Stippling in place of checkering?

Grizz Axxemann

Grizz Axxemann

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I wish I still had the issue of Guns & Ammo I first saw this sort of thing in. It was pretty neat.

Anyone else ever stipple a wood stock or set of grips before? I figure it would be an interesting alternative to the regular checkering.

My other crazy idea is to carve out the checkering and inlay a nice grippy rubber. I'm planning on doing this to my .22 for fun, since my recently acquired Savage 110 has really nice checkering, I'd rather just clean it up and re-define it with an X-acto knife.

Post pics if you've done it, or saw it somewhere in passing.

Right now, I'm just trying to figure out what size of rotary bit would work well in my Dremel-esque :p
 
Haven't done it myself. Don't have the patience. However, stippling works as well as checkering. No special tools required either. A nail will do. As daft as that sounds.
"...in my Dremel-esque..." None. Too easy to drift out of the checkering and make a huge mess. And checkering isn't round. X-acto knives aren't much better.
Buy the right tools if you want to play with checkering. Brownell's sells 'em. $89.99US for a Camp Perry set. You do need to know the lines per inch though. Not a big deal. Put a ruler on the checkering and count.
 
I have made several attempts at checkering with varying degrees of failure.

A couple of months ago I tried stippling on a Boyd's laminate stock. I had read about it for years and finally decided to give it a try. Used a short piece of 5/16" dia steel rod, filed one end so the cross-section was like a slice of pie, then used a triangular file to cut "checkering" in the end. The technique is to hold the end of the tool about 1/16" off the work and make a rapid series of hammer taps, moving the tool around constantly. Best to carve an outline first. I used cardboard patterns to get the two sides of the stock symmetrical. You keep up the tapping until you get the effect you want, it takes quite a while. Sorry, unable to post pics.

Hugh
 
Quick (and sometimes dirty) method of doing stipple is to use an electric engraver and let it "dance" in overlapping circles until the area is covered. Another option for large areas is a pneumatic needle scaler - but a monster to operate.
 
I saw stippling on an anschutz 22 target rifle and it looked interesting, I've heard that stippling is better for laminates as they are hard to checker without chipping. Perhaps someone who has tried both will chip in with some first hand experience with both techniques.
 
Trying to checker laminates is an exercise in abuse of tools. The glue is probably 30% of the structure, and it is probably a polymer resin - wears out tools really fast and carbide doesn't help much, just runs the cost up to $200 or more a panel. Several other interesting ways to get a rough surface: Mask off everything you don't want cut and use a sand-blaster - delicately!!! or again masking off areas lightly run it against a wire wheel. Depending on the wood, you get some interesting patterns turning up.
 
Stippling

I did something simlilar to stippling. I done this to four rifles and it grips like sandpaper. I remove the worn out checkering with a chisel, basically cutting an inlay in the stock. Glue down very fine crush walnut shell with slow setting epoxy (so it can soak into the stock before setting). Once harden, put on two coats of polyurethane. Its been 15 years and it is still stuck on good.

stock.jpg
 
There is another way to stipple as well. It requires a sandblaster wand though.
Outline and area or even use the old checkering. Mask off the area you don't want roughed up and blast away. Makes a very decent finish, that takes a nice finish as well. To bad I lost access to the sand blaster, when the plant I worked at closed down.
I like the walnut shell effect. Looks good and works well. What more can you ask for?
 
I've done both checkering and stippling, and they both work well, and are very attractive if done properly. With the checkering, you will definitely have to invest in some checkering tools, but they aren't too expensive for a basic set to learn with. I have also done two kinds of stippling. The hammer-and-nail technique, which has been covered in past posts, and the dremel method. The Dremel method uses a tiny spherical cutter making random tiny cuts all over the gripping surface. It takes some patience to do it well, but it's very quick to learn. Checkering looks the best if done well, but I have to say that a well-stippled stock looks very nice too. I stipple all of my laminate stocks to prevent chipping problems.

Erik.
 
buoff said:
I did something simlilar to stippling. I done this to four rifles and it grips like sandpaper. I remove the worn out checkering with a chisel, basically cutting an inlay in the stock. Glue down very fine crush walnut shell with slow setting epoxy (so it can soak into the stock before setting). Once harden, put on two coats of polyurethane. Its been 15 years and it is still stuck on good.
Click to expand...

I like the idea too! It will be at the top of the list when i get a "suitable" gun.
 
Brownells also sells stippling punchs , pretty cheap I think. Corner ones and one about 1/4 inch for open areas. My buddy had a high end trap gun with a stippled pattern and it was VERY nice !
 
I can't remember which issue, but not too long ago in the pages of "Rifle" there was a Turnbull Winchester pictured that includes a mix of checkering and stippling.

The rifle features an oak leaf and acorn pattern with the stippling in tight to the carving and the checkering filling out the pattern. Very nice effect.

I'll try to dig up a pic.
 
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