well i'm not realy poor,
i have been reading with intrest many storys on here and haveing no skills in metal work i was not willing to try anthing along those lines.
i do have a marlin 336a, purchased originaly as a knockabout pig shooter. the stock on them is very boring but funtional.
its the one on the bottom

the reason for the poor mans comment is that the wood i am using is a piece of african mahogany, these trees are in abundance in the territory. they grow fast and first sign of wind they blow over even quicker, there a danger near houses, where this tree was. in my brothers back yard. he had it slabbed and we have made a dinning table for our mum and dads place. so it cost nil.

i removed the original stock and used it as my guide to copy then made a rough outline to cut out

i started to shape the stock with a file. before remembering that i need to cut the inletting

it was tedious but i got there, problem was the furthur i got the more i liked the grain in the wood.
gave it a coating in oil to seal it and had to take some photos.


usual story the photo cant capture what your eye sees, i think its quite nice. just need to add butt pad and then try out my hand at chequring!
greg

I say, it looks very nice... i don't know how well it will hold up, but time will tell. how long did you let the wood age?

it was as much as anything a project for practice, just it turned out nice.
it has been aged 3 yrs. i picked the paticular piece as it had very little warping and i checked it for splitting or cracks, but to be sure i cut it from the center of the plank.
greg

Good job on the stock.
Take good care of it and don't abuse it, and it will last you for the rest of your lifetime.
Keep the wood sealed good.
Since the tress aren't hardy, falling over in strong winds, the finished stock may not stand up to large impacts. But, if you treat it appropriately it wll serve you. Besides, it's something that you made, which is the most important aspect.

Don

its not that the wood is not strong, it is. the trees fall over becouse we get cyclones (hurricanes) we have had the monsoon rains for 3 weeks, havent seen the sun. then we get a small cyclone hits south of the town and all the mahoganys fall over becouse the root ball is shallow and small, they pull up quite easly. esp when the ground is soaked with rain for weeks on end.

mahogany is quite simalar to walnut in structure and dencity.
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/mahogany,%20african.htm
greg

Well done Greg. Since you've become fond of this stock while finishing it, you might want to practice that checkering on another that you're not so keen on though...