Shaping Stock

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Shaping The Stock:

With the buttplate on, I positioned the trigger guard where it will be located. Then I made marks on either side of the trigger guard (1/16" on either side). With a ruler, I drew lines from these marks to the outside bottom sides of the buttplate. This draws out my toeplate width and the bottom of the stock.

Next I divided up the side of the stock into three quadrants. Using a drawknife, I removed wood to these lines.

Using a wood file, I the rounded the top two edges down to the buttplate level.

Next step is to draw out the cheekpiece. Note; on this gun, we are trying for a 16" pull, so the cheekpiece will be slightly off set. Used the Golden Means to determine the back edge of the cheekpiece. In this case we ended up with a cheekpiece that was 4-1/2" long.

Here is the roughed out cheek piece.

Here you can see the stock was taken down to the width of the buttplate and the comb is still in a roughened state yet.

I decided to take the width of the wrist down to the same width as the forearm. I measured the width and divided this measurement across the center line of the wrist and removed wood up to these lines. This gave it better proportions and brought me closer to the end of the comb on the stock. At this point, I can tell how much of the wrist stock will be blending into the butt stock. Here are couple photos showing what I did.

When we get the lock, the lock panels will be taken down to proper depth, the lock panels will be shaped and then the wrist.

At that point the wrist and front of the comb will be married together. The cheekpiece is still a little thick yet, too. With the lock panel and side plate panels shaped, now I can work on the wrist area again.

I divided the top and sides of the wrist into five sections each.

Then I used a wood rasp by filing and rolling the file toward the next line inward. I started with the outside lines and worked toward the center, doing only one section at a time.

For the cheek, I wanted to dish out the stock above the cheek. also I wanted the cheek to blend in with the wrist and the remainder of the stock. This is still in the rough, but wanted to give you a general idea..

Here is a more recent photo of the wrist and the cheek.

Now I want to flatten the stock side opposite of the cheek so I can lay out the other side of the comb. To do this, I take a steel ruler and sit it on the stock to see it there is a gap. In this case, I can see a high spot in the center of the stock and a gap by the buttplate.

Then I take the same ruler and rub the edge with a black wax pencil.

Next I take the ruler and place the edge of the ruler with the black wax edge down and rub the steel back and forth across the stock. This leaves me a mark pointing out the high spots on the stock. Using my bastard file, I then file these marks away and continue the process until I have a even mark from the buttplate to the wrist area.

With the side of the stock now even, I take a piece of notebook paper and lay it on the cheek side of the stock and define the top of the comb and push the paper flat down to locate the bottom of the stock. Using the pencil, I rub a #2 pencil on the paper. This leaves a nice mark. Then I continue by rubbing the cheek edge up to to the comb area.

Using my universal rubbing tool (Popsicle stick) I flip the stock over; reverse the paper with the pencil marks down. Locate the top front edge of the comb and the belly of the stock. Grasp the tool and using the edge of the tool I rub the paper along the lines. This will transfer the graphite from the pencil directly to the stock. Remove the paper and redefine the the lines again, using your pencil.

Once this has been done, using files carefully remove wood along the bottom edge of the line to allow the wrist to stand out, yet still keep it's definition with the flow of the wrist. What you are really trying to do at this point is define the front of the comb and not so much the line passing down the side of the stock.

Now you can use your round files and carefully shape the front of the comb itself.

I now want to add the trigger guard, but can not until I shape the forearm area where the guard will rest. To do this I divide the three sides of the forearm into 5ths. I do this with a metric ruler. This works well for me because I can divide areas up much easier.

I do this to all three sides of the forearm.

With the lines defined on all three sides, I take my #49 bastard file and create a chamfered edge from one line down to one line in from the side. This is done along the entire edge, except near the lock or side plate panel. In these areas I gently roll the edge.

Here you can see both sides chamfered.

Now you can start filing and rolling toward the center lines similar to how the wrist above was shaped.

Then I divided the belly into 7 segments and repeated the process.

This is how one side looked after rounding one side.

