I just read this thread and I may be wrong, but based on the first two pictures these guns have more cast off than I have ever seen except on a gun made for a physical disability. The tangs look to have been bent before stocking. Most of the ugliness comes from the bent tangs IMHO. If that is corrected before bending, I would be worried that the entire stock would need to be re-inlet. I'm basing that on my own experience in trying to modify stocks in the past.
I am not convinced these could ever be made to look as they should with what exists there.
You mention being a lefty and I can' imagine how you could come close to hitting with these guns in their present state, or how you could move them far enough to get there.
I have only had 4 or 5 stocks bent, but I have never had one move back. I have had a lot of experience with bending of both musical instrument wood and boat building components. The first are thin (mostly) of course, but I have bent guitar sides and left them taped together in sets unsupported and left them for extended periods with no recovery at all. I have also seen wood thicker than a stock wrist bent into sharp curves with no subsequent recovery except the original spring back. I have a theory about this that was discussed above. I think that people tend to not get to a good temperature and tend to bend them too cold, leaving stresses. This is likely due to trying to protect the finish or some other reason, but when wood is heated to a proper bending temperature, it becomes quite plastic. The difference between a hard uneven bend that springs back and surface cracks and one that bends with little resistance and conforms to the bending jig completely is often only 10 degrees or so. When the temperature hits the right point, it is easy to do. Before that, you have to fight it.
Last edited by AGS; 01/15/25 01:25 AM.
