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Rifles, Reloading, Optics, Equipment
Gunsmithing
First custom gunstock
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<blockquote data-quote="shortgrass" data-source="post: 1603333" data-attributes="member: 24284"><p>I would ditch the idea of using oak or pine, Lee. There are walnut blanks available that are not "exhibition grade" that sell for under $200. Stick with a traditional gun stock wood. Maple for gunstocks is available, too. A good share of the curriculum when I went to school was in stock making by hand from a blank. The hand tools need for stock making are probably not what you have. They are 'specialty' tools. Most of my favorites are made by Dastra Woodscrew, in Germany. I like their "intermediate" sized carving tools. I have some other brands, including some I have forged and hardened myself in my shop. I have been out of school for 26yrs, and I don't make a stock by hand very often. When I do, I enlist the good graces of the local cabinet shop to use their jointer to square the top to the off cheek piece side of the blank. You can "true the blank" with a hand driven jointer plane, if you have the fortitude for such work. I have a band saw in my shop, so I can remove the excess, outside of my layout lines using that. I fit a lot of recoil pads, so the band saw is "needed equipment" in my shop. Your blank needs to be, at minimum, 2 1/2" thick and 34" long to start. After "truing the blank" the next step is the lay-out. Establish where the front guard screw will be, and go from there. I will add that a drill press is a handy tool to have . The front guard screw is 90* to the top of the blank, except for the Ruger 77, where it is angled. You can remove a lot of 'extra' wood to help with getting your inletting established with a drill press. There are as many different ways to make a gun stock as there are men that know how to do the work. Entire books have been written on the subject, and I would encourage you to invest in a few. Authors/stockmakers that come to mind are Dave Westbrook and Alvin Linden. Books can usually be found on Amazon and E-Bay. Just search "Dastra Carving Tools" for tool suppliers. A proper mallet will be needed, also. We started out with about 8 different chisels and gouges in school. I don't know how many I have now, but they cover a 4 x 4 peg-board. There's a start for ya'. Unless you are extremely talented and able to use 'deductive reasoning', you have a long, hard 'row to hoe' ahead of you without having an on-site instructor in your corner. The fastest I have been able to do by hand from a blank is right at 90 hours to inlet and shape. That doesn't include final sanding and finishing or any checkering. It takes dedication to the work to "git 'er done". But, the satisfaction rating upon completion of a well executed stock is unexplainable with words!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="shortgrass, post: 1603333, member: 24284"] I would ditch the idea of using oak or pine, Lee. There are walnut blanks available that are not "exhibition grade" that sell for under $200. Stick with a traditional gun stock wood. Maple for gunstocks is available, too. A good share of the curriculum when I went to school was in stock making by hand from a blank. The hand tools need for stock making are probably not what you have. They are 'specialty' tools. Most of my favorites are made by Dastra Woodscrew, in Germany. I like their "intermediate" sized carving tools. I have some other brands, including some I have forged and hardened myself in my shop. I have been out of school for 26yrs, and I don't make a stock by hand very often. When I do, I enlist the good graces of the local cabinet shop to use their jointer to square the top to the off cheek piece side of the blank. You can "true the blank" with a hand driven jointer plane, if you have the fortitude for such work. I have a band saw in my shop, so I can remove the excess, outside of my layout lines using that. I fit a lot of recoil pads, so the band saw is "needed equipment" in my shop. Your blank needs to be, at minimum, 2 1/2" thick and 34" long to start. After "truing the blank" the next step is the lay-out. Establish where the front guard screw will be, and go from there. I will add that a drill press is a handy tool to have . The front guard screw is 90* to the top of the blank, except for the Ruger 77, where it is angled. You can remove a lot of 'extra' wood to help with getting your inletting established with a drill press. There are as many different ways to make a gun stock as there are men that know how to do the work. Entire books have been written on the subject, and I would encourage you to invest in a few. Authors/stockmakers that come to mind are Dave Westbrook and Alvin Linden. Books can usually be found on Amazon and E-Bay. Just search "Dastra Carving Tools" for tool suppliers. A proper mallet will be needed, also. We started out with about 8 different chisels and gouges in school. I don't know how many I have now, but they cover a 4 x 4 peg-board. There's a start for ya'. Unless you are extremely talented and able to use 'deductive reasoning', you have a long, hard 'row to hoe' ahead of you without having an on-site instructor in your corner. The fastest I have been able to do by hand from a blank is right at 90 hours to inlet and shape. That doesn't include final sanding and finishing or any checkering. It takes dedication to the work to "git 'er done". But, the satisfaction rating upon completion of a well executed stock is unexplainable with words! [/QUOTE]
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