Some rifles I have stocked or built

[nztimb]

The same store sells fabric belt scraps too. They are zombie green and last forever. I use them shoe shine style like you say. Have to be real careful though. I’m, apparently, very right handed and have made some lopsided shapes with this method. Very useful in getting the handle shape near the bowl on spoons.

I guess I am a bit fortunate in that regard as I seem to be reasonably ambidextorous which may be because my father was left handed and as a boy I tried to do things the way he did. Even shot left handed for a few years.

 

[nztimb]

First job today was to cut the spacer material round the butt pad and fit it to the stock and it was when I ground the toe that I realised the mistake the customer had made when he asked me to add a 1/8 spacer to the pad as the grinding revealed the spacer that was part of the pad but hidden under the surface layer of rubber. Too late to do anything about now though.
Next was to mark in the cutting lines from the butt pad width down to the grip cap width and through the wrist out to the full width again at the front of the tang and cut them on the bandsaw.

With some prelinary work on the comb and the front of the grip the line for the transition from grip to butt was drawn in

and rasped down with coarse rat tail rasp, refined with a bastard cutand then the rear of the grip could be shaped before starting on the rest of the butt.

The tools used to this stage and for all the main shaping are the fine side of the farriers rasp, the (very expensive) hand stitched french 1/2 round wood rasp and again a bastard cut 1/2 round rasp.

With it sanded first with 80 grit emery then on to 180grit paper it started to look like a rifle when it was all put together again.

 

[nztimb]

A pic of the stock wetted to raise the grain which was sanded at 350, repeated twice at 600 and a pic with the second coat of sanded in alkanet oil. Grain is filled so another coat of alkanet oil before the real finishing can be started. Still giving it at least 48 hours betwen applications with it hanging in the warm kitchen