doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stock cutting question

I'm getting ready to try my hand at installing a leather pad. Some of you have been gracious enough to send me previous instructions. Thank you.

Prior to that, however, I have to trim the end of my stock, as it has a dished checkered butt now. What is the best way to do that? Tablesaw? What about pitch, etc? It is a simple matter, but I don't want to screw it up. Or, should I just have a smith do that part for me, while I attempt the rest?

As long as you have the buttstock leveled up so that the axis of the buttstock is a perfect 90 degrees to the blade, a chopsaw with a new blade, will make a nice clean cut. It worked for me.
I bought a new shotgun and wanted the stock shortened.
The price charged by the importer was $105 + shipping.
Instead, I went to Home Depot and bought a brand new Ryobi chopsaw for $100 and did it myself. The chopsaw has come in handy in the four years hence, for many home projects from cutting trim for doors and windows to cutting clapboards.
If you have everything squared up before you make the cut, you should have no problems.
Maybe make a dry run on a piece of scrap wood first.

Great idea!!! Doesn't it take two chops though, since stocks are so wide?

Put some masking tape on the stock to keep the wood from splintering.

It can also be done on a table saw as you might have imagined. Over the years, I've done it by grinding all of it off or cutting some off with a handsaw/sabresaw/sawsall/jigsaw and finishing with a disksander. Run whacha brung/have. It's not how you get there so much as that you get there.

I like about 3" of pitch. I suppose someday I'll figure out exactly what angle I prefer and never refer to a linear dimension for pitch again. ...someday.

I like to use the sled on my table saw because I can set it up perfect. A friend uses a chop saw with modeling clay as a fixture. He get good results! My best tip is use a quality cross cut blade.

bill

Again, great advice. Thanks.

Chuck, what do you use to measure 3 degrees pitch?

M --
Any of the methods described above will work, as Chuck succinctly described it. A cautionary note might simply be to make every effort to clamp the stock firmly in position to make your cut. A chop saw will want to lift the piece, a table saw to turn and draw it downward. Bill's method using a sled on the table saw is very good, a miter head less adaptable -- and less safe. An old, college wood-shop professor had a favorite saying; "If you can hold it, you can cut it." Make sure you can hold it.
Best, Will

I use a "Platten" I made out of 3/4 birch plywood and some adjustable stops that I align and tighten the stock with some adjustable blocks I made out of oak. I tape the end of the stock and tape it. I then use a piece of wood I have cut to the outside curve of the stock to get a straight line to cut depencding on the pitch. I used flat head machine screws on the bottom of the platten and oak to make the adjusters. I use a bandsaw to cut the stock with. I can forward a picture of my platten and dimensions to anyone when I get back from Chicago on the 15th.

Regards, Gordon

With any saw you'll have the problem of the edge chipping out.

When I put on a recoil pad, I flatten the butt with a sanding disk in the radial arm saw and the edges are sharp enough to cut your finger. The speed of the radial arm removes wood super fast with 100 or 150 grit sand paper, and there's no need to go to finer grit paper. If you need to shorten 1", saw short & sand to the exact length.

The stock is held in a jig (or sled) that fixes the angle and slides right & left to get the depth of cut. There's a wooden V block fixed at the top 90 degrees to the cut to locate the comb of the stock. A second adjustable wooden V block locates the belly of the stock, so the two V blocks center the stock square to the cut, side to side and square to the comb. Bad description, I hope you can make it out!
Regards, Ron