My dad's 80ieth birthday is coming up in a year and a half, and for his birthday present, I am restocking his first bolt action deer rifle (a post 64 Model 70) in a nice French walnut stock that I got off of ebay.

I've got a steel Model 70 buttplate fitted to the stock and a steel grip cap. My next step is to put an ebony forend tip on it. But I have some questions about the order in which to do things. I want to fit a stock shield to it and also a set of Dakota sling swivels. And I also want to pillar bed the stock and I may need some acraglass in the receiver area.

My questions are the following, what is the best order to do things? I figure I need to get all the rough sanding down to the contour of the stock comes close to matching the buttplate before inletting for the sling swivels and stock shield. Is this correct? Also, should one pillar bed and add any acraglass before applying a stock finish or after?