inletting where to remove material

[farmbif]

I got an unfinished stock for a lever gun and its too tight to slide in to the tangs. I was thinking of ways to figure out where walnut needs to be removed to get it to fit. what kind of markers are used to identify the tight spots.

[cub45]

i use a candle and smoke the metal parts , the black will rub off on the wood , that's what needs to be taken down. Go slow, taking your time and it all will fit.

kurt

[Reverend Recoil]

I have coated receivers and trigger guards with candle and kerosene lamp soot to mark the tight spots for scraping. It works. The last two M1 Garand stocks I fitted I used Permatex Prussian blue. It is available at most auto parts stores. One tube is enough for fitting a dozen gunstocks.

https://www.permatex.com/products/specialized-maintenance-repair/rebuilders-aids/permatex-prussian-blue/

[SSGOldfart]

A simple Bic lighter and smoke the metal parts them remove what 's touching. Yep go really slow and you may have to smoke it a few times before you get the stock to fit.

[country gent]

I use a carbide sight smoker to blacken the tangs metal and then insert and remove the marks on the inletting. Its a slow process. Watch the Prussian blues and scraping blues as the oil in them can soften wood. Lipstick is wax based and works but can build up to a thicker than desired coat.

[BombDoc]

.. and a really, really sharp blades!

I use scalpels for tight corners!

[22cf45]

Well, you have to read the black unless you want unsightly gaps along the tang which will happen if you continually remove all marks. Remove only the heavily marked spots.
Phil

[RU shooter]

One common thing that leaves serious soot is masking tape , rip some off roll it up and light the end of it and smokes like crazy . I used to use it before I bought a carbide smoker when shooting highpower.

[deltaenterprizes]

Lipstick works!

[Fishoot]

If you don't happen to wear lipstick, you can also use red oil paint in the squeeze tubes that artists use. An old smith told me about that one. He likes red too; maybe gunsmiths wear lipstick?[smilie=l:

[John Boy]

I was thinking of ways to figure out where walnut needs to be removed to get it to fit. what kind of markers are used to identify the tight spots.
Mark the tang with liquid Prussian Blue - high spots rub the bluing off onto the wood

[beemer]

And just a reminder, leave a little gap at the back of the tang so the recoil doesn't split the stock.

[waksupi]

When inletting, although you see marks at the top edge of the inlet, be absolutely sure you have all lower contact areas dealt with first. If you take off the top of the inletting, you will find you were removing false marks, and end up with gaps.

[2152hq]

I got an unfinished stock for a lever gun and its too tight to slide in to the tangs. I was thinking of ways to figure out where walnut needs to be removed to get it to fit. what kind of markers are used to identify the tight spots.

Assuming you have a Winchester/Marlin type lever action, start off with the lower tang removed from the frame altogether.
Just work at seating the upper tang w/frame into the stock.
It's much easier to handle as you can lower the tang into the wood initially to start removing the high spots along the upper tang. This does away with sliding the stock full length onto both the upper and lower tangs at once and getting a lot of false markings along the way.

Once the upper tang is seated back in pretty good, then you can start sliding it back little by little and in doing so get the frame to mate up with the head of the stock.
Don't be tempted to lower the tang deeper and deeper into it's inlet just because you see the wood on the bottom of the inlet 'marked' with your smoke or lipstick marker.
If you need to lower the the entire assembly later, you can do so. Cut it too low now and you'll be gluing in wood strips or using fibreglass.

When the upper tang and frame is set, assemble the lower tang to the frame and then procede to inlet the lower tang into the wood. You know the upper is not needing any more work, so use it to guide the lower in and back.
I leave the frame assembled with the hammer in place.
When I place the lower tang assembly on to complete the inletting, it is the 'assembly'..the mainspring & screw are in place and are hooked up to the hammer.
That way you can do the inletting and be sure of removing any wood that needs to be gone to insure that the mechanism works correctly.

I still use the black stock makers stuff in the little jar for spotting in,,Jerrows Inletting Black.
Just a dab on a toothbrush and brush the parts with it. Just a thin haze of the stuff on the surface, you don't need much, you don't want much. The latter will give you false high spot markings and lots of gaps and head scratching.
You shouldn't have to replenish the brush at all during the job. Just rebrush the parts every time before 'spotting in' to get a good marking.

Don't drill the tang screw hole till you are sure you are done. Then mark it carefully for center. Then move the center just a few .000" back toward the butt of the stock and drill it . Use a center pin on a drill press table so your drill follows perfectly.
Moving the tang screw hole just a few .000" back will create a 'draw' effect when the tang screw is put in place and tightened up. It will pull the stock and the frame together.
Don't over do the off-set. Just a few .000 is all you need. The tang screw is usually tapered at the upper section also to help apply the same effect.

Some pre-carve stocks are already drilled for the tang screw and when you are done inletting you may find that their tang screw hole does not line up with the hole in your tangs.
Simply drill out the existing tang screw hole with a decent size drill bit and plug it with a hardwood dowel glued in place. You want a dowel of large size so your new hole can (if possible) go entirely through the new dowel and not overlap the dowel and the stock wood. There's a chance of runout with that. sometimes it can't be helped and you just have to be real careful drilling.
Use a walnut, beech, oak ect dowel. Avoid the softer 'craft' wood dowels like willow, pine, ect. The lable on the dowels in the DIY store usually tells the species.