The Making of a Stock

[15Tango]

I debated posting this yet because the stock's not totally finished as it doesn't have the clear coat yet, but I figured why not.

I have some wood working experience and was curious if I could make a rifle stock. I found stock blanks on http://www.boydsgunstocks.com/ I picked out a color and I think it was around $40. I didn't have a clue how or where to start. Between using a lot of different tools and a decent amount of time I came up with this. It's still only finished in Tung oil right now, I plan on putting an automotive clear coat on it eventually if that's possible over Tung oil.

Inletting was by far the part that tested my patience the most, I didn't really end up with any good pictures of that process though.

Rifle was/is a Ruger M77 VT 6.5 Creedmoor. The action was bedded with Devcon. Finished weight ended up being 15 lbs, I'm contemplating ordering a Broughton or Krieger for it now.

Making the cheek an adjustable was quite easy, I even made the hardware myself.

On with the picture sequence.

Wayne

 

[Kenny474]

Nice job on the stock, looks excellent.

I have a bit of painting experience, as I worked in my step-fathers body shop as a teen. I am not 100% sure, but I think you will have issues trying to clear over Tung oil. But if you sand it very fine, and rub in a whole bunch of coats of Tung oil, it will have a great sheen anyway, and be easily touched up by just rubbing in more Tung oil.

My buddy is a wood worker, and he loves Tung oil. Some of his stuff looks like glass and only has a Tung oil finish. I would just use that and make it shine.

But agian, very nice work. Looks awesome, especially for your first time. Looks like you have been making stocks for years. I doubt anyone would have known you made it if you didn't say you did. Really looks great.

Kenny

 

[rain164845]

Only $40 bucks you say? I'll take one made up for a Savage short action please. ;D

Seriously though, it looks great.

Joe

 

[Kenny474]

Whoa, I missed the $40 part. That just makes it that much better! I might have to try my hand at making a stock at some point, though I will likely spend more on blanks before I get something usable than I would to just buy one.

What did you use for the barrel channel? Also, did you need to add to the fore-end to get it that wide, or was the blank wide enough already? And if you don't mind disclosing, how many hours do you think you have invested?

Does anyone know where I could find some instruction on how to accomplish something similar and the tools required? A good book or video reference would be great.

And again, great work. I just keep coming back to look at it more.

 

[15Tango]

The barrel channel was pretty easy, just used a router with an end mill, kept going deeper and deeper. I left the last 1/2 alone and carved that out to a radius by hand so it looked right.

I used a router on this project a lot to take away the excess material, you can see in the first few pictures that I just took off a certain depth on each side up to certain matching points.

The fore end was just that wide from the blank, luckily I didn't have to add any material there.

I worked on this thing a lot for about a week and a half. The tools I used were a Porter Cable router, various router bits, 3 different sizes and shapes of rasp files for wood working, a high-speed disc sander, coping saw, electric finish sander and of course, a Dremel tool and a multitude of attachments.

The laminate is for sure easier than a hardwood I'd say because as you remove material you get into different color layers so you can make each side symmetrical. I won't lie though, inletting was the hardest part, but Devcon bedding makes it so it doesn't have to be perfect, there's some relief there.

If you've ever even thought about making a stock or thought it'd be an interesting project to try, I say go for it - the worst you can do is learn something. It's only $40 from Boyd's to try it. There are other companies out there that sell blanks, too. http://www.rifle-stocks.com/laminated_blanks.htm

Wayne

P.S. thanks for the advise on Tung oil on the stock, I used it and 000 steel wool, I was quite amazed by the finish that gave so I'll probably just do a few more coats of that and call it good.

 

[tinkerer]

Good job. I made my own Striker stock from laminated cocobolo with hand tools only. NEVER AGAIN. A mill would be a great idea.

Yes, you can spray clear polyurethane over Tung oil. Or you can keep adding tung oil and steel wooling it. When done, a couple of coats of a pure paste wax adds depth.

Keep up the good work.

Larry
Tinkerer