Checkering a gunstock is not like riding a bicycle! ARRRG.

[ken erickson]

That’s great! I hope you two get two wall hangers on the same day. Good luck with it this season.!

Thanks! But I must admit I am getting sentimental in my old age also! If neither one of us pulls a trigger it is going to be a great memory and successful season for me! Now sure if my friend feels the same way, lol, but suspect he does.

 

[mcmxi]

Very nice @ken erickson .

You might get a kick out of this. Kimber used to own a small facility in Costa Rica where all of the fiberglass stocks were made, and where much of the wood stock checkering and finishing was completed. It was a crazy business model, but amazing pieces of AAA French walnut were cut into a near net form in Yonkers using a CNC process. Aluminum pillars were added, ebony forend tips were added to some models, and all the inletting was completed and then the stocks were shipped to Costa Rica.

Any stock with wrap around checkering on the forend were entirely checkered by hand e.g. the Super America stocks. Stocks that didn't have wrap around checkering on the forends had the pistol grips hand checkered but the forends were left untouched. All the hand sanding and oiling was done in Costa Rica which was a fixed cost facility at around $625k/year regardless of how much work was being done there.

When the stocks came back to Yonkers, any stock that didn't have wrap around checkering on the forend was machine checkered by an unskilled worker. You wouldn't believe the number of stunning pieces of walnut that were tossed into a scrap bin because the lazy morons running the checkering machine couldn't be bothered to get it set up correctly. Some employee took those stocks home on a regular basis and burned them for heat! All of that work and cost thrown in a scrap bin. It was hard to wrap my head around that to be honest.

I thought you might find this interesting. I appreciate the beauty of a nice wood stock but only have one really nice example which is a Kimber K22 Classic but with a Super America stock. I have two Lee-Enfield Mk4 No2 rifles (one unfired) and three Marlin JM stamped lever actions, but most of my rifles have either the chassis, cabon fiber or injection molded types of stocks.

I really should have bought a Caprivi in .458 Lott when I worked for Kimber, but they were hard to come by, even for employees.

Here's the K22 with hand checkering. I think your work is as good as this which was done by someone who did it all day, every day.

 

[ken erickson]

Very nice @ken erickson .

You might get a kick out of this. Kimber used to own a small facility in Costa Rica where all of the fiberglass stocks were made, and where much of the wood stock checkering and finishing was completed. It was a crazy business model, but amazing pieces of AAA French walnut were cut into a near net form in Yonkers using a CNC process. Aluminum pillars were added, ebony forend tips were added to some models, and all the inletting was completed and then the stocks were shipped to Costa Rica.

Any stock with wrap around checkering on the forend were entirely checkered by hand e.g. the Super America stocks. Stocks that didn't have wrap around checkering on the forends had the pistol grips hand checkered but the forends were left untouched. All the hand sanding and oiling was done in Costa Rica which was a fixed cost facility at around $625k/year regardless of how much work was being done there.

When the stocks came back to Yonkers, any stock that didn't have wrap around checkering on the forend was machine checkered by an unskilled worker. You wouldn't believe the number of stunning pieces of walnut that were tossed into a scrap bin because the lazy morons running the checkering machine couldn't be bothered to get it set up correctly. Some employee took those stocks home on a regular basis and burned them for heat! All of that work and cost thrown in a scrap bin. It was hard to wrap my head around that to be honest.

I thought you might find this interesting. I appreciate the beauty of a nice wood stock but only have one really nice example which is a Kimber K22 Classic but with a Super America stock. I have two Lee-Enfield Mk4 No2 rifles (one unfired) and three Marlin JM stamped lever actions, but most of my rifles have either the chassis, cabon fiber or injection molded types of stocks.

I really should have bought a Caprivi in .458 Lott when I worked for Kimber, but they were hard to come by, even for employees.

Here's the K22 with hand checkering. I think your work is as good as this which was done by someone who did it all day, every day.

View attachment 135294

View attachment 135295

View attachment 135296

Thanks for the Kimber information and pictures!

The wood waste story is fascinating for sure. It brings to mind the whole Browning "salt wood" disaster. How many great pieces of wood ended up in the waste bin due to some crazy wood drying method. My gunshop/range/gunsmithing shop was located first in Arnold Mo, then moved a few miles down the road to Imperial Mo. As I am sure you know, due to your work experience for Gun companies Browning has their national repair facility in Arnold. I was a vendor for a while reworking Supers and did some recall work on BAR's for the cold weather modification. Anyways, a Browning insider told me at one point the salt wood issue came close to breaking the Browning Corp. How true that was I have no idea.

Checkering on my 243 is done and ok satisfied with my job. No doubt the last 22 or so years since my last checkering job took a toll!

After I get the metal work done and final assembly I will take some better pictures and post them up.

Last picture till then. Thanks everyone for the very kind comments, they did not go unnoticed and appreciate them all.

