Zebra wood stock. Ready for the range. Final post.

[GaCop]

[quote=Aircraftmech76 ]
Good gravy! That Zebrawood stock in gonna be beautiful!

Kevin
[/quote

+1000!

[pdog06]

very nice work!

[frank1947]

Great! how will you get those burns out , I know from experience that is alot of hand sanding, do you have a faster way, can't wait to see how you do the area for trigger and what you use , wondering Mortiser?

[sparky123321]

Forstner bits, drill press and a wood chisel.

[sparky123321]

I started to cut the butt angles and shape and sand the grip area.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the zebra wood is going to work out. It has warped slightly and may not be usable. I'm a little bummed, but it's all good. I might purchase some more and try doing things a little differently. I'll laminate 2 thicker pieces, making sure to fold it over on itself, and leave it oversized. After 3-6 months I will have it planed and sanded down to 2". I really love the look of the zebra wood, but if it's not going to be stabile enough I might try something else.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1610.jpg

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1609.jpg

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1608.jpg

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1607.jpg

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1605.jpg

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1604.jpg

[Got Diesel]

Damn, that sucks. That thing was going to be beautiful.

[frank1947]

How do you make the angle on the butt ??

[sparky123321]

I used a 10" table saw set at a 10 degree angle. One side is easy because you can push it along the rip fence, butt first, until you get close to the grip area. Then use a hand saw to finish the cut. The other side is a little tougher because you can't push it through, since you don't want to cut the grip portion of the stock and you no longer have the large flat area to run along the rip fence. I clamped a 4-5" strip of plywood to the rip fence to increase the height of the fence and then clamped the stock to the fence/plywood with the blade all the way down. Then you slowly raise the blade to make the cut. If you have 2 people available you can undo the clamp and pull the stock through to complete the cut. If not just lower the blade and move the stock a few inches at a time and repeat the process. It will take 3 or 4 moves to complete the cut. I recommend the clamping and raising the blade method though. I feel it's safer. I suppose I could try angling the blade to 20 degrees and clamping the angled portion directly to the fence.

[frank1947]

Thanks , I really want to try this on some dark walnut

[sparky123321]

I haven't given up on the zebra wood blanks yet. I might be able to straighten them out when I glue and clamp the additional wood to the forearm. No big deal either way. It won't be the first time I've wasted a couple hundred bucks. Now that I've taken the time to make a few templates and jigs and upgraded a few of my powertools I can produce an exact copy of these stocks pretty qiuckly.

[frank1947]

what will the weight be when there done, did the zebra warp from moisture, I have a large drum sander that is great for make wood flat I think better then a planner.

[sparky123321]

Cut the butt angles on the 2nd zebra wood stock today and finished most of the sanding and shaping. They're ready to have the additional wood for the forearms glued on at this time. I'm hoping to finish that later today.

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1615.jpg

[Got Diesel]

Those are gonna look great.

[pdog06]

Those are gonna look great.


+1

[handirifle]

I hope this really works out for ya. I am not a fan of target style stocks, but your work looks very impressive.

I have thought often of making a stock myself, but wasn't sure how to tackle it. Seeing your post gives me ideas. I like the use of the workmate bench.

I used to use zebra wood to make recurve bows, and, yes it is very hard wood, BUT, in my experience, it was also very brittle, when compared to something like walnut. I am not sure how it will hold up to recoil. Hopefully it will not become an issue.

[sparky123321]

Did a little more work yesterday and this morning. The first zebra wood stock is almost done. I still need to open up the barrel/action channel a little bit more and then do final shaping of the tang area. After that I'll drill the hole for the rear action screw, for proper alignment, and bed the action. Then I'll inlet the trigger guard, trigger area, bolt opening and finish the stock.

All I can say is that zebra wood is some tough, tough, tough wood to work with!

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1621.jpg

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1618.jpg

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1623.jpg

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1624.jpg

http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1625.jpg

[frank1947]

FABULOUS! are you going to sell any of theses?

[handirifle]

What bit did you use in your router to make the barrel channel?

[sparky123321]

I used a 1 1/4" round and a 1" flat bottom cleanout to take a little extra out down the center. I knew I was going to have to open it up a little more by hand, so using the 1" flat bottom made it much easier. I didn't cut the first or last 2-3" with the flat bottom. I'll try to post a photo later.

[handirifle]

Do you need to open it more to suit the target barrel, or the action? Have thought of building my own laminated stock for a hunting rifle, and you have solved a lot of the issues that have entered my mind.