I'm in search of someone who can fit my aftermarket walnut butt, fore stock and hand guard to my rifle, it's all semi inletted so it just needs some TLC by a competent wood working guru. Any recommendations on who can do this for me would be much appreciated.
Stock work needed, who's willing?
- Thread starter kevwat
- Start date
My dad's neiche is custom wood stocks. his work is incredable. He has arthritis so id have to ask him, hes not doing as much as he used to. PM if you want me to ask him. I can dig up pics of his work. He probably wont be unreasonably priced for something like that.
your on the island ... you could probably go see him , 3 hour drive on the island for you.
nomad 68
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
There was a gent who used to advertize in the gun runner that made stocks out your way(Kellowna a believe)and his work was excellent.I had a stock made by him from American Black walnut that was just beautiful.He was so fussy that he didn't really like it and only charged me half price.This is going back 20 yrs or more so i'm not even sure he's still living.Robertson may have been his name but i'm not sure.
You folks should know this. The final fitting and finishing is the most expensive part of getting a stock installed properly as well as being pretty.
I have seen some exquisite stock blanks turned into very pretty firewood by ham fisted or more fitting IMPATIENT newbies. I speak from experience. When I first started playing with restocking the rifles that needed to be restocked were usually very worn 22 Cooey models in single shot or the odd repeater with a tube type mag under the barrel.
Good wood was hard to come by for me as were the proper tools. I was twelve at the time. I used quarter sawn old growth Cedar. Yep, Cedar, likely the worst possible choice. It was easily carved and shaped with minimal skill and simple tools. The softness of the wood wasn't as big an issue as first believed because a couple of coats of fiberglass resin applied over a couple of weeks, even in the bedding ways made for a pretty hard surface that stood up to a lot of abuse. There was no flox or matting used but it did the job. I had no idea I was glass bedding. It soon became obvious that the fly in the ointment was the single King screw that was used on all of these rifles so pillars became necessary. The first couple were drilled out dowels made from old chair legs. After that some scrap pieces of aluminum did the job. Not much difference between the two though.
Then came the first Walnut blank for a 98 Mauser. Don Robinson, then in his thirties gave me that piece of wood as it was very plain and had a bit of a warp. He had it sitting around for many years and the warp wasn't going to get any worse. I scraped and sanded that piece of lumber that had been machine shaped on the outside only, no inletting. The inletting on this piece of walnut was a chore I wasn't prepared for. To say it was "HARD" would be a severe understatement. The outside of the stock, which seemed to be a lot of work and was, made the inletting seem extremely difficult. I didn't have any power tools so a hand drill with a 1/4in bit took out most of the mag well and trigger well. It also was used to position the trigger guard screw holes. Every thing had to be done with hammer, chisel, sandpaper, hand scrapers, hand chisels, rat tail files and dowels wrapped with sand paper. To my discredit and due to inexperience as well as the impatience of youth, I did a job on that inletting that a starving rat could have made a better job of.
OP, you will need a skilled craftsperson to do your stock job and you will also have to send the rifle to be fitted to the maker. If this isn't acceptable, also consider the hours of labor needed to fit/finish/checker the stock. I don't do them anymore. No money to be made in it even when you charge by the hour. Different story when a 90% inletted stock is provided but even then the real work has just begun.
Depending on how fussy you are, check out Boyd's for their fully inletted and finished offerings. No, they aren't one of the fine pieces Markin and Weber turn out but they are about one tenth the cost. It's amazing what a good glass bedding job will fix.
I have seen some exquisite stock blanks turned into very pretty firewood by ham fisted or more fitting IMPATIENT newbies. I speak from experience. When I first started playing with restocking the rifles that needed to be restocked were usually very worn 22 Cooey models in single shot or the odd repeater with a tube type mag under the barrel.
Good wood was hard to come by for me as were the proper tools. I was twelve at the time. I used quarter sawn old growth Cedar. Yep, Cedar, likely the worst possible choice. It was easily carved and shaped with minimal skill and simple tools. The softness of the wood wasn't as big an issue as first believed because a couple of coats of fiberglass resin applied over a couple of weeks, even in the bedding ways made for a pretty hard surface that stood up to a lot of abuse. There was no flox or matting used but it did the job. I had no idea I was glass bedding. It soon became obvious that the fly in the ointment was the single King screw that was used on all of these rifles so pillars became necessary. The first couple were drilled out dowels made from old chair legs. After that some scrap pieces of aluminum did the job. Not much difference between the two though.
Then came the first Walnut blank for a 98 Mauser. Don Robinson, then in his thirties gave me that piece of wood as it was very plain and had a bit of a warp. He had it sitting around for many years and the warp wasn't going to get any worse. I scraped and sanded that piece of lumber that had been machine shaped on the outside only, no inletting. The inletting on this piece of walnut was a chore I wasn't prepared for. To say it was "HARD" would be a severe understatement. The outside of the stock, which seemed to be a lot of work and was, made the inletting seem extremely difficult. I didn't have any power tools so a hand drill with a 1/4in bit took out most of the mag well and trigger well. It also was used to position the trigger guard screw holes. Every thing had to be done with hammer, chisel, sandpaper, hand scrapers, hand chisels, rat tail files and dowels wrapped with sand paper. To my discredit and due to inexperience as well as the impatience of youth, I did a job on that inletting that a starving rat could have made a better job of.
OP, you will need a skilled craftsperson to do your stock job and you will also have to send the rifle to be fitted to the maker. If this isn't acceptable, also consider the hours of labor needed to fit/finish/checker the stock. I don't do them anymore. No money to be made in it even when you charge by the hour. Different story when a 90% inletted stock is provided but even then the real work has just begun.
Depending on how fussy you are, check out Boyd's for their fully inletted and finished offerings. No, they aren't one of the fine pieces Markin and Weber turn out but they are about one tenth the cost. It's amazing what a good glass bedding job will fix.
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