Lockdown Project

[Sonicdmb73]

Forends. Should the top taper in a straight line say from 3mm the reciever, to 3mm out from barrel at end of forend or should it follow barrel contour.

Do you mean the little flat along the barrel?
I think following the contour looks better.

 

[bogtrotter]

Some fantastic work there,you are a very talented man!

 

[oxfordshirestalker]

Would love to try this one day, looks great! How on earth do you do the inletting?

 

[bullet chucker]

Maybe a silly question, but what seal would you use to keep the moisture out of the wood/barrel channel? Will you use a special brew of secret and ancient origin?
Last what butt metal will you select or will it be worked and left natural?
Great to see a LEFT HAND' action in action,well done Sir!

BC.

 

[Heym SR20]

Would love to try this one day, looks great! How on earth do you do the inletting?

It’s actually quite simple. Use some smoke to black the metal. Press it against the wood. Remove marked wood, repeat. Use very sharp carving gouges to remove the wood and cut across the grain to keep control.

When making a cut, use both hands - one to drive the gouge, the other to brace and acting as a brake.

It takes time and patience.

Start with a piece of cherry wood or find a low grade bit of walnut and give it a go.

to be honest with modern fillers / bedding compounds, to you could get away a very simple mortice and fill with bedding compound.

 

[Heym SR20]

In answer to the questions

1) yes it the flats either side of the barrel that I am questioning

2) will probably seal the barrel channel either with west systems epoxy, or marine yacht varnish. At the moment there is some stress in the wood so may well put in a metal tube to stiffen it. Will shape it first and let it settle down a bit before making a decision. Currently forend is just free floating. But may well play around with some pressure bedding.

3) Butt end will be left plain wood. 223 has no recoil to speak of.

 

[kripton]

As an alternative to blacking I have sometimes used engineer's blue when inletting.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

It’s actually quite simple. Use some smoke to black the metal. Press it against the wood. Remove marked wood, repeat. Use very sharp carving gouges to remove the wood and cut across the grain to keep control.

When making a cut, use both hands - one to drive the gouge, the other to brace and acting as a brake.

It takes time and patience.

Start with a piece of cherry wood or find a low grade bit of walnut and give it a go.

to be honest with modern fillers / bedding compounds, to you could get away a very simple mortice and fill with bedding compound.

When making a cut, use both hands - one to drive the gouge, the other to brace and acting as a brake.
I had five years of doing that type of work in my apprenticeship never forgot how to do it so if the gouge is long enough try to lock the handle into your shoulder with one hand holding the handle around the wood and the other just behind the cutting edge, that gave me my best fine control.
Very nice work too from you.

 

[Sonicdmb73]

In answer to the questions

1) yes it the flats either side of the barrel that I am questioning

2) will probably seal the barrel channel either with west systems epoxy, or marine yacht varnish. At the moment there is some stress in the wood so may well put in a metal tube to stiffen it. Will shape it first and let it settle down a bit before making a decision. Currently forend is just free floating. But may well play around with some pressure bedding.

3) Butt end will be left plain wood. 223 has no recoil to speak of.

I would scribe down each side of the barrel with a spacer in between barrel and scribe.
That would give a clean line and even width to your bedding assuming you are having that showing.
I would then pencil another line parallel to the scribe and shape the sides of the stock from there.

 

[alberta boy]

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Nice work , I especially like the blind magazine , a very nice touch .

AB

 

[harrygrey382]

Stunning work Heym - I’m very impressed. What are you going to finish it with? What butt plate and grip cap?

 

[kimh]

What scope and mounts are you going to use? as that! will make the project, did you buy the old skool scope from the last Holts Auction (like in your second picture) or an old Shepherd scope for that classic range finding experience...

 

[Heym SR20]

So its been a bit of a while, but got the big wood rasp going. Always kinda difficult to start but once underway it starts to appear in front of you

 

[Heym SR20]

And then took it out for a test shoot this afternoon - 10 round group at 80 yards with a 1 1/2 inch orange dot target.

 

[Heym SR20]

Well had another good session this afternoon - its still clunky but working away slowly with gouges, rasp and files. Easy to take off but you can’t put it back on.

 

[Heym SR20]

Been working on the grip - still quite a way to go and the interface between the grip and cheekpiece needs more thought. I am trying to have a palm swell both sides. Still well oversize so plenty of room for mistakes and finishing.

 

[Heym SR20]

Well its been a few weeks - been using energy on work and family, and frankly haven’t been in the right frame of mind. And my workbench is the attic right above my daughters bedroom who is in final stages of A levels!!

but had another good session today.

Get the butt down to the right thickness, grip is now getting there. Both daughter have long fingers so a decent grip thickness is really nice.

Cheek piece is still not there. I think it needs rounding on back corners, made smaller and probably with a shadow line. The nose of the comb will come back a wee bit. And butt needs shaping.

Not sure quite how to finish the pistol grip. I might leave it like a shotgun butt flowing into the belly of the stock, or it will stand proud.

at the moment Forend is a rough beavertail. Not at all sure i like it so its probably going a standard nicely rounded/ pear shaped, but will keep it nice and long.

 

[bfltd0]

What a great lockdown project and superb to see the progress.

Not too long to go now!

 

[kripton]

Excellent progress - just don't try to hurry the last stages (I am usually tempted but try to resist)
As for the cheekpiece, I try to get it to "flow" smoothly from the top of the pistol grip and then keep the base of the cheekpiece more or less parallel to the underside of the butt - the angle of the base of the pistol grip is another point which affects the whole appearance of the rifle - in my case I find that for me, the front of the pistol grip needs to be more vertical than most of the older rifles but again it's a question of what feels right for the individual. A couple of examples attached - first my Sako Quad in .17 HMR and second my Sako A2 action in .243 - Given the time again I would have reduced the depth of the cheekpiece on the Quad - it seems about right (to me anyway) on the Sako .243 - my apologies that the photo of the .243 is upside down but I do not know how to turn it the other way up.

 

[Heym SR20]

Excellent progress - just don't try to hurry the last stages (I am usually tempted but try to resist)
As for the cheekpiece, I try to get it to "flow" smoothly from the top of the pistol grip and then keep the base of the cheekpiece more or lessView attachment 205335View attachment 205336 parallel to the underside of the butt - the angle of the base of the pistol grip is another point which affects the whole appearance of the rifle - in my case I find that for me, the front of the pistol grip needs to be more vertical than most of the older rifles but again it's a question of what feels right for the individual. A couple of examples attached - first my Sako Quad in .17 HMR and second my Sako A2 action in .243 - Given the time again I would have reduced the depth of the cheekpiece on the Quad - it seems about right (to me anyway) on the Sako .243 - my apologies that the photo of the .243 is upside down but I do not know how to turn it the other way up.

Thank you, really useful advice and pictures.