Stockmaking Tools

[Char-Gar]

I am well into the new Mauser stock. I changed my mind and decided on a Bob Owen style classic sporter as opposed to a Euro style. The stock is rough shaped and the detail and fine lined. What is left is the finish sanding and finish detailing of the various lines and sharp edges. I am well pleased with the result.

Looking down at the clutter of tools I wondered what others use. I have accumulated these over years and am probably doing some things the wrong way due to ignorance. What tools do you use? Here is my list

Stockmakers hand screws
Headless guide screws
Coping saw
Fine tooth hacksaw blades
Fisher inletting scrapers (2)
Brownell inletting scrapers (4)
Brace with various screwdriver bits
Breast drill and bits
Straight and curved woodcarvers chisels
10" mill bastard file
6" half round file
12" tapered round wood rasp
Flat two handed Shure-Cut rasp
Drawknife
Architect's compass
Architect's 12" triangle shaped scale
Machinest 6" double square with level
3" spring joint machinest calipers
6" machinest scale (1/8,1/16,1/32/1/64)
Dremel with sanding drums
Rawhide mallet
Black Marks-A-Lot
No.2 pencil
6" vise, with padded jaws and brass jaws
All sorts of sand paper and blocks etc.
If I need to drill a hole, I will use the breast drill , hand held power drill, or drill press depending on the need.

[stocker]

Chargar: I frequent a local pawn shop on the look out for quality screw drivers and chisels that have seen better days. With screw drivers don't slow down for junk/bargain makes as they will rarely harden to the degree needed. Some cheaper chisels will. With a torch , anvil etc. I reshape them into scrapers for detail work in the inletting. Most of these end up with about an inch at the end of the blade bent to about 75 degrees and then the face is ground relatively thin. Reheat treat and sharpen as you prefer for scraping and you can get into a lot of narrow inlets. Some have a square profile others are round.

[stocker]

As another thought I have found black finger printing powder (carbon or graphite) lightly applied with a finger printing brush over a very light coat of oil on the metal makes a great inletting marker. If you know a ident. member or can find another source you might try it.

[danski26]

I use Jerrow's inletting black, brownells has it.

[stocker]

danski: I've got little bottles of Jerrows all over my shop. I'm finding the F.P. powder to be an easier clean up with less wood staining left.

[madcaster]

Sir Stocker has a great idea,there is also a yellow dye that machinists use as well as blue,the name I do not recall right now.
But the yellow may show up better on walnut for you.
A lot of flintlock builders use candle soot,but if you leave the shop with a candle burning you run a pretty big risk of fire.

[KCSO]

I either ressurect old tools bought from second hand shops or i forge my own. I found thet old flat wood bits and cement nails will make you any specialty tool you might want. The handles are turned from scraps of old stocks and the ferrules are made from old rifle cases and shotshell heads. I find that a lard quench that I learned from an old blacksmith is just right for drill stock tools. My oldest tools are from about 1850 and are still in use daily.

[carpetman]

KCSO---Those tools from 1850---did you make those too?

[danski26]

Stocker: well then I will have to give it a try. I'm sceptical though.....i'm a evidence tech and that powder is pretty messy at crime scenes. any certian type of powder?

I see now you said to put it in a light coat of oil, thats sounds more promising. sorry, should have read all the way through your post.

[stocker]

danski: the label on the bottle says Starplex and made in Etobicoke (Quebec , I think). Precious little detail. It's near black. I spray the metal with WD40- give it a bit of time to let some of the solvent evaporate and then twirl the brush to shake the powder on. Leaves a print more like a sooted part with mainly only a surface residue. Another use if you like the effect is to use it when wet sanding a stock with an oil finish to fill the pores black. Excess is sanded off remainder of surface leaving only the pore filled and then normal finish applied to the stock. Actually looks better than it sounds and is suitable for walnut stock finishing.

[Ron]

Etobicoke is in Toronto. I visited my uncle who lives there earlier this year.

Regards,

[danski26]

the wet sanding idea sounds very interesting! i will try that for sure.....thanks!

[leftiye]

Yeah! Lots of walnut, and even some maples can really have the grain well brought out with black pigment. I've actually burned one stock to stain it, and then sanded it to bring out the grain. This was too uneven, so my next idea was black leather polish, and then sand. This sounds easier. That graphite might go really well in bullet lubes, and lubricants, not to mention as mold coating (called release by some).

[stocker]

leftiye:
I wouldn't try using it as a general stain. It can be used to fill only the pores of some woods, black walnut in particular. Mixed with a diluted drying finish (like Tru Oil)it is sanded into the wood and then left to thoroughly dry and harden. The stock is then wet sanded with a BLO/mineral spirits dilution until all the FP powder is removed except that which has filled the pores. The sanding dilution is then wiped clean from the wood. Stock finish is then applied to build up the finish until you are happy with it. The result is all the pores have a tiny speck of black filling them with a normal finish over top.

I wouldn't use it on maple or most myrtle wood at all. Way too much contrast for my eyes.

[danski26]

Madcaster

The layout fluid whos name escapes you is "Dykum" the prob using it for inletting is it drys in about 5 seconds......must be quick to get a transfer!

[danski26]

I did just pick up a new tool for inletting the barrel channel that has some promise. It's called "Extreme Sphere 1/4" coarse." I belive its sold under dremel's name at least it was with all the dremel stuff. I chucked it into a drill and it worked nicely in the barrel channel. Fairly agressive but still controllable.

