Bodock stock for a Handi

[DeanWinchester]

Well, this is most likely gonna be an embarrassment for me posting this before I'm through with it cause I SUCK at wood working, but I'm hoping to get input and encouragement enough to MAKE me finish this little project.
My new found affection for Handi-rifles has left me wanting something different from the pack, so I've started making me a stock and forearm out of what we southerners call Bodock. Proper name, osage orange, it's the most godawful hard mess you'll ever try to work with. Freshly cut, its bright to the point of being obnoxious but once it's been around for a spell, it turns a beautiful burnt orange color. So, I'm gonna catalog my efforts and you guys chime in with ideas and criticism at will.

To start, I've had several chunks sitting under my casting bench for about 2 years now. In the dry, but exposed to the hot and cold of the seasons here in TN. There's several cracks i've discovered and have to plan carefully to avoid.



I used a sharp single blade axe and a sledge hammer to square up the pieces.



I went to Harbor Freight and bought a power planer for $50. Surprisingly, it cuts like the devil!!!!
Used it to rough in square. Didn't get too carried away as I am sending them off to a friend who will run them through a REAL planer to get me a true face and get somewhat parallel to work with. That will be EXTREMELY important when I bore the through hole.





The forearm is by far the easier piece and I believe I will be capable of doing it completely myself.


I'm having a friend plane the buttstock piece for a true face to work from and I will have him cut the rough shape out on a bandsaw.
After that I have access to a horizontal milling machine that I will use to bore the through hole and counterbore for the stock bolt. My focus right now is getting the through hole perfectly parallel to the true face. The rough shape will have a minimum of a 1/4" per side. After the through hole, I will cut the contour of the stock snout that mates to the receiver. After that, everything can be shaped in relative to that.
There are faster ways of doing things but I will be doing this by hand with block planes, rasps and sanding blocks. It may be slower but one thing I know about making things....it's a lot easier to take material off than to put it back on. LOL!!

.......till next time.

[DeanWinchester]

OHH YEAH!!
If anyone has the forearm part for a Handi Rifle, please PM me. I will buy it. Prefer an old metal one but plastic will work. It's the little "U" shaped piece that goes between the receiver and the forearm. Thanks.

[Pb2au]

This should be an interesting project. Though I have no stock making experience, I have done some wood working with Osage. The only tip/hint I have for you is keep your tools sharp. Osage is pretty hard on the edges of tools. I am pretty sure those trees are half iron! It is a pretty wood though.
thanks for bringing us along!

[dualsport]

Very interesting and inspiring for me as I need to do some similar type work. I'll watch as it goes along.

[texassako]

Heavy wood you got there for a stock. All the Osage I get has to many cracks for anything big or needing to be structurally sound. It is hard enough you can almost give it a mirror shine without any finish.

[DeanWinchester]

Heavy wood you got there for a stock. All the Osage I get has to many cracks for anything big or needing to be structurally sound. It is hard enough you can almost give it a mirror shine without any finish.

That is not an exaggeration at all. Oil finishes almost bead up like water on a duck. It's hard to get it to take an oil finish......but this stuff can literally be wet sanded. Years ago I did some 1911 grips and I started with 220 and worked my way to 1000. Then I went to 2000 grit made for wet sanding clear coat car finishes. Using just a very little water, I made them about as slick as a piece of glass. No finish needed. It is reminiscent of a brass frame lever gun. They take on character and just look better the more they are handled, getting darker with time and use.

Not sure what I will do for a finish on this. There is a pretty high chance of failure on this project. What cracks lie beneath??? How bad will my ham fists butcher it? Too many variable to consider putting the cart in front of the horse. "IF" I do succeed, should be very little chance of hearing someone say..."Ohh I got one just like that."

[DeanWinchester]

Opinion; Looking at the third picture, would you try to include the knot for the character it gives or try to work around and away from it??

[Bullshop Junior]

Would like to see how this turns out. I always call the handi rifle the poor mans contender and really like them.

[Bullshop Junior]

OHH YEAH!!
If anyone has the forearm part for a Handi Rifle, please PM me. I will buy it. Prefer an old metal one but plastic will work. It's the little "U" shaped piece that goes between the receiver and the forearm. Thanks.

Ive got a few of the plastic ones i think.

[DeanWinchester]

Junior,

I love the handi's too. My favorite has been my .45 Colt Classic Carbine reamed to .454 Casull. As you've discovered with your lever gun, the .454 in a rifle is dang fine brush gun that hits hard but is not unpleasant to shoot.

Please do look and see if you have stock part. PM me if you find them. I will trade you something for 'em.

[Bullshop Junior]

Im pretty sure i have one in the back on my truck from when I cracked one forearm lol.

I know i have a couple laying around. Shoot me a pm. They are all plastic ones.

[Bullshop Junior]

Btw. My favorite is probably the 7.62x39.

[johnson1942]

when i wanted a metal forend part to replace the plastic part i got one at numrich arms. they dont have to come from a old h and r gun as most from old singlebarrels were pretty much the same. and you have already had good advice on the wood,just sand and polish polish polish. dont try to finish it. i made a ebony forestock for my cpa 45/70. wore out a routing bit routeing it out for the barrel it was so hard. sanded and polished it and it looked varnished without any finish on it. it will take time to do a good job but your stock should turn out real nice. i hope you wood isnt subect to cracking. i made a nice stock for a muzzle loader that was from a very hard local wood. it was used for ox yokes.first shot snapped it in half. threw it away a put a maple stock on it. i even tried a beautiful curly oak hand made stock also. two or three shots and it snapped in half also. some woods are not made of vibration. beech is a common wood and very very strong. shrinks alot also though. it has a beautiful grain if finished right. good luck, one never knows unless he tries. keep us in the loop on this one.

[USAFrox]

Opinion; Looking at the third picture, would you try to include the knot for the character it gives or try to work around and away from it??

Great project, and I wish you well with it. Since you asked for an opinion (and we all have one of those...), I'll give you mine. I'd work around the knot. Wood around knots can be unpredictable and weak. Probably not too much of a problem in such a hard wood, but I see where you mentioned having a handi rifle in 454 Casull, which is fairly stout. I don't know what other calibers you have in the handi, but as a matter of course, I'd steer clear of anything that could be a weakness.

Just my $0.02.

Good luck!

[Bullshop Junior]

I never knew NEF/H&R used a metal one. I haven't seen one.

[johnson1942]

i looked up your wood and it doesnt crack and makes good bows. also when the buffalo classic first came out they had a special model with all steel hardware and a special blueing job that cost a lot more. their was no plastic on it. i have two very good but very old long tom single barrels. they are not h and r but the piece for the forestock would fit an h and r. so if you can find parts at a parts supplier like these they would work.

[seaboltm]

Bois D'arc, is also known as osage-orange. The name bois d'arc is French, meaning wood for bows. Native Americans did indeed prefer the wood for bow making, hence the name. It is darn hard. I would hate to checker it! Good luck drilling the stock bolt hole. You will have to sharpen that bit a few times.

[dilly]

I've never worked with the wood (though it does have a reputation for being very hard), but I find hedge apples (osage oranges) to be one of the most fun reactive targets. You'll have to shoot a few of those with the new stock just for the irony of it.

[FrankG]

Made a couple bows with it and boy does it dull tools and eat sandpaper !

[wills]

“In Arkansas, in the early19th century, a good Osage bow was worth a horse and a blanket.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera