Inletting a flat top....

[LVLAaron]

Good for you for doing this. Most guys just want the gravy. Now stock work is crude compared to barrel work. But so many "smiths" wont inlet a stock. I get calls every week to inlet and bed a stock because their smith wont. Never made any sense at all to me. He cant do a relatively crude job (working in .001"s) but you will trust him to do the chamber that we are working in .0001"s and contains an explosion next to your head. I get not "wanting" to do it though.

Thanks boss.

Took me ages to get through these. I'm sure the next one will go 10x faster. It's helpful that I'm comfortable with "fine woodwork". I can understand a smith not wanting to do just a stock... High risk low reward. You screw up a chamber, you might lose a thread worth of length... maybe an inch.. at worst the whole barrel... But ya mess up 1500 dollars worth of wood stock... There's not of lot of ways to hide the crimes, so to speak.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Yes you will get faster. Like anything the more you do the more efficient you get. If your in this business and will actually do the whole job you will be busier than you want to be.

 

[Cigarcop]

Thanks boss.

Took me ages to get through these. I'm sure the next one will go 10x faster. It's helpful that I'm comfortable with "fine woodwork". I can understand a smith not wanting to do just a stock... High risk low reward. You screw up a chamber, you might lose a thread worth of length... maybe an inch.. at worst the whole barrel... But ya mess up 1500 dollars worth of wood stock... There's not of lot of ways to hide the crimes, so to speak.

To me it’s not about high risk low reward….. it’s about everything in the complete build working together….. straight tracking, bedding, action work (like Alex does) chambering, ect……. Guy goes out and wins all you hear is who chambered it which is only one part of the puzzle…..When infact to a degree it may just be a really good barrel. Now most guys at the top are on their game when it comes to getting a rifle to shine, crafting loads, wind reading, rifle set up ect.
But maybe I’m wrong!

 

[LVLAaron]

I'm with you - I get only wanting to do the whole thing from start to finish. It's a whole product, and you treat it like one.

 

[tobnpr]

High risk low reward.

Precisely.
There's ways to fix minor F'ups- but as you say, it doesn't take much...
I used to run a ton of stocks on a duplicator. Finish sanded, semi-inletted, I could complete a couple of them in a day. One hell of a mess, "open" routers slinging chips and sawdust all over the shop.

Aside from that, it's a very small market. Whether "traditional" stocks (safari rifles and the like) or fancy BR stocks, there's very few that are willing to pay a shop rate for all the hours involved in hand-cutting a stock from a raw blank. It's a nice skill to have, but I've got about 8 million other tasks that I'd put ahead of cutting myself one from a blank (sans duplicator). If I don't have a pattern stock for what I want, I'll order something close from Richard's Microfit and work it as needed.

Kinda like rust blueing. I'll rarely do it for customers because I can't charge what it really costs, by the time you do complete disassembly, multiple passes of coating, conversion, carding...then oiling, reassembly. Most won't want to pay for it.

All that said, most of the smiths here are probably no different, we'll take on these "labors of love" sometimes even though we might not make any money on them.

 

[joshb]

I’m giggling. You big strong young fellas struggling with this. I layed it all out for ya.
Try this: Get out your chain saw and cut a log into hunks. Put those hunks thru your jointer and planer to get some blanks. Use those blanks to make a stock.
Simple.............kinda.......

 

[LVLAaron]

How to draw an Owl:



I had a pretty well equipped wood shop, until I decided to get into metal work. Got rid of big planer/jointer/table saws. I'm moving in a couple of years and will have room to have a dedicated space for wood/metal. I didn't want the dust in my shop.

 

[joshb]

How to draw an Owl:
View attachment 1390297


I had a pretty well equipped wood shop, until I decided to get into metal work. Got rid of big planer/jointer/table saws. I'm moving in a couple of years and will have room to have a dedicated space for wood/metal. I didn't want the dust in my shop.

And you’re right! The two don’t mix! I’m still giggling, but it’s tongue in cheek. I spent my whole life with wood. It’s natural to me. What you guys do with metal amazes me so you get your points there. If I were younger, I might give it a try!

