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Crafting a Rifle Stock

I really love the checkering on the adjustable. All your work is beautiful! I'm an amateur woodworker and build a few pieces of furniture here and there for our own home, but this is worlds above my level.
 
CStuck, Sure looks like building a rifle. The gunsmith that produced many of my stocks has retired and when he was active had many patterns for different actions and styles. He would fix the pattern on one side of the duplicator and the sort of stock shaped slab on the other side and rough inlet and rough shape it at the same time. Then I would finish the project with rasps, files, miter saw, orbital sander, chisels, and barrel channel scraper. Being a made gunsmith with many cheerful loyal customers he made many stocks that represent a combination of fine craftsmanship and art. Metal work also.
 
Thank you very much for sharing all of that process you go through. You do excellent work, my compliments. I love to see a craftsmen's handy work.
The stocks you have produced are beautiful!
 
Cstuck - have you dabbled in traditional English gun stock finishing?

If not, try popping the wood grain with flax seed oil steeped in alkanet root for many months. BLO has too many additives and so the edible version of linseed oil i.e. flax seed oil is better. (Make up a batch for future use.) The "red oil" will pop the grain. It will bring a redness to the stock but this will be reduced by the final stock finishing so don't worry about it getting to dark/red at this stage. You can use the red oil during your sanding process after you have gone through the process of "raising the grain" which I am sure you are familiar with.

Then fill the grain with a slurry of talcum powder (Johnson's baby powder) and traditional gun stock oil. Recipes for traditional gun stock oil or slacum can be closely guarded secrets. But Napier, an English company now sells its products in the US and has a traditional gun stock oil which is good. Work the slurry into the grain (much like what you are doing in the sanding stage), let dry, repeat. Cut the finish back every now and then with rotten stone powder. You want to fill the grain and leave the finish thin so it can breath. With persistence you can get this sort of finish to a very high gloss - just like a Purdey gun stock.


(In England a "gun" is a shotgun and certainly not a rifle or pistol.)
 
SGK said:
Cstuck - have you dabbled in traditional English gun stock finishing?

If not, try popping the wood grain with flax seed oil steeped in alkanet root for many months. BLO has too many additives and so the edible version of linseed oil i.e. flax seed oil is better. (Make up a batch for future use.) The "red oil" will pop the grain. It will bring a redness to the stock but this will be reduced by the final stock finishing so don't worry about it getting to dark/red at this stage. You can use the red oil during your sanding process after you have gone through the process of "raising the grain" which I am sure you are familiar with.

Then fill the grain with a slurry of talcum powder (Johnson's baby powder) and traditional gun stock oil. Recipes for traditional gun stock oil or slacum can be closely guarded secrets. But Napier, an English company now sells its products in the US and has a traditional gun stock oil which is good. Work the slurry into the grain (much like what you are doing in the sanding stage), let dry, repeat. Cut the finish back every now and then with rotten stone powder. You want to fill the grain and leave the finish thin so it can breath. With persistence you can get this sort of finish to a very high gloss - just like a Purdey gun stock.


(In England a "gun" is a shotgun and certainly not a rifle or pistol.)
Click to expand...

I have not attempted the English gun stock finishing as you described it. I have tried a few other oils like cutting board oil a food safe/edible version, and a orange/bee's wax oil/paste both work well. I am still experimenting with different products. It seems everyone has a different way to do it. I found the BLO drys quicker and doesn't develope a "sticky" texture like TruOil can do at times.

But just the other day I did order some english gun stock finishing oil (slippery dicks gunstock oil) I saw his product on instagram and spoke with him at length. I will by trying his method which is similar but not exactly as you described.

I will have to experiment on some scrap pieces to try out the talcum powder and oil combo to fill the pours in the grain.

Thank you for the tips. I will give it a go
 
I love your work and thanks for posting up all the pictures.

One little comment: side-loading a drill chuck is dangerous. You should really look into getting a collet chuck for your machine.
 
Evan said:
I love your work and thanks for posting up all the pictures.

One little comment: side-loading a drill chuck is dangerous. You should really look into getting a collet chuck for your machine.
Click to expand...
Thank you,

I am aware that the drill chuck is not designed for the radial loading I am subjecting it to. That is why I make very shallow passes and keep the force down as much as I can. I try to minimize the "side-loading" as much as I can. I have looked into getting a collect system for this drill press, in is on the to-do list. I will also upgrade the spindle bearings and hopefully find a bearing that can handle more radial loading than the basic bearings that came with the machine
 
CStuck said:
Thank you,
I am aware that the drill chuck is not designed for the radial loading I am subjecting it to. That is why I make very shallow passes and keep the force down as much as I can. I try to minimize the "side-loading" as much as I can. I have looked into getting a collect system for this drill press, in is on the to-do list. I will also upgrade the spindle bearings and hopefully find a bearing that can handle more radial loading than the basic bearings that came with the machine
Click to expand...
*thumbs up*

It sounds like you understand the limitations. I just wanted to make sure, I don't want anyone to get hurt cause they were never told.
 
I may know of a place to get your Osage Orange...it's less and 2 miles from the house


Figure this one out and I'd like to look into having something do o also..... Bob.
 
FFEMT said:
I may know of a place to get your Osage Orange...it's less and 2 miles from the house


Figure this one out and I'd like to look into having something do o also..... Bob.
Click to expand...

If you and @Dusty Stevens both want one, that makes it easier to buy the piece of wood and justify experimenting with it. If you are serious, shoot me a PM and we can discuss details. I've never worked with Osage Orange so it would be a new challenge for me
 
Beautiful work! I love the thumb indentation; very cool idea. And for the cheek piece, have you tried cutting the angled portions with a carcass or tenon saw and then cutting the final portion with the coping/fret saw? At least the first two cuts would be far easier and you may not even need the clamp guides until the coping saw cut. Nonetheless, the clamp guide looks like a great and cost effective idea! Keep up the great work!
 
klloyd said:
Beautiful work! I love the thumb indentation; very cool idea. And for the cheek piece, have you tried cutting the angled portions with a carcass or tenon saw and then cutting the final portion with the coping/fret saw? At least the first two cuts would be far easier and you may not even need the clamp guides until the coping saw cut. Nonetheless, the clamp guide looks like a great and cost effective idea! Keep up the great work!
Click to expand...
Thank you for the kind words. I have not used a carcass or tenon saw. I have tried with a bandsaw and that works if the blank is still square and no shaped. I like the clamp/steel guides because it works and I can set it up anyway I like, it may take a little time but it sure is a cost effective method.
 
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