I'm putting together a shopping list of tools I'll need to inlet stocks.

I've got a couple ideas as to what tools I'll need but I looking for advice so that I don't buy something I really don't need; and conversely, don't end up needing something I don't have.

What do you consider the essential tools for inletting/fitting rifle and shotgun stocks?

A set of good chisels and gouges that are kept very sharp. I don't know whats available these days but various scrapers come in handy.If not available from Brownells they are easy to make out of scraper stock which is thin heat treated tool steel, just grind and sharpen to the shapes you want.

A good set of Forstner drill bits for removing the wood from the magazine well.

A cabinet rasp and a cabinet file.

One tool you wont be able to buy, but I have found helpful is an aluminum tent pole (the old kind about 24 inches long and about 5/8" diameter). Now you are wondering what in the heck do I do with that......? Take and bend a 90 in one end about 6 inches from the end ( for a handle), and use masking or dont laugh duct tape as a shim to hold sandpaper for final inleting of the barrel channel. You can increase or decrease the diameter buy adding or subracting tape and you can get a sweet barrel to channel fit with this set up. Now this doesnt work great for roughing a barrel channel use a rasp for that, but for that last little bit its great. Now I am sure that the stock makers here have a very nice tool for this but I can get a 2 sheet of paper with no drag end to end fit with this set up and my cost is a little tape. Necessity is somtimes the mother of invention.


Sometimes common sense isn't very common.

In addition to what the others have said I would hate to be without my barrel channel rasp.
I like the Jerry Fisher scrapers Brownells sells for not too much, but you can make good scrapers from old broken band saw, or hack saw blades.
I also don't know if I would do any woodworking without my low-angle block plane. On guns I use it for squaring butts and some stock shaping where I want flat areas.
I use waterstones for sharpening chisels etc. A $28 1000/6000 grit stone will do most light to medium sharpening, though you'll want separate stones and more grades if you use them a lot. I wouldn't want to go back to other types of stones................DJ

Inletting black. There are a few products that will take the place of it for less, but I would consider something of that nature to be essential. I have done some decent barrel channel work by simply wraping sandpaper around various sized deep sockets, but a barrel channel tool is a nice thing to have.

You will need scrapers, they can be fashioned from many different things, I like the hacksaw blade idea, rasps as mentioned and sometimes a small rectangular eraser is usefull as a small sanding block.

Run a search on inletting and you can learn a lot..

I use the Deep Socket set also for barrel channel work. I also have a 2 handle channel scraper.
Im still searching for something round/cup for sanding the forend tip round.

A 3M wetordry rubber squeegee part no. 05518, you can get at a auto body supply . Its about 2x3inches and works great for block sanding the outside of the stock

All of you forgot the most important tool you need....PATIENCE!!
On top of all the other suggestions, I will add a couple of more...
Antacid (large economy size)
1 dozen roses for wife (after she sees how hard it is to get inletting black off your clothes, her sink, furniture, etc.)

Most of my inletting tools are made from old screw drivers, heated and bent and cut to shape..my scrapers are handmade..most of thoes things are easily made from bar stock, round stock or whatevers handy...I do like the Jerry Fisher scrapers sold my Brownell and keep a supply of them, the rest I make..I have probably 150 I made, mostly for a certain job...

Pick up the old screw drivers at pawn shops for 50 cents apiece, and get the old good ones made years ago out of real steel...you can harden them if need be...

I also make my own chisels out of a small stash of Silvanite steel (no longer available as far as I know)..they are hard to sharpen but they hold an edge forever...Nice thing about the Silvanite is I can grind it and polish and edge on it without having to soften it, shape it and have it hardened...so if you have any hang on to it..if you find any then please let me know.

TT,

As far as scrapers and gouges go, they are the most valued inletting tools I have. And I made all of them from old files.

I use old chain saw files (flat and round, but mostly flat). If you can't find any old ones, and must buy them they are cheap as files go. The flat (chain saw) files are about 7 inches long with the tang and 3/4 inch wide. They seem to be the perfect length and width for most applications. Handles are easily fit to the tang.

I use a propane torch and heat and bend the end of the file. It is now soft and can be easily shaped with another file, or stone. Bevel the edge, sharpen, heat and quench. The file is tempered again and you can touch up with a fine stone or diamond to a razor edge that lasts quite long.

Also, it is not a tool, but if you are just starting out, studying a good book on enletting is advised.

Jim

From the total of 1 that I have and am working on (on hold waiting for metal) this is my recommendations.

First Nicholsen's Cabinet Maker's rasp #50, Midway had the lowest price I could find when I got mine. The thing cuts great and leaves a good finish, without a lot of compression to steam out later (which is what you'll get with sandpaper).

The hacksaw or old wood cutting saw blade is a great way to make a scraper. I needed a flat one to get inside the magazine area and broke a hacksaw blade in half, ground the edge the way I wanted and wrapped it in some duct tape for a handle, works well.

Remember with the inletting black, a little goes a long way and you only want a very little bit. I found that if I think I am using just the right amount it is way too much. :-)

Red

I just got my #49 & 50 from these folks. Great price $32.50 & $38 and they are sharpened. Best darn cutting files I ever owned. Best part is they aren't Midway!

http://www.boggstool.com/newfile.htm

quote:

Originally posted by Dago Red:
The thing cuts great and leaves a good finish, without a lot of compression to steam out later (which is what you'll get with sandpaper).

Remember with the inletting black, a little goes a long way and you only want a very little bit. I found that if I think I am using just the right amount it is way too much. :-)
Red

Red - If sandpaper compresses the wood, do you steam the entire stock after sanding and before applying finish? I find that almost all rasps/files tear and compress the wood somewhat. I don't bear down hard enough when sanding to compress anything, at least I don't think so.

I agree with you on the inletting black. Most beginners use way too much to start and keep adding to it.

I am going off what I read in one of the stockmaking books on that one with the compression of wood, and yes it recommends steaming the entire inletted portion if I remember right. the reason is that compressed wood when it gets moist later could put pressure on the metal.

the two stocks that I finished, using tru-oil, I just raised the wiskers a couple of times and knocked them off with steel wool. I haven't gotten to the steaming stage with this stock yet.

Red
PS
I kept adding to it till I started getting false transfers from movement while pulling the metal out and realized there was way too much on there.

I use a Nicholson "Magicut" half-round file more than any other rasp for removing wood. It is truly amazing how smooth it leaves the surface. I recently bought a No. 50 cabinetmaker's rasp because everyone said I needed one. I would trade three of 'em for one Magicut!

Glen - you took the words right out of my mouth. Since I got that Vixen file (Magicut) my nicholson 49 and 50 stay in the rack most of the time.