit belts on the belt sander and finish with 320 grit. I sand the Bakelite plate with 320 wet & dry and kerosene and then buff. Most of grinding the rubber just takes practice to get a good finish. Limb Savers on the other hand seem to rip and tear and the plastic plate melts. Possibly one could do better on a Wilton Square Wheel with coarse belts and the SFM turned way down. My Baldor belt sander has only one speed which some where between late for church and ass-wuppin speed. When I was a kid. I had the stick. I had the rock. And I had the mud puddle. I am as adept with them today, as I was back then. Lets see today's kids say that about their IPods, IPads and XBoxes in 45 years! Rod Henrickson | |||
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I think you may have this confused with the limb-saver or Kick-eez pads. I absolutely refuse to work with them. I have never had a problem profiling a Decellerator pad for leather covering, just finished one the other day. When Pachmayer owned the pad company, years ago they used to offer that service to smiths for customized rifles. DOn't know if they still do or not. Jim Kobe 10841 Oxborough Ave So Bloomington MN 55437 952.884.6031 Professional member American Custom Gunmakers Guild | |||
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I'll give you the rest of the story on the "Perry Wright" recoil pad. My dad had the recoil pad installed on his Marlin 30-30 and also had a Lyman peep sight installed on it. He had a military style harness leather sling on it. This was almost 60 years ago and the gun was stolen out of his pickup. Over a year after it was stolen, I found the gun in a pawn shop. The reason I was able to recognize it was the pad, sling and sight. | |||
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