With both sides finished, now I will work on the inletting work for the Trigger Guard.

After you have done the belly, work on the sides, but along the barrel you will want to remove the barrel so as not to scratch it with the file. Note, you want to keep at least 1/16" of an edge along the barrel for now. Once this is done, then the three sides are divided into 7ths and repeat the process again. With the bottom of the forearm rounded, I'll install the trigger guard. See Trigger Guard for more information.

Having just finished installed the patchbox lid into the butt, I will divide out the forearm width into 3 segments. Then I will file off along the bottom along the ramrod channel on both sides.

Now I will divide the width into 5ths. I use a clamp sometimes to help me hold the ruler on one end so I can draw my liners easier.

Here is the stock with the lines drawn on the sides.

Once I have the lines marked out, I use a small bastard file and will file from the top inward toward the line. I roll the file so as to push the wood toward the line until the line disappears. I continue doing this one line at a time along the length of the stock, then proceed onto the next line till I am in the middle. Then I reversed and repeat the process from the bottom. When all I have left is the middle section, I continue to roll the file over the middle section to blend it in. Next I divide the stock into 7ths and repeat the process again. Once each side is done, examine the stock to see if the sides are an even thickness.

This is how it looks. I wanted to have a pumpkin roundness to the sides, which will blend into the sides of the middle forearm when I shape this section.

On the main forearm section I divided the sides of the forearm into 5ths and then 7ths. Each time using my file I rounded over each line. This was done to all three sides similar to what was done in the aforementioned sections above. When I finished, the sides were rounded nicely.

With this done, I decided to put incised lines on either side of the ramrod channel. The lines were eyeballed to be 3/5 down the side of the forearm and the lines were parallel to the ramrod channel. Could not make the lines parallel to the upper edge of the stock due to the barrel being swamped. This would of given uneven lines on either side of the channel. With a sharp knife, I cut three passes along the lines. In the area near the rear ramrod thimble I followed the contour of this area to allow for a tapering effect which matched the tapering done on the comb area of the butt of the stock. You will see what I mean later in the photos below.

Once the lines were cut, I used a chisel to cut into the line from above the line down into the cut. This was done for the entire length of the cut to remove the wood.

When finished you now have a defined edge above the line.

Using a flat riffler file I smoothed this area above the line to take out any chisel marks and rounded the upper portion to blend into the stock.

Measuring down 3" from the muzzle make a mark. This will be where the end of the ram rod channel will end. The sides of the ram rod channel are taken down to the depth of the channel all the way to the muzzle.

Although the photo indicates a 1-1/2" nose cap, I changed my mind and the cap will be 1-5/16" long. This ended up looking more in portion to the rifle. At this point I used several grades of sand paper to smooth the wood surface along the incised lines and the stock.

Here is an idea what the rear thimble area looks like.

Here are few of photos of the rifle in it's current state.

Came back and decided to put an incised line along the bottom of the butt stock leading up to the trigger guard. By doing so, this will make the butt look narrower and and flows with the incise line running down the forearm along the ramrod channel.

I made a mark 5/16" up from the bottom of the toe plate and another mark 1/4" from the bottom of the stock at the trigger guard.

Then I drew a straight line from mark to mark on both sides of the stock. Next I connected both lines across the stock under the trigger guard to mate the two line together. Using my knife, I cut into the stock along this line and made about 3-4 passes with the knife. Then using my 5/16" chisel, I cut down ward with the knife to the line about 3/6" above the line.

Then I came back and shaved the wood up to 3/8" above the line to smooth the transition of the stock to the line.

I then repeated this on the other side. Use sandpaper to smooth the stock and basically erase any chisel marks or high spots.

At the buttplate, use a triangular file to file the notch in the plate to match up with the incise line and this causes the lower molding to stand out more.

When finished, the molding blends in nicely when you finish going across the stock at the trigger guard to mate up the two sides.

I'll add a line across the cheekpiece parallel to this line later.

Here is a closer photo of the trigger guard area.