Stock Tools

[Mojo]

I've seen way too many lever actions with cracked butt stocks in the area around the tang and want to do a little work on mine to ensure that there are no pressure points that might one day result in a crack. I'm familiar with the process of fitting and inletting the stock but would like some suggestions as to what tools to use. Is there a basic set of stock inletting tools available or do you have to buy them individually? Are there one or two tools that one would use more than others? Suggestions appreciated.

[C. Cash]

A dowel rod wrapped tightly with fine sandpaper? Just an idea.

[gary rice]

this is an interesting subject, especially to me at the moment as im in the process of inletting a buttstock to my 1895 cb. im using a round and a flat bastard cut file for almost all of it, and of course sandpaper. i bought some gouges but im not skilled enough to use them properly and o yeah, ive so far used a dremel tool a couple of times and im not very skilled at that either but so far have almost seated the action. so far it's a bigger job than i thought it would be but if your skilled with working with wood, unlike me im sure you'll do fine. by the way, what changes do you anticipate on doing to the tang area?

I've seen way too many lever actions with cracked butt stocks in the area around the tang and want to do a little work on mine to ensure that there are no pressure points that might one day result in a crack. I'm familiar with the process of fitting and inletting the stock but would like some suggestions as to what tools to use. Is there a basic set of stock inletting tools available or do you have to buy them individually? Are there one or two tools that one would use more than others? Suggestions appreciated.

[cutter]

I've built a few muzzle loaders. I'm not very good, either. The tools I use to do 90% of the inletting work are a 1/8 inch chisel, and a 1/4 inch gouge.

If you can find a piece of scrap wood to practice on, maybe a busted stock from a gusmith, it would be worth your time.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpfull, I'm learning too.

http://www.woodcraft.com

This is where I get most of my stuff from, as the local staff is very knowledgeable, and will not sell you something you don't need.

[Mojo]

Gary, the 1895 is of particular interest to me. I'm trying to focus on the area of the radius for the upper tang about 1/3 of the way back from the rear end of the receiver. This seems to be a problem area for a lot of Marlin .45-70's that I've seen. For some reason, this area makes contact before any other area of the stock and bears the brunt of recoil due to improper fitting of the stock.

Additionally, I need to purchase a replacement butt stock for an old Crescent 12ga. double barrel SxS and can tell right away that this will require a lot of hand work. I really need some good referrals on this project as well.

[Leverdude]

I know where your talking about.
What I got, that seems to work for me, was a set of little knives & scrapers from Brownells. Theres 2, one left & one right that are great at that shoulder & the end of the tangs. Files dont work good in either area & dremmils can get away. I get it close with a dremmil & then use the knives. With a little practice you can slice a nice curl off from each side. Sometimes an exacto knife comes in handy too.

[45-70-]

See if this helps.

http://www.treebonecarving.com/id21.html

[marlinman93]

Scrapers, and small chisels do best for me. I have no use for files on the inletting. Another very important item is some sort of blackening solution, or machinist's dye to coat the metal where i ontacts the wood. This will help identify areas that make too much contact.
Work extremely slow, and constantly trial fit the wood. If you don't you'll end up with something really ugly!

[gary rice]

right, it's called inletting black. i got mine from brownells.

Scrapers, and small chisels do best for me. I have no use for files on the inletting. Another very important item is some sort of blackening solution, or machinist's dye to coat the metal where i ontacts the wood. This will help identify areas that make too much contact.
Work extremely slow, and constantly trial fit the wood. If you don't you'll end up with something really ugly!

[Gene Dip]

I also use various dia dowels wrapped in sandpaper(prefer the black auto type) especially for concave surfaces. A thing I found to be very handy especially for such surfaces as the shadow edge of a Monte Carlo stock or any desired sharp corner whether an inside or outside corner is to cement strips of the above sandpaper onto wooden popsicle sticks. I keep one old pair of scissors on the bench for trimming the paper to the edge of the wooden stick. I have 11 grandchildren from age 3 to 27. So I manage to keep lots of the sticks on hand.

[Rusty]

I built quite a few scrapers for my own use out of the largest cut nails I could find. they are also called massonary nail in some areas. You can heat them with a propane torch to get them hot enough to work. Flaten them and bend them to the right angle, then sharpen the edges and mount them in a handle. You can make a half a dozen different shapes in less time that it takes to fill a Brownells order.

Rusty <><

[octagon]

Very small chisels called gravers chisels are available at a jewelers supply. These are well made (can not remember brand) and only require that you grind them to your specific purpose, I hollow grind mine and have about ten of them, some are very tiny - like 1/16. Such an outfit may also carry high end files (Grobet) that are quite good as well. I use this stuff in my shop where I do stringed instrument repair and occasional work on gun stocks.

[Gun Smith]

One very important aspect of stock inletting is to remember the tang tapers toward the butt. This means that there must not be ANY rearward movement of the tang in the wood at any time. The most common reason that buttstocks split, is that over time the tang screw elongates it's hole between the upper and lower tang. When drilling the screw hole between tangs after the inletting is finished, it is critical that this hole have a good tight fit. The screw itself acts as a wedge to create the split. The only way to prevent a split is to be sure the tang screw is ALWAYS TIGHT, and to check every once in a while to see if there is any ovaling of the screw hole. Secondly, cutting a small clearance -1/16" at the tang (s) tip into the wood will give a little safety margin to help avoid a split. The common practice of setting a rifle on it's butt plate and the use of oil in the action, over time, soaks this hole and softens it. I have seen some gunsmiths add a tube sleeve between the tangs over the screw that allow really tightning the tang screw down, but I've never used this method.