Checkering @ home
- Thread starter Amphibious
- Start date
Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice,
You might want one of the illuminated magnifiers to position over your checkering cradle. Patience and attention to detail. Did anyone mention practice? Don't even think about going near a good stock until you are really ready. Old milsurp stocks might not be best - they are often oil soaked, and this affects cutting, and the tool gets gummed up. I'd visit a gunshop, and try to get broken, scrapped sporter stocks. I have done some checkering, and was satisfied with the results. But, I have no interest in doing it. Just don't have the temperment for it.
Checkering aids
Some small stuff that is handy:
A soft finger nail brush for moving dust out of the lines.
A set of flexible straight edges and precisely cut diamonds to lay out master lines.
Masking tape around the pattern edges to show a definitive stop. Also as a guide when cutting master lines.
Get some of the 1/4" pinstriping masking tape as it is very useful for top line edging. You can also run masking tape in parallel strips (to your master lines)to ensure you are keeping your lines straight.
A set of French curve draughting tools for designing patterns. Draughting dividers and compass.
Graph paper.
A good exacto knife.
Bent nose files for cleaning out the small areas.
You'll also end up making little tools of your own design for tight quarter line cutting. Keep your eye open for places to buy small diameter drill rod (1/8-1/4"or even good quality used screwdrivers for re-forging into specialty tools.
You can use a propane torch for heating these small diameter steels red enough to forge. Cutting tools can be quench hardened if desired and I normally do this to spacers but not to single line tools whcih I resharpen as needed. I actually use only one commercially made cutter and I don't use that much either.
If you buy a couple of multi line metal checkering files you can make your own cutters. Get some fine needle files for sharpening them or take an automotive point file and carefully gring the edge to the correct angle for sharpening the cutter teeth. Don't burn the temper out of the file.
Any time you see a checkering pattern you like wrap it with paper and use a soft pencil to do a pressure trace on the paper. You can modify the patterns as needed provided you maintain the lines of the pattern correctly.
Get some of the plastic used for office supply (transparencies) as they are great for patterns. You can tape them down tightly on the wood and then use the exacto knife to lightly cut out the plastic leaving a portion of the tape entirely around the area to be checkered.
Practice lots and don't cut your borders until the pattern is complete in the event your lines didn't stay exactly parallel to the original pattern. Nothing looks worse than a point pattern that has the borders or outlining cut running at a different angle than the final cut of the checkering lines.
And the final and best thing you can do is get a copy of Monty Kennedy's book
"Checkering and Carving of Gun Stocks". There is a wealth of information in there from some of the old masters of the trade. Most of the things I've mentioned here are covered in the book.
Some small stuff that is handy:
A soft finger nail brush for moving dust out of the lines.
A set of flexible straight edges and precisely cut diamonds to lay out master lines.
Masking tape around the pattern edges to show a definitive stop. Also as a guide when cutting master lines.
Get some of the 1/4" pinstriping masking tape as it is very useful for top line edging. You can also run masking tape in parallel strips (to your master lines)to ensure you are keeping your lines straight.
A set of French curve draughting tools for designing patterns. Draughting dividers and compass.
Graph paper.
A good exacto knife.
Bent nose files for cleaning out the small areas.
You'll also end up making little tools of your own design for tight quarter line cutting. Keep your eye open for places to buy small diameter drill rod (1/8-1/4"or even good quality used screwdrivers for re-forging into specialty tools.
You can use a propane torch for heating these small diameter steels red enough to forge. Cutting tools can be quench hardened if desired and I normally do this to spacers but not to single line tools whcih I resharpen as needed. I actually use only one commercially made cutter and I don't use that much either.
If you buy a couple of multi line metal checkering files you can make your own cutters. Get some fine needle files for sharpening them or take an automotive point file and carefully gring the edge to the correct angle for sharpening the cutter teeth. Don't burn the temper out of the file.
Any time you see a checkering pattern you like wrap it with paper and use a soft pencil to do a pressure trace on the paper. You can modify the patterns as needed provided you maintain the lines of the pattern correctly.
Get some of the plastic used for office supply (transparencies) as they are great for patterns. You can tape them down tightly on the wood and then use the exacto knife to lightly cut out the plastic leaving a portion of the tape entirely around the area to be checkered.
Practice lots and don't cut your borders until the pattern is complete in the event your lines didn't stay exactly parallel to the original pattern. Nothing looks worse than a point pattern that has the borders or outlining cut running at a different angle than the final cut of the checkering lines.
And the final and best thing you can do is get a copy of Monty Kennedy's book
"Checkering and Carving of Gun Stocks". There is a wealth of information in there from some of the old masters of the trade. Most of the things I've mentioned here are covered in the book.
