Doing my first real checkering job, until now I just recut existing or impressed cherckering.

I decide to add checkering to a Marlin 336 that had none. Looks like marlin used some pretty soft wood and I am quickly finding out that the quality of the wood has much to do with the outcome of the job.
This stock is checkering decently in some spots and just tearing up in others. I have read that sometimes flooding the area with thin cyano acrylate (Krazy) glue will firm up the fibers enough to get the job done.
Is this in fact a viable method or is there something better to be done? Will the glue/wood mixture clog my checkering tools so badly that it's not worth the trouble?


Thanks, Rob

I would prefer sealer opposed to Methacrylate . how ever I'm no expert at checkering . I'm not any sort of Gunsmith !.

I do know wood how ever .

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

Dear Rob:

Try 3-5 coats of boiled linseed oil. Let it dry thoroughly, and it should stabilize your wood grain, making it a bit harder. In my limited experience, the harder the wood, the better the checkering.

Another thing you might try is before you apply the linseed oil heat up the area where you will be checkering with a flame, but don't burn it. That will harden it up too.

Also, I have used hot, wet paper towels to draw out the feathers in the wood grain, and then a flame to dry and harden the wood surface.

Lastly, if your wood grain is pretty open you might want to use a clear sandable wood filler. I cannot recommend one, since I look for close grain wood when I checker a gun stock, so I haven't had occassion to use the filler.

How many lines per inch are you doing?

I started with 16 lpi and ended up with 24 lpi. The 24 lpi, while using Brownell's checkering tools produced a cleaner, sharper cut than the 16 lpi.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

Chris,

Thanks for the tips I'll try the linseed oil trick. I'm using 20 lpi tools and still tearing fibers in spots.

Does the linseed oil tend to bog up the cutters? Can I still apply it since I've done 2 passes already?

Thanks, Rob

Super glue is the way to go. Linseed oil will not harden sufficiently to stabilize the fibers. It is more likely to gum up your cutters and cause the fibers to "roll" off the points.

Another way to go is using a penetrating sealer as the starting point for your stock finish. Daly's makes a good one.