This is part of a narrative I will be adding to my website. I get asked a lot if I really do carve a gun stock all by hand. Well, opportunity strikes - so I am going to take advantage. Things are starting to stack up. There is a lever action Marlin, bolt action Winchester, a fellow on hold for a shotgun stock, and finally Ron's muzzle loader -all differant and should give me a good oppurtunity to write up how I do each type. Please let me know about any editorial comments you might have. After all I am a wood smith, not a word smith! Part way through the Marlin, I will have to switch to getting the Winchester started and completed. He is paying for the Winny and the Marlin is more of a favor for a friend. Waiting on some parts for it, so until they show up, time to get sharpening chisels.
Don (he has the Marlin) selected a blank from a selection in the shop. Plunked down his deposit, and wished me luck. (maybe I should have said it to him?) Here is his stock outlined on the blank. There is some kind of very rough semi-inletted butt stock that came with the metal. Not pretty, but good enough to get an idea of size. The other piece is a fore end, it sits in front of the metal chunk with the lever and under the barrel.
In the beginning:
Next step is cutting off the major part of waste. In case you didn't notice, the forend is pushed to the end of the blank. This is where the "straighter" grain appears to be - it is a matter of degree of course. Why you aks? Any odd pressure against the barrel, or even changes in pressure intentionally applied will cause changes in barrel harmonics and make any attempts at accuracy pretty well futile! So, with the straightest grain possible and crossed fingers, time to cut some wood. This is done on a band saw. Use to do it with a big bow saw, but youth has left my old joints. The scrap is in the middle. Not a lot this time.
I start the with the barrel and receiver first. The receiver is the part where all the ammo is loaded and a cartridge is inserted and removed. In case you didn't know, a bullet is just the projectile, a cartridge is the brass container (case), powder, and the bullet. A slot is cut with a carpenter's saw to begin sinking the metal into the wood. If you look carefully, there is a shallow groove several inched long. This is a tiny bit smaller then the maximum width of the tang. A tang is the long metal piece at the rear of the receiver. It is the part just starting to go into the wood.
The black marks show me where metal is touching the wood. According to how shiny or dull it looks, this tells me how much pressure is there and if I should remove a small amount now or later. It looks like this:
Eventually the metal sinks into the wood. Note that it could go further, but I am stopping here. Why? The wood I am removing is stress relieving the area. Like we all have come to find out, that means warping. This is really not a good thing to see. Cracks between metal and wood better be invisible, or so close to invisible you have to look very closely to spot one. Stopping a little early allows the wood to relax and find its new home. The tang narrows ever so little as you go from the receiver to the tip. That slant is the trick to getting a snug fit. Here is what it looks like when that part is done:
Now to start shaping. Using the bore of the barrel (the hole in the barrel the bullet flies through) as a new center line, I start to rough out the shape. The process of blocking and refining is pretty much repeated until the end. Big gouges and a spoke shave are used to quickly remove the majority of wood. Here is a series of pictures showing the wood beginning to go away:
starting blocking out the bottom: (not very pretty is it?)
and the top where the cheek piece will go:
Then the beginning of the sides - curved from the top of the stock to the bottom:
Up to now, both sides are treated the same - it looks like this:
There is not suppose to be a cheek piece on the right side, so it has to go:
With that cleaned up a little, it is almost recognizable. Long way still to go. At this point, there is about 50 hours of work.
Refine the other side a little and it looks like this:
At this point, the blocking is all done and some refining of the where Don's cheek rests and the butt plate meets his shoulder. Now it is too late for any major changes. Time to start detailed shaping/refining. The cheek piece is the first thing to get a lot of attention:
...and work a little of the pistol grip to keep things balanced:
Now it is time to shove the metal back into the wood and see what lines I need to correct: (note the small gap between the metal and wood. That will go way later when the wood has had a chance to finish moving.
Darn parts for the Winchester showed up today - have to switch on you. So here is the last picture of what has been done:
At this time there is about 75 hours of work. With no wood blow outs, chips falling out, and other maladies, it is coming along much faster then usual. When I return to this, the forend will be started very shortly. It needs to be worked with the butt stock so there is a flow/continuity between the two parts. It might be hard to notice in the pictures, but the barrel is about 3 inches shorter the normal. The fellow I got this from is short and was tired of accidentally sticking the end of the barrel into the dirt. He had it shortened so he could hang his arm straight at his side and keep the muzzle out of the dirt. This is going to create a challenge. Normally lever actions are long and graceful. This one is short - stay tuned for the rest of the story!
Take care,
Chris
I'll start a new thread on the Winchester when there is something to show.
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