Who do you guys recommend for a leather covered pad? would like to put a half inch covered on a Belgium side by side and what color do you guys think would look the best? if any one has any pictures and who did the work will greatly be appreciated

Paul Hodgins-James Flynn pads are top notch. I like the ox blood color, but that is a personal preference.

Jim,
Ive never had one done, but I'm sure many here have, & will hopefully post to help you....be nice if there was some one good within driving distance..Griffin & Howe?
I've seen Burgundy,Brown n Black..pick what matches the stock n your eye best, I guess
good luck
franc

I've had a leather covered pad done on a rifle by Jim Greenwood in Augusta, KS. He does excellent work. I think color is a personal preference mostly.

Where are you in NJ?

I am in Northern NJ griffin & Howe is about 45 minute drive from me did anyone here have G&H do leather pad for them? and if so what do you think

I have seen hundreds of unacceptable leather pads. I have two exceptional leather pads. One is by an Eastern Shore stockmaker who is no longer working (not Greg Wolf). The other is on my new Galazan Inverness. I have no idea whether Tony does them on customer guns, but he is who I would go to if he would take the work.

I prefer a color that does not pull the eye from the wood, which usually means burgundy or light browns. Black is too similar to so many rubber recoil pads.

Can a leather pad be installed without the leather plug holes?

Yes, but only by permanently gluing it on. Not usually a good idea.

I had a black Pachmayr Old English pad on a nicely figured English stock and Ithought it complimented the lines in the wood beautifully

Here is a black leather covered pad on a Turkish walnut stock. The pad is a .8 Pachmayr Old English.

I've heard mixed reviews about their service and gun smithing, but I cannot comment on it because I have not used them myself.

Winters in Atco did a nice job for me on a rubber pad, but I haven't seen a leather one by him.

Doug, can a leather pad be installed using a Cervellati microcell pad as a base?

I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the above pads look very nice matching the darker grain. I have also seen photos of the burgundy pig leather pad on one of LeFusil's stocks and it looked outstanding as well. Gil

Doug Mann did a black leather pad on my Parker DH 28 awhile back and I am very pleased.

We would certainly like to see a picture of that pad. By the way, my friend on the Eastern Shore of Maryland taught me to use wooden dowels instead of rubber plugs to make the leather plugs for leather covered pads. They are easier to shape and cut to fit, and they put up with the abuse of fitting the leather cover much better than the rubber plugs. He made a leather faced Silver's pad with covered plugs on a John Oberlies Springfield that is a masterpiece.

Dave, I am unfamiliar with this pad but if it is anything like a Pachmayr Decelerator it would probably work ok. I would not recommend covering a pad as soft as a Limbsaver. That would be, IMO, like trying to cover bubble gum.

Doug did a pad for me recently and it came out great.

Bill

I wonder if anyone has tried gluing on with the old style Instrument makers glue?...the stuff that comes in little pellets that you have to double boil..made from Hooves n Hides (or Elbows n A Holes)..its got a fair whiff to it!
I am sure the old time makers used the same stuff, probably the best they had at that time.
I play the fiddle ,& just had my go to fiddle worked on, but my mate got that top off with judicial use of heat n steam in short order...also the neck had to come off, no big deal to him...he did his stuff & glued her up just lovely with that Hide glue.
You have to use a glue that you can undo to repair or your screwed nexttime work is needed
But i think this type of glue might need to soak into both pieces to work, the stock side would be fine being porous, but Im not sure how it would stick to the shiny, smooth plastic pad base?
I think it might not do so well, but its a big surface area, with mostly just recoil squeezing the glue joint together, not any pulling apart force..Scuff it up some , but not near the edge, I guess?
cheers
franc

And you think Gunsmith Bills can get out of hand?...check your local Fine Violin repair shop...lol
But I have a local , small time guy who is like the absolute savior of many NH poor folk fiddlers
Bless him
Franc

Mr Mann's pads are 1st rate!

Dave I'm gunna try one but I think it may be too soft to stretch the leather over.

Eightbore, Could you explain how the wooden plugs work. Sounds kind of like a piston under recoil. Can you feel them when you shoot it.

I use kick-eez pads, black goat leather, no screw hole plugs, and charge local friends $50. NO FFL so I can not ship or receive. I have had a covered pad on my K-80 for 5 years with no problems. I would guess that it has seen at least 50,000 shots.

bill

s

If you have black streaking in the buttstock it is hard to beat a black leather covered pad for class, IMO.

The pic above proves it. Just how could another color improve on that?

SRH

Abe Chaber in Danbury, CT

Greenwood did a nice leather pad job on my Arrieta. It took 3 months.

JERRY

Gunsmithing - How to Make and Install a Leather Covered Recoil Pad - YouTube
www.youtube.com/ Lennart

The question about wood plugs in leather covered pads has come up before. It is not a problem. The pad itself doesn't give under reasonable recoil so the plugs aren't felt on the shoulder.

Thanks, Doug.

I like the light weight of the microcell pads, but they are too grabby, and they hang up my gun mount.

Mark, I'll be interested in hearing how your attempt works out.

Thanks!

I've got 2 of the standard Pachmayr pads leather covered & done by Del Whitman & they turned out very nice although I really prefer to use a Silver's pad as a base mostly because it looks traditional w/ the larger plugs & it makes a firmer base for the leather. The only issue with the Silvers is the weight.

Del uses leather covered wood dowels for plugs on the Pachmayrs & it's not an issue with feeling the plugs on recoil.

The non plugged leather covered pads are IMHO a bad idea. At some point in time the pad is going to need to come off for a variety of reasons & then what do you do that doesn't involve a saw or a chisel?

Maybe there is a way to install plugless leather covered pads not involving glue that I'm not aware of but I really don't mind the look of the plugs when done correctly so I don't see the point of complicating the installation.

May I suggest Dennis Potter also for your consideration. I agree Doug Mann does a great job on leather covered pads.

As to wooden plugs. I used to use the wooden plug method too. I found StockCap Corp. out of St. Louis about seven years ago. They make rubber plugs in many different sizes. I now use a 7/16" cutter to make the hole in the pad and a .350 plug. Using leather in the 1.5-2 oz weight(.022-.032 diameter) gives a good fit when the leather is put in the hole and over the plug. I made molds for forming the leather around the plugs which help keep sizing accurate.

The Stock Doctor is as usual being modest. He installed this pad for me:

Here is a DIY post by Recoil Rob posted in 2005.

http://damascus-barrels.com/files/Damascus-Barrels_dot_com_Leather_covered_recoil_pad.pdf

Pete

Look up the Larry Potterfield video on how to install a leather pad on YouTube. It's time consuming but not rocket science.

I use a Brownells philips bit made for pads. I pre-tap the holes in the wood by running a screw in and out a couple of times but with the least amount of torque possible. With the pad covered nut with the screws in the pad I puch back on the screw, cut a tiny slot in the leather, and use Brownells extra narrow bit to run the screw home. The tiny slot is hard to find but it is there if you want to remove the pad.
bill

I appreciate the posts on how to do a leather covered pad w/o using plugs for the screw holes. I had not thought of doing it that way & for those who insist on no plugs it's a much better method than gluing the pad on over pegs which I have seen done before.

As for myself, I'm happy with nicely done plugs of either wood or rubber & I do like the look of a well done leather covered pad.

Yeah...go ahead...I wonder where he came up with the idea of the line scribing tool??

CJ