Ok, I'm back. Some explanation of the construction of both the head and tail stock are in order. I'll take the head stock first, mine is of the same laminate as the rail or main beam and is 5 1/2" long. I drilled a 5/16" hole in the center (bottom?) of the head stock and made it about 3" deep. I used a 5" x 3/8" lag bolt with a couple of flat washers between the bolt head and the rail to attach the head stock to the rail. I also drilled a 1/2" hole in the long spacer in the rail a couple of inches from the end so I could locate the head stock.
My head stock fixture to hold the front of a stock is made as follows. I cut a 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 3/4" piece for the bottom and used 4 pieces of thin oak to make the sides to a 2 3/4" depth in total (your results may vary) then I drilled 5/16" hole in the center of the bottom piece (if you look at the photos you'll understand). I recessed hole in the bottom so that I could insert a 1/4" x 4" threaded bolt with a washer and the top of the bolt would be lower that the surrounding wood. That would keep the head of the stock from being damaged (I also inserted a piece of thick leather over the bolt head just in case). I drilled a 5/16" hole in the center of the head stock 1 1/4" from the top, placed the 1/4" bolt in the hole in the fixture, placed 2 (
two)washers (think disc brake here) on the bolt and placed it through the hole in the head stock. I placed a washer on the bolt and put 2 nuts on the bolt, the first nut is tightened and the second is used as a am nut. I know there are a myriad of others ways to do this but this is what I had at the time.
I'm posting a photo of a forend that I did a number of years ago (photo credit to SDH ) other than I could not have done this without a checkering cradle!