 

[ken erickson]

I thought some might find this a bit interesting.

When I reworked/thinned this stock down I removed my original rosewood grip cap and used a Jerry Fisher steel grip cap. As is the norm with good quality/handmade firearms the attaching screws are often "clocked" to align the screw slots.

This screw was off by a 1/4 turn, 24 TPI screw , so I know I needed to remove about .010 from the shoulder of the screw head to get that extra 1/4 turn. I say "about" because there is always some wood compression in the threads etc when running a screw like this in and out durning the fitting up process. I keep the screw slot perhaps a degree or two from being perfectly inline with the bore to account for any further compression or wood shrinkage.

I could have counterbored the grip cap that extra .010 but it was just as easy to put my Unimat on the bench and cut the shoulder of the screw.

 

[mcmxi]

Yet on

This screw was off by a 1/4 turn, 24 TPI screw , so I know I needed to remove about .010 from the shoulder of the screw head to get that extra 1/4 turn. I say "about" because there is always some wood compression in the threads etc when running a screw like this in and out durning the fitting up process.

Then there's the tolerance on the threads too. .010" assumes that the 24 TPI screw is exactly that, which it probably isn't.

Regardless, this is great work and one more example of the difference between production rifles and custom rifles.

 

[johnjk]

Wow. Incredible detail. Well done!

 

[ken erickson]

And after the screw head is contoured flush with the grip cap something like this should be the result.

I must say, this stock project has me wanting to built a rifle on something like a Sako L46 short action and nice piece of English walnut. LOL,

 

[Lil Foot]

When I was young, (8 or 9 ?) my dad sporterized a 1903 Springfield.
He spent about a year in the basement carving & inletting the stock from a block of cherry, with only hand tools. (with me sitting quietly watching the entire process, except for a question now & then)
When it came to the butt plate & grip cap, he bought a nice black plastic set, but he then made a 1/32" shim from aluminum and another from 1/32" white plastic to put under them.
They were slot aligned and fitted perfectly.
It was a small touch, but I distinctly remember it looked so good with the polished aluminum against the glossy cherry wood, then the white plastic, then the black caps.
He also shortened & crowned the barrel, drilled & tapped for scope, re-blued it, and jeweled the bolt.
There was also some checkering, but I don't remember the details.
That '03 was willed to me, but one of my (idiot) brothers got a hold of it and probably sold it at a garage sale for $5.
Wish I at least had a pic.

EDIT: I neglected to mention the matching fore end cap, same treatment.

 

[ken erickson]

When I was young, (8 or 9 ?) my dad sporterized a 1903 Springfield.
He spent about a year in the basement carving & inletting the stock from a block of cherry, with only hand tools. (with me sitting quietly watching the entire process, except for a question now & then)
When it came to the butt plate & grip cap, he bought a nice black plastic set, but he then made a 1/32" shim from aluminum and another from 1/32" white plastic to put under them.
They were slot aligned and fitted perfectly.
It was a small touch, but I distinctly remember it looked so good with the polished aluminum against the glossy cherry wood, then the white plastic, then the black caps.
He also shortened & crowned the barrel, drilled & tapped for scope, re-blued it, and jeweled the bolt.
There was also some checkering, but I don't remember the details.
That '03 was willed to me, but one of my (idiot) brothers got a hold of it and probably sold it at a garage sale for $5.
Wish I at least had a pic.

Great memories with your dad! Thank you for sharing, it is these types of memories that last a lifetime. The Springfield 1903's can make great sporterized rifles and sounds like your dad's was one of those.

 

[ken erickson]

Well,
It is as ready as I am going to have it before taking it to my range and sighting it in.

It is going to be interesting how well the "can in a can" Duracote semigloss black finish holds up. Unfortunately there is no one in my area that salt blues anymore and its been 23 years since selling my hot tanks. If this does not hold up , after the deer season I will disassemble , strip the duracote off and send it down to a gunsmith friend of mine in MO that blues on a regular basis. My own fault for not getting on this project sooner.

I am actually really happy with the finish as it stand, as long as it holds up under normal use. The semigloss goes very well with the matte finish Leopold rings/bases and 2 x 7 Leopold scope.

 

[fried1765]

I admire your talent ! My great grandfather was a well respected gunsmith here in Hamilton. Sadly al his tools are long gone, Chief of Police got a few of his HANDMADE guns though I got his last piece ,made in 1941.

Always amazed at silversmith's artwork on belt buckles too..yeesh, one slip or sneeze....arrgh....
patience , you gotta have a LOT of patience !

I have great appreciation for wood carving!
My dad was born in Germany, and was a journeyman wood carver, when he emigrated to the USA.
He was on the team that did the organ case carving in St. Patrick's Cathedral, in NYC.
I have several of his personal pieces.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

That’s a beaut! Great job. Good call on the gold ring too!