My Highwall project... complete!

I've bee going through my stock making pics, trying to put together some semblance of order... Lets try this.
I actually lost a blank due to severe shrinkage. I got two at a 70% discount. But I didn't read the fine print about them being green... I abandoned stock making for a while to let the other one dry... lesson learned. The replacement stock is even nicer though so life's gonna be good!

This one will become the shotgun stock
https://flic.kr/p/L59k1b
This one is the replacement for the rifle stock that was lost...
https://flic.kr/p/26QuFbH

I got more q'ed up but I gotta go make a living first...
 
After probably 6 hours of mulling the new blank over and trying templates in every conceivable way, I finally committed to a plan...
Sean69 and others will probably chuckle at my machinists approach to stock making but "Ya do what ya can!"
I planed my blanks down so they were left about 30thou. wide, did my final layout, traced my template and rough cut them to shape with the band saw...
https://flic.kr/p/288Wo1q
Next I put them on the mill (sitting on aluminum shims) and cut the outer profile...
https://flic.kr/p/Jyo4LT

https://flic.kr/p/288WiML

https://flic.kr/p/288WhiJ
Move the clamps and cut the bottom profile...
https://flic.kr/p/288WfU1
To side track for a moment, I had to make some butt plates. I used Aluminum bronze here as well. The chunk of material I had let me squeeze three plates out of it so I figured Id use it all up.
https://flic.kr/p/288WF2j
These took some cyphering to decide how to hold onto them. most of the material gets removed, and every surface becomes curved.
https://flic.kr/p/28dhP5Z
I made a cool little block for the last two operations. Worked slick as a wick!
https://flic.kr/p/28di2fk

https://flic.kr/p/L5mLhj
Mmmm!
https://flic.kr/p/26QHMRF
Another form tool I made for the project. It was late at night and I briefly contemplated "saving time" by not hardening it. Then I gave myself a mental talking to and went and hardened it...
https://flic.kr/p/28dhVPR

https://flic.kr/p/L5mEyq

https://flic.kr/p/Jyoiri
I like this pic. I made the first one on a Friday night and them came back the next day and made the other two, hence the three stages of completion.
https://flic.kr/p/277Uza9
 
I’ve been enjoying this thread for the past while, always looking forward to more updates and photos of you project. Absolutely Beautiful. I wish I had those skills. Very impressive.
 
As a machinist\shop owner my self, I can say you are doing an awesome job. Just putting it out there in case you were unaware, but aluminum bronze actually has a relatively high iron content, which means it will rust. Not right away, and not if you take care of it, which I suspect you will, but it will. It does take a polish nicely though, unlike SAE 660. I wish my employees would do projects like you are doing, as it would make them think out of the box a bit more, as I am sure you have discovered.
 
After probably 6 hours of mulling the new blank over and trying templates in every conceivable way, I finally committed to a plan...
Sean69 and others will probably chuckle at my machinists approach to stock making but "Ya do what ya can!"
I planed my blanks down so they were left about 30thou. wide, did my final layout, traced my template and rough cut them to shape with the band saw...
Click to expand...

Oh god no!!! no chuckles here - I've been following this thread closely but no time to chime in as I have to make real $$ too! :) in fact you make me extremely jealous and kind of angry... what you are doing is not only top notch, but true art!

I have been dying to see what you were going to do with the stock making... dying.

All I can say about the stock making is:

It's a trade off, if you have 2,3,4 stocks exactly the same to do,, yea, make em CNC. one,... you would probably waste more material and time than making it by hand. It takes me 20-30 hours~ish to make a stock depending on the gun/inletting/complexity + finishing time - so do the math there (another thing I really like about your posts, lots of measurements and notes ... lots of planning - kudos!)
My approach is pretty much use as many tools as I can to get the gross material out of the way (routers/bandsaw) and fine tune it from there.

The enjoyment I get is in the feel of a spokeshave slicing perfectly, a rasp moving chips and the end result being damn close but not perfect. I am also a programmer so writing a bit of code and seeing that execute perfectly is the same deal as you programming your tool paths/speeds etc and watching it run flawlessly. - I get it :)

I'm not even going to give you advise here, but just points to consider if you haven't already ....

