doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Recoil Pad Jigs

I do them all on the stock with a 6 X 48 belt sander. Final fitting is by hand. It's just a matter of going slow and watching the angles. Here is a little kink I discovered several years ago that works well. I buy some metal foil faced tape that is used for weather proofing. It comes in a roll from the local Ace store. The last I got was about 3" wide and not more than a few thou. thick. If applied to the stock it will allow you to get very close and it will tell you when you are getting there. One word of caution, this stuff is extremely sticky. I never leave it on more than a few minutes for final hand fitting of the pad. I assume, if left on for long, it would be very hard to get it back off. Best Regards, Jack

Jim, it is made to be adjusted for each stock as each stock is a tad different. Yes, it has to be fitted to the table on a disc sander to be used effectively. This fixture (IMHO) gave me better resukts over the many years I used it. Ken

I understand that it is adjusted to each stock. My question is does it have to be adjusted twice for each stock? Once for the heel and sides and again for the toe?
Thanks

I've heard of this trick but using blue masking tape underneath the foil so as not to mess up the stock. Have to finish by hand anyway so the extra thickness of the tape doesn't matter.

Jim,

Yes, the comb line (heel) and the belly line (toe) need to be adjusted and ground separately. This is much easier to do than to explain. Once the comb line is set about 2/3rds to 3/4s of the pad from the heel down is ground. I usually will use an 80 grit belt to rough grind and then finish off with a 120 and final polish with a 320 grit. Only then I will I change the pitch of the jig to grind the toe angle the same way. Doing it this way allows me to feather in the finish between top and bottom. Works like a charm.

I have used the same jig for decades. The only thing I had to replace was the screws and I modified the pad bar with some extra tapped holes to accomodate different hole spacing on some pads.

Short of grinding in and block sanding a new pad on a stock that is being refinished I found this jig is the easiest to use for consistant results. The added bonus is that there is zero chance of ever damaging a finished stock as all the grinding is done off the stock. As with any tool practise makes perfect. If you are a hands on guy excellent results can be had the first time. Practise will speed up the process once you are comfortable using it. I highly recommend it. I believe the name in Brownells' is J& G Pad Grinding Jig or something close to that.

Tony

This is the most-used tool in my shop. I use it to grind pads on the stock with 40 grit and 2 wraps of electrical tape. When the first layer is evenly scuffed, I peel it down to one layer, hand sand with 120 grit till the tape is evenly scuffed. Remove the pad and hand sand with 220 grit.

I also use it to carve pistol grips, shape stocks and ...oh,yeah....remove 10 hours of checkering in 2 minutes!

I use the B-Square jig with much success and satisfaction. Shape on a belt sander, 80 grit roughing, 120 grit down to scribed line and finish fit by hand. If your sander has a table, make sure and square it to the belt before you begin.

DLM

Thank you all for your very informative posts!

Like some of the others, I believe a true running disk is very important in doing a good job. I had a 6" disk for years and did many pads for customers with it. Later, I wanted a disk that I could easily sand the butt of the stock flat. That meant something larger than a 6" disk. I found this Delta 12" disk sander and it runs very true and is about the right size.

I'm using the Delta SA180, 8" wheel and 1" band. They're on sale from time to time at Amazon for less than $110, shipped. The band is handy for sides and finishing, has more "give" than the wheel.