Gentlemen

I am planning on restocking a rifle thought I might have a go myself.

I plan on buying a beech/walnut laminate and sending it away with the existing stock (with too much drop) to a firm of very high quality 'smiths who have a copy router that will remove 90% of internal and external material. Back to me for the rest.

I am just your average DIY have-a-go-hero, quite handy with a dremel and I am not looking for anything fancy.

Anyone been here, or got any advice?

Thanks

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Regards

Richard

Richard,

I'm in the process of finishing my first stock, started as a semi inlet. #1 recomendation would be, keep the damn dremel away from the stock! It is very easy to make a nasty booboo with the dremel. The tools like to climb with the rotation of the cutter, and can easily climb over from where you want to remove wood, to where you don't!

What is recomended are rasps, chisels, files, scrapers and quality sandpaper with sanding blocks in 120, 180, 220, 320 and 400 grits. You don't have to go broke on custom tools either, I've made several scrapers from hacksaw blades, break into ~3" lengths, grind off the teeth, and radius the ends to desired shapes. You can take out a suprising amount of wood with scrapers.

Until you get a feel for the wood, work slowly. The masters can use various methods to get within 1/64" of finished, then go to the finer meathods, but for those of use less skilled, it is better to take off a little, see where what you've done, then go back to it.

The key is to establish straight lines on the stock. One you have some master lines to work from, its just a matter of blending the butt, cheek, grip and foreend.

If you are sending away the original stock w/ too much drop as a template, and you don't care what happens to that stock, I would recomend using bondo (auto body putty) to build up the stock to the shape you like, and then send that with the blank to the duplicator.

One last thing, since the only thing you'll see of the barrel channel are the sides, you can get away with crude material removal inside the barrel channel, and action recess, and make the perfect fit with bedding compound.

Buy two stocks and practive on the first..works for me everytime. Good luck.

Go slowly! I do use the dremel on the grip area because I have small hands and there is a lot of material to take from there. I have also used it to cut for the shadowline cheek piece, but be very careful. Other than that, go with scrapers, rasps, files and lots of slow sanding.

You don't need a lot of complicated tools to get started, just a few files, rasps, scrapers and a power sander helps to shape the tip, cap, and recoil pad. If the duplicator does a good job, you won't have much to remove from the outside of the stock. The most important tool you need is lots of patience! - Sheister

Best scrapers in the world are made from screw drivers that you can buy used at pawn shops for 50 cents apiece.. Heat the tip and bend it down then shape the edges round flat and make various sizes...flat steel makes great scrapers and a piece of 3/16 about a foot long bent in opposite directions at each end makes a dandy barrel scraper...I make about all my stock making tools..I make a new one to fit the deed and over the years I have about 300 scrapers of every size and shape...but the old US made screwdrivers as they have pretty good steel....I harden all my scrapers.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

My first effort in this arena is clamped in the vise at home right now.

The most important thing to get is a copy of David Wesbrook's "Professional Stockmaking."

The second is good tools. I got the Brownell's Henckel carving chisel starter set, curl scraper set, a carving knife, inletting black and brushes, and stockmaker's screws. So far I've used everything at least once.

The last thing is to be extremely patient. You will take that action in and out of the stock more times than you can count.

But it's kind of addictive. At 9:45 last night I thought, "Wow, it's late, I should hit the sack." Next time I looked up it was 11:00.

John

I'll second the suggestion about keeping a dremel away from the stock, but not because of the danger, they are just way too slow. Buy some new wood rasps and try them instead, lots more control and faster too. Just remember like everyone says you can always take more off easier than you can put it back on.

Third on the dremel. Get some prussian blue from an auto parts store and paint it on the bottom of the action and barrel. When you press it into the stock you will be able to see what is touching. The ideal is to have it all blue when you are done. You will likely be glassing when complete so perfect inletting isnt an issue.

I use the two handled barrel channel scrapers available from Brownells. Great tool.

Paul gave you good advice with the bondo. You can also glass in your barrel and action and send it off and have it cut a lot closer than 90%. If the shop has a good machine, like a Hoenig or a Dakota they can do it very close to original. That will save you a lot of time.

Remember one thing, if you build up the heel of the comb, you will likely want to take some off the toe of the stock so the depth isnt so large.

Chic

Be very careful with a Dremel-they have their uses, but can get away from you real quick. A 1/2" flat chisel, a small (1/4") round chisel, and a larger round chisel would be very useful. Buy good rasps-the cheap ones won't last. About a 10", flat on one side, half round on the other would probably be most useful. A "Workmate" type table is handy for holding the stock.

I use a small kerosene lamp for "smoking" for fitting. Not near as messey as greases to work with, and cleans up easily.

Thanks Guys. I may well be back with a few more questions on this subject.

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Regards

Richard