Is there any good books that would show the beginer the ropes in making rifle stocks. For the guys that are experienced stock makers was your 1st attempt a disaster or a success? With the right tools and paying close attention to detail can I expect my first one not to end up as expensive fire wood? or is this another one of my pipe dreams. I realise carving takes years. I will leave that to the pros.

Professional Stockmaking -- by David L. Wesbrook. Maybe the best part of this book is the list of tools the author recommends.

If you are talking about making your own from the blank as opposed to inletting metal into one that has been done by machine, I think that Linden's book on stockmaking might be of some help.

However, I have a feeling that if you were to ask any professional stockmaker how they got as good as they did they would probably say it was buy doing a lot of stocks, or in other words, how does anyone get good at anything. They practice!!!!

Purchase a semi inletted (machined) stock for the metalwork you have, and a couple of cheap blanks (probably best to stick with colorless and grainless english if you can because english works better). You now have a stock to look at and take measurements off of, and a couple of blanks on which to practice. when you get done with those two, analyze what you did wrong. Get a couple more blanks and do it again. I have a feeling that by the time you have done 4 or 5 you will start to figure out what works and what doesn't. So what if you spend a few bucks on firewood. You will have gained a lot of knowledge.

Contact Les Brooks. He can help. He posts on here as LesBrooks or his email is minigun17@yahoo.com

Thanks for the insite those books should be really helpful. Nothing to do with this topic but I am amazed at the amount of knowledge there is on this site and the willingness to help out the amatures like myself.

Thanks

Here's a source The NRA Gunsmithing Guide-Updated out of print but do a google search this book has a lot of information also http://www.hunterbid.com .

My first one turned out fairly decent and is still on my son's Model 70 .257 Roberts. I would not use a real expensive piece of wood on your first stock as you are virtually guaranteed to end up with some gaps, however small they may be. Mine was from a blank and took me forever to inlet. I found some old NRA publications that helped.

Customstox I checked out yor site and holy smokes you have made some beautiful peices, whats your average turn around for a basic rifle? Whatever it is it is going to be five years less than my first attempt. For the sake of practicing what wood, cheap wood acts like your finer woods (not checkering but shaping and inletting)

If you think you may be interested in stock making don't let the difficulty factor scare you off. If you do some homework on the methodolgy and think each move through carefully you can make a useable stock the first time out. While cutting from a blank involves removing a lot more material, it is actually easier because you are not confined by living with what the outfit that did the simi-inlet thought you should have. An inexpensive wood which has many of the best cutting and strength properties of walnut is cherry.It is usually pretty plain, but an oil finish darkens with age and it gets prettier every year. Stock making is a great hobby, try it you may love it.

I second starting with plain wood, regardless of the species. Heavily fiddlebacked or feathered wood has many different densities per square inch and it can be very difficult for a novice to work. I found this out the hard way, BTW. Plain, straight grain blanks let you learn the basics with much, much less frustration but buy a quality piece even if plain.