Machined Stocks In Classic Custom Rifles, Part 1

My long time stock turner retired several months ago and sold his business and patterns to an old protege of his. At least I knew where the business was going. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, illness and unexpected surgery caused delays in taking on work. What a bummer. Meanwhile, I am in the process of trying out another firm to do some of this work for me. After going through the Internet for several days I decided on one located in Washington state.

The person I found has a terrific reputation and I have known of him for many years. His web site is excellent and spells out in some detail everything one needs to know about his work and proficiency. Subsequently, I sent out two projects along with appropriate blanks just to see the quality of his work. The first was a two piece project for a Martini M12-15 along with my own pattern. It was returned several weeks later and the machining was excellent.

The other project was for a pre-64 Winchester M70 that I was building for my son. It was a beautiful piece of English walnut, however, there was one serious caveat to consider. The stock turner’s web site clearly stated that the exterior of his stocks are turned oversize to allow for individual tastes and design concepts to be incorporated. This is an excellent idea and one that I have no quarrel with.

The problem was the machine stock was returned with several features which I do not care for but I fully expected that. Let me explain. Over the years I have taken certain measurements from stocks which I thought to be the ideal in terms of design and function. These have been carefully recorded so that I developed a record of the most beautiful stocks regardless of the inherit beauty of the wood. Now I understand that one can not just simply go by some mathematical formula and wind up with a thing of beauty.

There are many other factors involved. I use the annotated measurements as a guide whenever I take on a project. Both the client and I will know before hand what our goals are in terms of the finished product. These measurements are taken from the trigger location to the cheek piece and shadow line, as well as the profile of the wrist/pistol grip. That aside, I thought the machined stock was hugely oversized, especially the cheek piece and wrist/ pistol grip areas. The forend was also rather full.

I like the rear edge of the cheek piece to be ten inches from the trigger location with the shadow line an appropriate distance beyond and in a pleasing curve that follows the outline of the cheek piece proper. As you can see in the accompanying photos the cheek piece was well beyond the ten-inch requirement

Wood removal gives some idea of the task to shorten the cheek piece. that I had mind. The figure used for the distance from the trigger to the wrist/pistol grip is 4 1/2 inches, give or take. This makes for a nice open grip that is very pleasing to the eye and functional to boot. You can see a lot wood must be removed from the aforementioned pistol grip area to meet my requirements. I must reiterate that none of this surprised me as the stock was returned to me exactly as was stated on the web site.

It was now up to me to take advantage of the oversize situation and create, if you will, a beautiful stock. Time to go to work. First and foremost I sharpen all of my chisels. There’s nothing quite as aggravating as finding out your chisels won’t cut during an exacting task. I know it’s a pain in the neck task but it will save you time and frustration in the long run. The latter can cause a general upset which can damage your ability to do your best work.

The next decision is to determine whether to tackle the overlong cheek piece first or the wrist/pistol grip. I chose the cheek piece because it was the bigger task and I thought best to get it done while still fresh and focused. Before we being, some notes on the tools. The patternmaker’s cabinet rasps are made especially for wood filing where a smooth finish is desired. Edges are cut—have teeth—and taper slightly from tang to front.

The unusual tooth design eliminates most "filling" problems, does not gouge into wood or snag cross grain. This is probably the most useful wood rasp for "almost final" shaping and finishing. They are coarser than wood files. No clog files cover every operation from rough shaping to final contouring of combs and grip areas. With heavy pressure the wood rolls off at an incredible rate. For finish work the weight of the file alone will make sawdust cuts and cuts smoothly across the grain.

These have an unusual no clog design and safe edge. A safe edge refers to files and rasps which do not have any teeth on the edges. These are excellent tools for outlining, such as the edge of a shadow line where you want to trim wood away from the edge but not from the flat part just next to it. I carefully begin the task of shortening the cheek piece by chiseling away as much excess wood as possible.

I believe the term is "hogging out the wood." Once I had the project started I alternately used chisels, rasps and Sur Form tools to cut the new cove which runs down to the shadow line. I like to outline the shadow line at this point because that gives me a sneak preview, if you will, of the final result. From there, it’s just a matter of gradually forming your new cheek piece and shadow line.