[stocker]

I just found a good source of hardened thin steel for making inlet scrapers. First you find a place that makes a lot of bacon. Ask them if they have any dull blades from their slab de-rinder. I was given half a dozen blades to try out and they make exceptional wood scrapers. They have to be cut into shorter sections by nicking them on two sides with a grinder belt then they will break on the grind line. Remove the sharpened bevel edge on your bench grinder and shape the end sections as you need for barrel channels, action inlets etc. . Keep them from overheating by cooling in water after every pass on the grinder. Grind them at 90 degrees on the fine wheel to sharpen. The down side will have a burr which scrapes wood aggressively, the top side less so for detailing. I made up half a dozen in different widths and contours and they seem to work as well or better than the Jerry Fisher scrapers I've been using for a while.

[uscra112]

The stuff you want for marking the stock while inletting is Prussian Blue. Buy from McMaster-Carr > www.mcmaster.com < search for prussian blue. They call it "High Spot Marking Paste". About $3.50 a tube, and one tube will be a lifetime supply.

Prussian Blue is what machinists and machine tool builders have used since the dawn of the machine age to detect high spots as they fit machine parts together. It's a very soft paste, or a very thick ink, it's hard to say. When I was doing this in the machinery business, I was shown how to make a "mop" out of about 2 feet of felt weatherstrip, half inch wide, folded until you have a bundle about 4-5 inches long. Wrap the middle and one end with duct tape to make a handle. Leave only half to 3/4 of an inch unwrapped. A pea-sized gob of the paste worked into the exposed felt will go a long, long way. It can be spread out to a film only a ten-thousandth of an inch thick, and it never dries, so it transfers to the wood beautifully, and has great contrast with any wood other than maybe ebony.

Don't get it on your hands. It doesn't come off easily.

[Phil]

I didn't see a Swiss cabinet makers rasp on your tool list. Handiest tool in the box.

Cheers,

Phil

[ARKANSAS PACKRAT]

+1 on the swiss cabinetmakers rasps, pricey but you'll wonder how you worked without them!!:drinks:

[fourarmed]

For fast, coarse shaping it is hard to beat the various Sure-Form planes. A belt or disk sander is almost a necessity for fitting recoil pads.

[KCSO]

I much prefer a real plane to a shur form. The shur form as you noted is only good for rough work as it tears the grain. A real plane, especially a low angle block plane can take you right down to 1/16" or less and there is very little sanding. I have a set of violin sculpting planes and they will make shot work of a cheekpiece or lock panels. I also prefer a good file and I keep a set of files just for wood, they NEVER touch metal. A mill file will cut to about 150 grit and is about the only way to work up birds eye or cross grain maple. I also use a set of stock scrapers and scraper planes made for forming the forends on long rifles. This is a real time saver over trying to carve in relief and incised lines.

[waksupi]

Another good tool, is the Japanese saw rasp. Makes a nice cut, with good control. You can just about go to a finish surface.

DREMEL - Ruining fine firearms, for over 40 years..........

[floodgate]

Another intriguing and useful plane set includes the various models from Switzerland under the "RALI" name, you can get them from Hartville tool Co. <www.hartvilletool.com/produc> and other specialty "woodworkers' porn" sites, These are pretty unpreposessing at first, being folded up from chromed sheet metal with plastic grips, with disposable, reversible "razor-blade" type cutters (extras can be stored in the handles), with fingertip cutting-depth adjustments, but after getting one of the little pocket-sized block planes, I have gone ahead and gotten the other models - and have pretty much retired my Stanleys. Try one; I think you'll like it.

floodgate

[floodgate]

KCSO:

"I keep a set of files just for wood, they NEVER touch metal."

An old gunsmith taught me years ago to use a new file on wood until it loses its fine edge, then move it to work on brass., and only after it stops cutting on brass, retire it to filing steel. A good, sharp new file is actually at somewhat of a disadvantage on mild, low-carbon steel; it tends to leave scratches. I've got a WHOLE BUNCH of steel files! And he also tried to teach me to lay files in a drawer with dividers, so they NEVER bang against one another; but - as I said - I have a whole bunch of files that are no longer good for anything but steel.

floodgate

[waksupi]

Don't forget Boggs Machine and Tool, for having files resharpened. We've sent them dozens, and are more than pleased with the sharpness, and price. I though John King was going to kiss me when I told him about it, after looking at a pile of old files on his workbench!

[KCSO]

I am still using files my grandfather bought. I was taught to keep them in a file drawer, never let them touch and never switch metals. One set for wood one set for soft metals and one set for steel. Don't see saw them back and forth, use chalk and a file card and they will last nearly forever. And all the ones my son in law gets a hold of go to Boggs. Thanks Waksupi!!!!

[R. Dupraz]

When inletting a gun stock or any wood for that matter, try one of those giant permanent black majic markers. There is no mess and the black or whatever color that is used, does not soak into end grain as other greasy types do. They work especially well on light colored wood for this reason.

And the color goes on the metal evenly, contrary to the greasy types. So there is less chance of the metal leaving a false impression when it is forced into and out of the stock. After which too much wood is then removed. It is easier to get full contact between wood and metal when using one of these and the color can be applied exactly where you want it.

R. Dupraz

[waksupi]

Another tip on inletting black. When we are doing ebony nose caps, black of course disappears. So, we went in and robbed our secretary's supply of old tubes of lipstick. The red shows up!