 

[tobnpr]

I didn't want the dust in my shop.

Nope. Maybe not as big a no-no as abrasive dust, but the fines get everywhere...not to mention shitty for your lungs as well. I had a Zip-Wall system with visqueen floor to ceiling in the "wood" corner of the shop, with a dust collection system sucking air out keeping negative pressure in there. Kept it out of the rest of the shop, but stepping out of there being covered in sawdust sucks. Impossible to overstate the chips flying through the air with two, 1-3/4 hp routers roughing out blanks. I haven't used it in probably over a year- just because I don't want to deal with the mess

 

[LVLAaron]

Nope. Maybe not as big a no-no as abrasive dust, but the fines get everywhere...not to mention shitty for your lungs as well. I had a Zip-Wall system with visqueen floor to ceiling in the "wood" corner of the shop, with a dust collection system sucking air out keeping negative pressure in there. Kept it out of the rest of the shop, but stepping out of there being covered in sawdust sucks. Impossible to overstate the chips flying through the air with two, 1-3/4 hp routers roughing out blanks. I haven't used it in probably over a year- just because I don't want to deal with the mess

100 percent. I'd so rather be covered in oil than sawdust. I've been trying to figure out a zip wall or something for a little corner where my grinders are. :/

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I’m giggling. You big strong young fellas struggling with this. I layed it all out for ya.
Try this: Get out your chain saw and cut a log into hunks. Put those hunks thru your jointer and planer to get some blanks. Use those blanks to make a stock.
Simple.............kinda.......View attachment 1390285View attachment 1390286

But youre the wood whisperer. All you gotta do is cut away the wood thats not a stock right?

 

[LVLAaron]

I love this whole thing, btw.

 

[joshb]

But youre the wood whisperer. All you gotta do is cut away the wood thats not a stock right?

It is ironic if I think about it. My father was a business guy. My mother was an artist, painting and sculpture. I spent my working life in business. I’m spending my retirement trying to be a sculptor. Functional art, as my mother would call it.

 

[tobnpr]

I've been trying to figure out a zip wall or something for a little corner where my grinders are. :/

Great minds think alike
Been working on a "fix" for that since last week. Grinders are on a bench that I just enclosed on three sides with plywood, and I'm putting a plywood "top" that's equipped with fine air filters hooked up to a cheap HF ventilator- more or less, an updraft hood that should greatly lessen abrasive dust spreading around.
Should work, the filters will tell once I finish it up.

8 in. Portable Ventilator

Amazing deals on this 8In Portable Ventilator at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[MagnumW]

Wow this thread makes feel way better about the looooong time it took to have my flatop inlet at a cnc gunsmith. Wasnt cheap and took about 9 months but was a thing of beauty.

 

[Bully]

View attachment 1390286

@joshb Do you have a pattern you can send? That stock is prettymuchalmost perfect.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Wow this thread makes feel way better about the looooong time it took to have my flatop inlet at a cnc gunsmith. Wasnt cheap and took about 9 months but was a thing of beauty.

it took minutes to do but 9mo of putting off if it was like me

 

[joshb]

@joshb Do you have a pattern you can send? That stock is prettymuchalmost perfect.

PM coming.

 

[xr650rRider]

This wasn't a flat top but started life as a Luxus walnut blank. Local gunsmith did all the work and no power tools for any part of stock work. Wood was so dense, the blank felt like petrified wood. Gunsmith cussed it until he was finished, constantly having to re-sharpen tools. I should have taken pictures of the barrel and action inlet. Perfect fit, no devcon and the barrel isn't floated but perfectly fit in stock.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

This wasn't a flat top but started life as a Luxus walnut blank. Local gunsmith did all the work and no power tools for any part of stock work. Wood was so dense, the blank felt like petrified wood. Gunsmith cussed it until he was finished, constantly having to re-sharpen tools. I should have taken pictures of the barrel and action inlet. Perfect fit, no devcon and the barrel isn't floated but perfectly fit in stock.

View attachment 1390714View attachment 1390715View attachment 1390716

Beautiful gun right there