I begin this work by using my rat tail files to start the new cove, beginning with the small one, working up to the medium and then the large. I use the Sur Form rasp whenever I can to smooth things out. As the cove develops I use larger and larger half round rasps to bring the shadow line as even as I can make it all around the edge of the cheek piece. When done, this is a good time to take a break before tackling the oversized pistol grip and putting the finishing touches on the shadow line of the cheek piece.

The pistol grip is best tackled by first mounting the grip cap. This will give you the correct angle of the grip and determine the amount of wood to be removed. By angle I refer to the line formed by the cap where it joins the wood, which should point to the heal of the stock for the best classic appearance. Set the cap at the 4 1/2-inch mark, plus or minus, from the trigger as described earlier as the ideal location. Use the try and fit method to fit the cap.

It does not have to be a perfect fit yet as you are using it as a guide for slimming the wrist and pistol grip. There is a considerable amount of material to be removed. I use any and all tools available to do this task, such as a coping saw to remove excess wood from the front of the pistol grip. If I had a band saw I would have gone much (Continued on page 14)

Unevenness anywhere the old shadow line left off and the new is being shaped is cleaned up. This is where the no clog files come in handy. When it comes time to even up the former shadow line with the area just behind it I am very careful not to take away too much wood. I also make certain which way the grain is flowing, keeping in mind the natural curve of the stock behind the cheek piece. I need to be certain it matches the curve on the off side of the stock.

Believe me this an easy mistake to make and one that is nearly uncorrectable. I use a very large no clog file for this task. When I think the job is complete I look at the shadow line to determine if there are any rough or uneven spots. If there are I use 100 grit abrasive paper wrapped around a dowel or small rubber hoses of various diameters to make the corrections, working slowly and carefully. From time to time as the situation warrants, a half round no clog file is used to smooth things out.

The last thing is to tightly wrap apiece of 100 grit abrasive paper around a small piece of wood that has been carefully squared off and cleanup the edge of the shadow line. Of course when I do this task on the rear of the shadow line I’m sanding They include rat tail files in small, medium and large sizes, patternmaker’s cabinet rasps in various sizes, Sure Form files and a brush to clear away wood chips and saw dust. across the grain. Sorry folks, it can’t be helped.

I use progressively finer abrasive paper in grits, up to 220, to reduce the scratches caused by sanding across the grain. The final clean up is with the no clog file. This tool can cut across the grain if used with care and leave everything silky smooth. Then I sand smooth with 320 grit abrasive paper wrapped around a sanding block, working with the grain. I’m ready now to move on and complete the task of creating a custom classic stock out of a machined stock. That’s in a follow up article. AG

The chisel must be sharp during this job. further up the wrist carefully removing wood. Once again, use a variety of rasps—the patternmaker’s rasp is ideal for this task—depending where the excess wood is located and rasp away until you are just about at the edge of the cap. I try to maintain the sharp edge on the cap for appearance sake. In fact, if the edge becomes too rounded off, I replace it with a clean new cap. I’m very careful at the rear edge of the cap.

This is definitely not the place to get crazy about removing excess wood. I want to have this area fair into the butt stock bottom line in a graceful manner. Be certain to keep the bottom line straight. No perch belly here.

For final shaping to the edge of the cap I use a variety of electric sanders of which I have several, such as a mouse (for getting into tight places), three random orbital sanders with different grades of abrasive paper (80, 100 and 220) and a square orbital sander 60 grit paper in it used exclusively for heavy duty sanding. Once I am satisfied with the overall shape of the grip cap area I proceed to sand wood from the wrist to carefully shape the stock with a pleasing line that sweeps down from the receiver.

While time is of the essence, I do not want to lose focus because of fatigue, either mental or physical, so I generally put the stock away until the following day to do the final work on the cheek piece and the wrist and pistol grip. The new shortened cheek piece is ready for final shaping. For this task we need several different tools like safe edge files and no clog files, both in different sizes, and around Sur Form rasp.

We want to clean up the new shadow line and make it flow smoothly from the top end near the heel and around to the front end, near the wrist. I do most of this work with the safe edge rasp and the aforementioned no clog files which also have a safe edge. No clog files do not tear away wood as do regular files and rasps with individual teeth. They actually plane the wood away because they have semi circular cutting edges.