doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Fisrt Restocking Project

Start with a semi inletted stock. Easy to send your to have it turned. The time saving will be major and it will get you started in the right direction. Your gun is not the worst one to start with but is is much harder than most. A semi inletted stock will eliminate most of the layout problems and give you a decent chance of success.

Go slow, use only extremely sharp tools, never work when you are tired, make your blank easy to work on by using a vise to hold it while working, use good light to see what you are doing. Dull tools cut poorly and tend to get away from you. Go slow as you get only one chance to remove wood and if you take too much your will never stop looking at the flaw. Never work when you are tired because that is when you screw up the worst. Find a firm and safe way to hold your wood so you can control your cuts. It is impossible to do a decent job any other way. If you want to try inletting the scolloped areas try a scrap wood block first. See how hard it is to get all those areas to come to geather well and learn how to mark the metal and read the marks on the wood.

I believe everyone should make their first few stocks from the blank so they can truly understand what is going on and to appreciate the art.

I also overwhelmingly prefer English walnut. Yes, you can get great working Claro and rough working English, but the odds are overwhelmingly that the scenario will be the opposite.

Also, I think if you work on a more expensive blank you take more time and think through each cut before you make it, leading to an even better understanding of what exactly is going on.

Of course all of this is just my opinion and just food for thought. The main thing is that I applaud you for taking the plunge and hope it sparks a fire in you that never goes out! Please see the project through to the end and do not hessitate to ask questions if you get stuck.

Wow! I really appreciate all of your outstanding ideas.I have autocad to make the template. The Merkel is not a through bolt.I'm looking for the book.I can't wait for the wood to get here. We even have a techno easil at work. I thought about using that to cut the scallops.I will definetly try on some trash first and will be asking some questions.
Thanks again

I think you are on the right track. Good luck and post pictures of your progress.

You should be warned that the butt stock is the easy part of the stock to fit. A fore end will take much longer. The surface area that has to fit precisely on the fore end is many times greater than the stock interface at the rear of the reciever. So if you intend to do both beware. Much easier to try to match a new butt stock with the same type of walnut and forgo the front end. But if you are mixing two different types of walnut you will not be happy to leave one black and one white if you know what I mean.

My first stock from a blank was about 30 yrs in the making! I had a couple of blanks I picked up in the 70's, and started to make one for a Rem 1900 I have. Didn't read anything, just started rasping away. The inletting was done just as ignorantly as the shaping. I totally ruined the blank! I started on the second blank, but lost interest, probably due to my frustration with the first experience.

I became interested in the project again about 8-9 yrs ago. This time I read what I could find, and took my time with the project.
I used sharp tools, and when I got tired I put the blank up for the day. The lesson I learned is the same as the advice given in the previous posts. Heed the advice given by this knowledgable group and you should do fine.