A Stock Question

[Beekeeper]

We do not have a stock section so thought I would ask my question here if can do it without incuring the wrath of the great Master Gunsmith.

I have an Isralli Mauser in .308.
It came to me with furniture unfit to be redone.
I (ME) made a Manlicher stock for it.
Over time the long limber end on the Manlicher stock has seen fit to warp .
I want to heat it and straighten it as much as possible.
Do I place the heat on the side I want it to bend towards or on the oposite side?
Remove all finish before doing it?

I am not a gunsmith and did not stay at a Holiday Inn last night but have been making my own stocks for many years.
This is however the first Manlicher stock I have ever made so that is why I am seeking advice.


beekeeper

[Casting Timmy]

Good luck with your stock, I'm not much with wood yet. I am trying to get better, but I just don;t do that well with it. It will be interesting to see what people say, someone should be able to help you out.

I'll have to keep an eye out on the responces.

[waksupi]

If you took off as much wood as your should, they are not hard to bend. I generally bend the stock up to put some pressure on the muzzle end of the barrel in a Mannlicher.
Use a heat gun and be careful, you may not hurt the finish. Get it hot enough to be too hot to handle. I have the stock mounted in a vise, and when the wood is hot, hang a weight from the end of the stock. I like to try and deflect it twice as much asI want, as it will return some when the weight comes off. Once you have the weight on, go do something else until the next day, let it cool completely.

[John 242]

I don't know if this will be helpful to you in so far as bending a Mannlicher fore-end, but I thought that this video gives a decent example of stock bending. Jack Rowe is the instructor in the video and he is a little hard for me to understand at times, but this video has helped me understand the process.

Brownells Jack Rowe Stock Bending Video- via Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZBtS_WlcG4)

Part II (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnRgaiU5GEs&feature=relmfu)