doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Leather covered pad

I've got a Jet disk. Not a problem.

I've read that people freeze the rubber first. Is that really worth the trouble? Could throw a cooler of dry ice in the shop.

I've never found that to be necessary, but I've never tried grinding any of the really soft, hi-tech pads. I've only done vintage (style) ones like Hawkins, NoShoc and Silvers. They usually grind well without chilling.

I use a B-Square jig, but am probably going to spring for a B & R pendulum style. Friends highly recommend them.

SRH

I don't know what sort of pad I would use for leather covering but probably not a real soft one.

I'm looking at the B-Square jig on Midway. Not sure how they actually work but I suspect I could figure it out easily enough.

They're pretty easy to use, and they come with good instructions.

My bad. I do not have the B-Square, I have the Miles Gilbert jig. Sorry for the error. But, all of that type work pretty much the same way, I think. The pendulum type is entirely different. It's what I wanted to begin with, but they were out of stock at the time.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1007111917?pid=658338

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools...-prod44670.aspx

SRH

Without knowing how they are used, they look deceptively easy to make.

Recoil Rob posted a set of instructions on doing leather pads here on doublegun. I copied that and intend to follow much of it. That method uses leather covered plugs over the screw holes but I believe leather pads can be done with just slits somehow. I'll have to research that a little. After the season is over, this will be a nice project and learning experience. I sort of hate to cover up the only wood-checkered butt I've ever had, but I need the length.

I grind my pads on the gun using an 80 grit 6" wide belt sander, I then final sand by hand to get it as close as possible to the stock using finer grits. I remove the pad, mark it in the same manner Doug Mann does and use the pendulum jig above to grind the last .025" or so off for the leather thickness.

I always cut holes the pads and make plugs in the traditional manner but I have seen them done with slits in the leather. I like the plugs myself.

The goatskin I have used is less stretchy than pig, but it is definitely tougher, more abrasion resistant. I buy whole hides of pigskin in different colors; The belly area is more stretchy but also softer.

I gonna add here that the javelina leather covered pad Steve put on my Francotte was one of the best jobs I've seen, he knows of what he speaks.

The instructions I wrote are for putting on a pad with no plugs or slits. I didn't want to attempt covering plugs so once I had the pad ground I socked the mounting screws in tight with some wire wraps around the screw on the back side of the pad. Then I covered the pad with leather. I overdrilled the screw holes in the stock, put release agent on the screws, filled the holes with AcraGlas and set the pad on with clamps.

After the epoxy dried the pad was tight to the stock and if it needed to be removed small slits in the leather would allow a thin shank screwdriver bit in. Brownells makes one especially for pads.

My mistake. I had a series of methods posted by different members. Yours was, as you say, plugless and slitless. thanks for that by the way, I'll be considering that method carefully.