I am trying to change the contours on a factory stock I to some I feel are more suitable. Other than a flat and rat tail file, what kind of tools would normally be used? Possibly a small rasp might be helpful, although I'm not planning to take off much wood?

Seems like you have most of what you need, other than sandpaper and elbow grease. I assume that you are staying away from the checkering, don't care, or there isn't any.

One nice thing to get would be a roll of 1" wide abrasive cloth, 100 grit works good. It works nicely for smoothing out the round contours. Especially when you can clamp the stock and use a 2 foot strip that you can run back and forth like a shoeshine cloth.

If you have checkering a toothbrush is good for keeping it clean, especially when applying the finish, but you're a little ways from that yet.

For taking the whole stock down a little a hand held orbital sander works good, like a small 1/4 sheet makita sander. Look around, you can buy them pretty cheap.

Good luck and have fun!

All stock work requires a No. 53 cabinet makers rasp....

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

I do a lot of shaping with a spoke shave. I prefer the finish and control of the depth of cut you get with it. You can take the finest ribbon or a very coarse cut, depending on how you set it. Keep it sharp. Check for flatness with a steel ruler as you go. Dips and humps are bad. For really fast work on rough sawn blanks I use a power plane to hog it off. You need to know what you want with this beast, there is no time to think. I have a razor sharp drawknife, seldom use it though. One of those 1/2 round course and fine four way rasps is nice. Keep a big 1/2 round course cut file handy. Save it for wood only. I use chisels and gouges for cheek pieces. A small radius gets taken care of using various sized of fuel line backng sandpaper. Always back your sandpaper. If you use your hand it will cause unevenness. I like my Makita palm sander for finishing. For some shaping I use an automotive pnumatic DA with very coarse paper, 36 grit. It will finish and flaten in a jiff with 100 grit. Some of those methods are not the best for a beginner, if you know what you want and want it fast, that is how to do it.
When you get anywhere close put the metal on the stock. You need it there for a guide. Put masking tape in it to prevent scaring it. To do a first class job you will need to refinish the metal. Leave that for last.
Hope that helps, first thing you need is a spoke shave. The first hundered stocks are the hardest, after that it is all downhill. : ) Have fun.