No going back now…lol
No going back now…lol
You have lots of new tricks LDSILLS.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is alive and well.
Nice work. I might be doing the same kind of work to one of my other stocks once I get new rings for it.
May 25, 2024 UPDATE
5 weeks post back surgery. 77 degrees, low humidity today, so I grabbed a chair and the old adjustable work bench. Opened the garage to appreciate a the breeze flowing through and started to inlet the the AtlasWorx Cheek Riser. Didn't turn out too bad, yep I was a tad off course a couple of times with the palm router but hey nothing I can't clean up during the next step which is paint or maybe a wood finish have not decided. Nothing is fastened yet until paint is done. Which will be my next post!
Heres the pictures... from laying out the inlet, to showing you the router and so on and so forth.
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Oh yeah a first for me. I have been burnt from weld splatter and grinding metal. I have never been burnt from chips flying when routing before. Do not know what on out of this world laminate they use or epoxy but it cut hot. I even stepped the inlet depths to avoid a hot router bit as I have had issues with laminate before, but never to this extreme. Three times I had embers fly out, and trust me I was cutting slower then a garden slug crawling upwards on a steeple.
One got my shirt!
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Love this. Keep posting? Any more pictures?
Honestly, I'm chicken to try this.
Keep checking back...
A-Ill be prepping for stock finish next. That will include fixing the laminate crack near the pillar.
B-Finish work. Which will be either paint or wood finish
C-Then bedding the action.
D- then barrel work
1-finding absolute place where bullet touches the lands which will be my permanent baseline for this barrel
2-setting head space and torquing barrel nuts
Still have quite a bit of work.
So what did you use to cut the riser out of the stock? Band saw? coping saw? scroll saw? Use a jig to position it?
UPDATE May 27, 2024
Super nice weather temp 72 low humidity gusty wind. Lousy day for the range but a great day to sand and stain a stock! There are 10 million ways to take finish off wood. For gun stocks I prefer hand sanding. That way I have no issues with any contaminants entering the wood from lets say a chemical wood stripper.
It may sound extreme but I "start" taking the finish off with 80 grit. I use 60 grit to also on cut areas and on inlays. Its takes a while figure 2 hours of elco grease but I find it relaxing especially when you can do it out of doors on a great whether day.
I do have a trick. I never use a block of wood with paper on it. I know Harry Potterfield does in his videos but not me. Instead I use a rubber sanding block. It allows me to vary pressure which is important at times when sanding rounded area like the stock ankle and you want the sandpaper to remain taught for even work. The rubber also rounds sharp edges with very nice uniformity when required. Now mine is close to 90 years old and is a hand me down. In fact on each end it has three nails embedded into the rubber to hold the sandpaper. Below is a photo of what I mean by flexibility of the rubber all while keeping the paper taught.
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Heres what you get a nice dry very ruff surface. Ready for some 150 grit to take out the small scrape marks left by the 60 and 80.
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Then it was time to go to 150 grit and clean up the scratches from the 60 and 80 grit. Some advise if you do this without the sun get a bright light and take your time to see and remove the tiny scratches. Trust me good magnification glasses are definitely required as the will show later. Sanding with the 150 is faster only takes about ~1/2 hour sand, inspect sand. On flat parts use more pressure and use long movents with the block. Heres the results ready for primer if you painting or stain if you go traditional.
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I chose a traditional finish in what else...GUNSTOCK color! I applied the stain with a foam brush and really worked it in. After an hour of soak I used a clean shop rag to wipe off the residual oils and take away the sawdust that floats to the top from the cracks. Ill let it dry overnight. Next step applying black to the forearm end piece and also inside the meeting surfaces of the cheek riser. Afterwards Ill sand with 220 and start applying clear coat with sanding between coats. Heres the results of the stain.
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Update May 28th, 2024
Mimmmmmm been 24 hours and the stain is dry, but the color is far from Gunstock (AKA walnut brown) Its more orange. Well I am going through with the clear! If I really don't like it. I guess its plan B. Plan B is to paint it some sort of candy apple or metal flake similar to Rockets wife's gun, but not blue thats all.
Maybe a coat of a darker stain?
That looks like Gunstock stain to me.
Just not the Gunstock you expected.
Maybe 400 grit then a darker stain.
and
what's wrong with BLUE?
:)
If it is what shows up in the pic above then I like it. Maybe not the darker brown of some walnut, but, it is a pretty color.
I LIKE THE BLUE! However, I don't want to copy it unless here shooting success comes with it!
Okay heres the plan, and its was brought on by Mom Nature at my grape jelly bird feeder yesterday. I have 2 pairs of Baltimore Orioles religiously arriving each day and the males colors gave me a thought. Why night trim the stock in gloss black...that means re-coating the forearm end, spraying the stock to comb riser piece mating surfaces, and all inlets from the safety tang to the forearm.
Makes sense as the forearm end is the head and the trim is the wings! Gotta love Mom Nature to put colors together!
You could add brown dye to the clear finish.
"As long as there's lead in the air....there's still hope.."
If you lightly sand the as-stained finish to expose the grain, then apply a darker stain, maybe in a fade from the ends.
Sort of like fade on a guitar top.
Adding color to the clear coat might hide the grain and look blah.
Last edited by LDSILLS; 05-31-2024 at 04:12 PM. Reason: I called Rocket Racket!!!
Lint free cloth, and it went on smooth.
I wet sanded after done with 2000grit paper and buffed the final coat.
For finishing use a dummy piece to test.
The wipe on poly works well. You can just get the regular stuff and cut it with thinner to do the same thing. The key is thin coats. If you want a gloss finish I was taught to use cotton tshirt material and quite a bit of pressure to wipe on successive coats.
I haven't done anything like that in decades. These days I just use the satin spray on stuff and finish sand it. I will wipe on the first coat using thinned varnish. Just to get it to soak in a bit more, like a sealer coat. After that I spray and sand maybe two more coats.
The alternative is an oil finish. That's another ball game but the results can be worth it.
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