doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stock Bending methods?

Thanks for the pictures sliver. I hate to bother you but do you have any close ups of the clamps for moving the stock. I like how you incorperated the clear grid on the back to see the changes.

This is the only one I have for now.
THe clamps are leg extensions for furniture.

JayCee,

Now I got it. The aluminum foil is to protect the exposed area of the stock other than the wrist from the heat lamps so as not to affect the finish. Thanks for sharing the sets of directions.

This is a fascinating collection of ideas. Slivers use of adjustable furniture legs simplifies the set up for non metal workers. The incorporation of a bench vise for bending doubles without the barrels on should work fine. I don't quite understand the use of the furniture clamps. What type and how they are used.

My one experience with bending an LC stock with a good friend was succesful. We bent by hand and then used the clamps to hold it in place. We did not try to crank the stock with the clamps which were similar to Slivers except they were made by a metal person and were more permanent. We did experience about 50% springback which took several days to show up. We heated hot Canola oil and poured it over a wrapped rag and collected it and did it again and again. It took about an hour. It seemed dangerous to me. Next time it will be with heat lamps.

JayCee's second sharing seems like a pretty good idea if you do it outdoors. One of those electic frying pans with the plug in thermostat/plug seems ideal and should be available used. It could be placed under the stock to collect the used oil while you ladel more on the wrist.

Sliver,

Thanks for all the great information and the pictures. Its good to know that I am not the only one seeing "movement of wood around the metal, although minute most of the time."

My jig looks very similar to your jig, only I do not have the fancy plexiglass grid --very nice touch!!!! I also do not clamp the barrels (I was told not to), but I see that you guys are doing that. Why? Is there pressure on the barrels when you start bending?

One other thing I do is wrap the butt of the gun in masking tap to prevent the clamps from scratching the wood. I use a tin pan to collect excess oil and pre-heat the oil before I apply it. I also heat the wood slowly just as you described.

In general, here is my problem: it bugs me that the wood sometimes pulls away from the metal! I would love to know if the professionals encounter this problem also. I can't imagine sending off a high dollar gun to have the stock bent and getting it back with however slight gaps in the metal to wood fit.

Finally, high end guns will also have a bit of camber built into a gun with cast. Can you twist a stock to adjust for camber? If not, changing the cast will help shooter like me, but the camber on that stock will still be wrong.

David,
When I had my side by side bent this summer, it looked to me like he opened the through bolt hole slightly. My stock does not look as though the wood pulled away. I think for through bolts this might have to be doneif they seperate. It was not opened significantly, just honed out a little. I would think clamping the barrels would not hurt them as long as only firm pressure, not significant pressure is applied by the wood clamp. If done right there is probably less chance of banging up the joint area of the gun.
Slivers, I am very thankful for the picture.
Do any of you know any good books on the subject of bending? I have looked but not found one yet.

wburns,

Thanks for the information. What kind of SxS was it and what kind of bends are we talking about?

I clamp the barrels at the tip only lightly to allow good initial measurement of the stock dimensions. I don't rely on the barrel clamping to hold the gun in place. It is the action clamping that should be solid.
I use blocks of soft wood to clamp the action and good padding on the stock so there is no damage when pushed aside. Once the wood is hot, it does not take that much pressure to move it.

I clamp the barrels. It seems to me the gun should be held in place and this takes more than just clamping the action. With the clamps in two places, it won't move when pressure is put on the butt end of the stock. I've only done around 25 guns, but have never used foil. I remove the trigger guard if there's no through bolt and make sure the screw bolt from the trigger plate to the top tang is TIGHT. Also the bolt going down from the top tang is TIGHT. If there's a through bolt make sure it's TIGHT. These are what keeps the stock tight against the receiver. Then a oily rag is tied tight against the wrist. I don't use foil and have never yet hurt a finish [ knock on wood ]. I let it heat about an hour and start bending. If it doesn't bend easy I give it another half hour. If a 1/2" is wanted, I go 3/4"- it usually springs back half way. All but two or three have sprung back. On a 1894 Remington it would bend but go right back to where it started. Tried it three different times- no luck. Sold that gun. I shoot old SxS's and like 3 1/4" DAH. All 10 guns are bent to the same diamentions. I've bent five or six through bolt modern O/U's for friends - all of them have sprung back about half way. Different woods react differently. Good luck- it's fun to put em where you want. Paul

David,
I had my CZ Bobwhite bent. It is my field gun I use that I don't care if it gets scratched up unlike my sterlingworth or Remington side by sides. I had a 1/4 of cast off, and the pitch changed.
As for camber, I saw one in the above post showing the various jigs where they were twisting the stock to take the camber out of a stock.
I see no reason it could not be done. My dad and I sometimes bend wood in several directions when building horse drawn buggies. The amount of twist would be pretty minimal I would think.

Have been thinking about trying to bend a straight-gripped stock with a long trigger bow. How do you accomplish the bending of the trigger guard?