1. Wood moves, figured wood moves more. and will be generally ###. keep a good file and some sandpaper on hand, the fun thing about metal is you can put some back if you cut too much .... wood, well, not at all. :(
2. you obviously know speeds/feeds (duh!) ... well wood needs the same consideration, mills/metal lathes don't (generally) come anywhere near the speeds needed. keep your cuts 'many' and "light"
3. I love your shop - so clean. clean up the fine-fine sawdust from your metal working tools. it holds moisture like crazy and will rust that s** t up in no time :(


Keep it coming - would love to see more pics on the stock making.

- best regards
-sean
 
Riverboy: Thanks! Yes thinking outside the box is a good thing! My boss has been VERY supportive of my projects and often sees benefit from them bleed over to shop work.
I cant say I've ever seen aluminum bronze rust in industry(unless its had steel particles imbedded via rubbing or grinding action in which case those particles will rust). But I cant tell you what you've experienced...
I've had good luck using it for firearm parts in the past but as you say, I take care of my guns so its really a moot point.

Sean69: Wow thanks! Compliments from you are compliments indeed! I LOVE your thread! Yes working for a living sure gets in the way doesn't it...
While I do have an understanding of making and shaping things, I'll be the first to admit wood is another world! and TRUE wood working, understanding grain structure, flow, movement, etc... Im totally a bull in the china shop. But I'll get it done!
The CNC aspect to these parts is fairly limited. I cut out the profile and inlet. For that, Its really nice! The rest will be done by hand.
I will say regarding the use of CNC equipment for one off projects, I hear that a lot from people and from shop owners... I'm privileged to work in a custom shop and 90% of my work is done in ones and threes. You get good at making a drawing and writing a program so the machine does the work. Simple things like chasing a tapered thread, Ya you could set up your taper bar on your manual lathe(and if you're doing that every day, you'll get good at that too) but its sure nice to just give the machine a start/stop point and a pitch along with a start angle and let it go... Even inletting these stock(pics up later), Its a 2min tool path to write and then I can just adjust my tool wear till the everything fits just right. Pretty slick!
 
leelad said:
Sean69: Wow thanks! Compliments from you are compliments indeed! I LOVE your thread! Yes working for a living sure gets in the way doesn't it...
While I do have an understanding of making and shaping things, I'll be the first to admit wood is another world! and TRUE wood working, understanding grain structure, flow, movement, etc... Im totally a bull in the china shop. But I'll get it done!
The CNC aspect to these parts is fairly limited. I cut out the profile and inlet. For that, Its really nice! The rest will be done by hand.
I will say regarding the use of CNC equipment for one off projects, I hear that a lot from people and from shop owners... I'm privileged to work in a custom shop and 90% of my work is done in ones and threes. You get good at making a drawing and writing a program so the machine does the work. Simple things like chasing a tapered thread, Ya you could set up your taper bar on your manual lathe(and if you're doing that every day, you'll get good at that too) but its sure nice to just give the machine a start/stop point and a pitch along with a start angle and let it go... Even inletting these stock(pics up later), Its a 2min tool path to write and then I can just adjust my tool wear till the everything fits just right. Pretty slick!
Click to expand...

And thanks in kind!! :)

I think you do have a point there, "technically speaking" I am a "mechanical engineering technologist" (Durham College 1996-1998) but never used the skills - so it's all very weak right now, have been tinkering with Autodesk Fusion 360 and am amazed at how much easier & faster it's gotten! So, yes, if you have the skills and setup :) (I guess that what prototyping is for anyway) from 60 -80 hours on a stock to 30-40 and able to crack out a Winchester fore end in about 4 hours. just time in the trenches I guess.
 
Yep, technology never seems to replace practice does it?

