Originally Posted by
Mozella
I say minus 100 for the flapper wheel. Here's why.
In spite of having to remove a significant amount of wood, a hand held tool like a flapper wheel on a drill motor is NOT a good idea. I'm a very experienced wood worker and I own several variations on the flapper wheel concept. And, I know how, and more importantly, when to use these tools.
When I built my last three rifles and needed more clearance on these Boyd's stocks, I used a dowel and coarse sandpaper. The fact that the OP asked the question in the first place, hints at him possibly NOT being an experienced wood worker; otherwise, he would have reached for an appropriate sized dowel rather than the keyboard.
If you start with 36 grit, high quality sand paper and work down to 100 grit you'll get the job done quickly enough and it will be accurate. You want a small but very even amount of clearance between the barrel and the stock. Remember, your eyeball can't tell the difference between, for example, a 6.000" gap and a 6.010" gap but it can very easily see the difference between a .005 and .015" gap even though both examples have a difference of ten thou.
In other words, slight variations in small gaps stick out like a sort thumb. Flapper wheels don't offer enough control for this job.
Don't forget, you need clearance on the underside of the barrel but also on the sides too and it's the side clearance that will be obvious to your eye and the eye of your fellow shooters. You don't want them thinking: "**** Daniel..... what wood butcher fitted that stock?"
If you want speed, a chainsaw is much faster than a flapper wheel. If you want a nice finished product, use a dowel and some good sandpaper. The job is neither difficult nor time consuming, so why not do it correctly?
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