Thanks Buzz. Not sure exactly what the cost was for faux grain painting, but I thought it was excessive for a surface treatment that could be scratched or flaked off. My own consideration for a true butt transplant would be as a do-it-yourself home gunsmithing project. I already have enough nice Black, English, Claro, French, and Turkish walnut blanks and slabs in my inventory that I am unlikely to use it all in my lifetime.
Karl, a true butt-transplant involves cutting off the butt section of a stock just behind the grip. Only the grip and head is salvaged, assuming those areas are in good condition. The idea is that a large part of the cost of restocking lies in shaping and inletting and checkering that area. Practitioners of this method typically make their cut in line with the checkering so that the glue joint can be hidden within the last checkering groove. The glue joint is reinforced by milling a mortise in front of the new piece of walnut that is being grafted on to the grip area, and a matching mortise is milled into the grip. This can be concealed under the trigger guard tang. A matching tennon is made of a strong piece of plywood. Alternatively, a large diameter hardwood dowel may be used if the holes for the dowel can be bored in correct alignment. The grip and the new piece of walnut for the butt section are then carefully glued and clamped together. The grafted butt is then shaped to your preferred dimensions and as stated earlier, a checkering tool cuts a new line of checkering at the glue joint to help conceal it. As Buzz says, when done well, it is extremely hard to detect, and should be as strong as new wood.
When a one or two inch piece of walnut is spliced on to the rear of a stock to make the L.O.P. longer for a gun that was cut off or too short to begin with, that is simply a butt extension. Some people will cut off a stock to shorten a gun for their kid, and save the cut off piece to glue back on later when he grows up. Since this involves using the original wood, the color and grain match is almost perfect except for the saw kerf loss. But a cross-cut glue joint will always stick out like a sore thumb unless you resort to the faux grain painting.
By the way, I didn't think Dustin's comment concerning Merkels was trolling... just a matter of his own personal tastes in guns. Nothing wrong with that. But I did think this comment whining about killing a coyote with a 10 gauge loaded with #5 shot was trolling on a gun and hunting related forum:
topgun,
Your comments are at least as negative and "self-righteous" as anyone. Sadly, your comments and Destry's illustrate the gulf of ignorance that encompasses the hunting community and which is, in large measure, responsible for the bad image that many nonhunters see as representative of those who do hunt.
There are times when being a hunter and an advocate of hunting is really really embarrassing. This is one of those times.
Brent