Ok some inletting pics...
I first inletted for the top tang. fitting the receiver to the stock (top tang, left and right butt sockets all needing to talk to eachother)
https://flic.kr/p/L5uBEy
Run the tool path, test fit, adjust tool wear, repeat...
https://flic.kr/p/L5uAgS
and repeat...
https://flic.kr/p/26QTozk
And closer...
https://flic.kr/p/28drzJc
looking pretty good for now. the final fussy fitting will be done by hand with scraper.
https://flic.kr/p/JywHXM
next I inletted for the lower tang, making it fit along with the rest.
https://flic.kr/p/2784qnG

https://flic.kr/p/JywFDt
Now the hand work. (I love hand work. Making things fit just so is very rewarding!)
https://flic.kr/p/L6TZKJ
I used a sharpe as a transfer/lay out dye
https://flic.kr/p/28avTXY

https://flic.kr/p/279r6yu
Bit by bit...
https://flic.kr/p/L6U37N

https://flic.kr/p/25tRofq
I love it when it finally "just... fits"!
https://flic.kr/p/26Sd3BR
 
Good stuff! Looks great :) Man there's a lot of curl in that walnut...

What are you using for a scraper there? I use purpose made/modified cabinet scrapers (which have their limitations in tight spaces)
 
It is an old carbide scraper that's been in the shop forever. I couldn't tell you a brand but I use it all the time. Mostly on steel but it seems to work well on walnut too.

JaysonCraig: yes this stuff has me really excited to see the finished product. I spent more on that chunk of wood than I have on the whole project but I hope it'll do justice to the time I put into everything else!

You guys are catching up to me fast!
 
Aww shucks... I appreciate your enthusiasm! CGN has had some humdingers though. There are many VERY knowledgeable and talented people on here!

Ok more stock making...
I made a pin that fit the screw holes in the buttplate and used that to locate for drilling and tapping the stocks...
https://flic.kr/p/28drGAt

And I left one of my screws long, milling a groove in it to produce a tap
https://flic.kr/p/L5uEMq

"At'll do pig, at'll do"...
https://flic.kr/p/2897rhL

Next I set my stocks up on the drill to do the draw bolt hole.
https://flic.kr/p/25B7jMG

These get a 3/4" counter bore for the bolt head which the bronze bushing sits in to act as a guide for my farmer version of a gun drill...
https://flic.kr/p/28hPD9S

It came out straight though!
https://flic.kr/p/LeeqVy

Screw timing... I make the screw long, mill a shallow drive slot into it, install, scribe the orientation it wants it be, re-slot to full depth and then face it to length which removes the first slot.
https://flic.kr/p/25BjQrs

https://flic.kr/p/28nhp5a

https://flic.kr/p/25BjNeb

https://flic.kr/p/28nhm2B
Something like this is perfect! After a few assemblies it'll tweak in that last bit to be beautiful!
https://flic.kr/p/27gPoSb

Next up, fore ends!
 
These went well actually. A finished forend doesn't have much meat left and I wasn't sure how to hold these with out cracking something.
2x4s were again the remedy as once I started actually DOING something, an order of service became clear and straight forward.

Step one: make it square...
https://flic.kr/p/27mcTRW

Next, grip it below the barrel channel and cut the barrel channel. This took a bit of thought as it is (obviously) tapered in both width and height.
https://flic.kr/p/2752eTi
Same gig as inletting, adjust tool wear till the barrel fit how I wanted.
https://flic.kr/p/28rT3tM

https://flic.kr/p/275aYNF
I made a little tapered form tool so the mounting stud (which also serves as a locator for the forend) would fit just so.
https://flic.kr/p/28rSZSp
Once that fit nicely I flipped it on its side and carefully cut the side profile. The redeeming thing about not being able to grip wood too tightly is it cuts so easily you don't have to.
https://flic.kr/p/2752d4r
Then I flipped the vice on its side to cut the relief for the receiver.
https://flic.kr/p/28nm4TC
I also cut the outside round profile while I was there to reduce the risk of scratching the receiver by heavy hand contouring.
https://flic.kr/p/27529RV

https://flic.kr/p/27mcMq9
Finally I clamped the forend against stops and cut the tapering angle so the muzzle end is narrower than the breach end.
https://flic.kr/p/275aX8r

https://flic.kr/p/25FThXq
 
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