An idea for those of you who are interested in making a stock and are willing to sacrifice some quality for convenience. I'm just using two boards and routing out some parts so when I glue it later it forms the inlet
Stock making short cut
- Thread starter skeeekerz
- Start date
I one day want to make my own stock, something not ordinary, but I dread the amount of man hours that I know will have to go into it. Bless those such as yourself that partake!
-Matt
-Matt
Upvote 0
I once made a stock that way, not with 2, but with 3 boards, to avoid most of the routing wortk.
It’s a convenient way to make a stock, easier than traditional (the inletting part). Even more convenient when the inletting is complex (deep) such as in some bullpups.
If you carefully match the 2 boards, and carefully glue them together, the final aspect of natural wood might be pleasing. If you mess, you can always paint it with something like truck bedliner, which is cool.
It’s a convenient way to make a stock, easier than traditional (the inletting part). Even more convenient when the inletting is complex (deep) such as in some bullpups.
If you carefully match the 2 boards, and carefully glue them together, the final aspect of natural wood might be pleasing. If you mess, you can always paint it with something like truck bedliner, which is cool.
Upvote 0
Same thing I did on my previous one. I wonder how this would work on laminat. I'd assume you could hide the joints pretty good then
Upvote 0
My last one took me 12-13 hours. If you've done a bit of woodworking before I'd encourage you to just do it
Upvote 0
That's really well done. Mine isn't gonna come close but as long as it looks decent and feels better than the original synthetic
Upvote 0
I have made three gunstocks for my P35s recently and two were laminated. I did it not to simplify the inletting but because I needed a blank about 1 3/4 thick. The air tube is about 33mm and the blank needs to be significantly thicker. I do not do inletting on pieces already cut to shape, however. I think it is much easier to inlet a square block of wood. But I see nothing at all wrong with doing the inletting prior to glueup. The gun you are making the stock for determines what you need to do. For my P35s, they need a slot for the trigger guard to go through about 1/2 inch wide. They need a semi circular groove for the air tube. I use a router bit in my router table. The trigger mechanism requires a long slot to get to the back and the action needs a wider slot. I make the trigger guard and the other slots with my Festool Domino XL. I wouldn't buy it for this but I have one and it is an easy way to make slots. Easy except for getting the fence right. But it works and is quick. I drop the action into the stock blank and make sure it fits before I cut the blank to the shape I want.
I've used forstner bits in a drill press to do inletting before too. Works fine. A plunger router would do what I am doing with my Domino. Lots of ways to do it.
When it comes time to shape the stock I think a 80 grit flapper wheel on a right angle grinder is the way to go. Very quick stock removal and you can be somewhat artistic about how you grind off the wood. I tried a coarser wheel initially and it is faster but I think the 80 is fast enough and harder to mess up with. I pretty much just sand the stock into shape. I have a large Bosch random orbit sander with a turbo mode that I use for some things. Others need a sanding drum in a drill or a drill press. I'll put a picture in of the mahogany stock. It is laminated of three layers planned down out of old church pews.
I've used forstner bits in a drill press to do inletting before too. Works fine. A plunger router would do what I am doing with my Domino. Lots of ways to do it.
When it comes time to shape the stock I think a 80 grit flapper wheel on a right angle grinder is the way to go. Very quick stock removal and you can be somewhat artistic about how you grind off the wood. I tried a coarser wheel initially and it is faster but I think the 80 is fast enough and harder to mess up with. I pretty much just sand the stock into shape. I have a large Bosch random orbit sander with a turbo mode that I use for some things. Others need a sanding drum in a drill or a drill press. I'll put a picture in of the mahogany stock. It is laminated of three layers planned down out of old church pews.
Upvote 0
Agree. Shaping is to be done after the inletting.
Note: I don’t know as for now... but at least 10 years ago you could buy a BIG (thick) walnut gunstock blank for $50. American black walnut in basic grade. But that piece of wood would produce a finished stock prettier than 98% of all you see as “walnut stocks” in the production (air)guns. So, getting a thick blank is really not so expensive. I say this, because given all the hours of labor one has to invest into the job, one might consider getting “real” gunstock wood first.
I love woodworking!!
Upvote 0
I like walnut but if you go back to flintlocks they were stocked in any of several hardwoods. Maple was popular, especially maple with figure. Cherry was used and, of course, walnut. All three woods can have plain grain or figured grain. It is best to have figure in the butt section because that wood can be less stable. One drawback of walnut is it sun bleaches. It loses it's dark color very gradually in sunlight. If you store your guns away from sunlight it should not affect the stock but if it is stored in a glass fronted cabinet in sunlight it will. I used softwood scraps for the first stock I made for my P35s because I had them (zero cost) and I was a little unsure how it would come out. It works and is on my P35-25 but I wanted a longer reach to the trigger so I modified it and used bondo to help fill in the addition so I painted it black when I was done. Works fine but not my best effort.
I also had a long piece of 8/4 cherry from building furniture for my house. It is wide enough for P35 stocks and is plenty thick enough. Cherry darkens from sunlight so it starts out kind of light colored but gets about as dark as mahogany with enough sunlight. It is fine grained. The piece I have is unfigured but has a little dark gum marks in it. I cut a piece off where I could get a stock without sap wood for this first one but if I make another out of this piece of wood it will have some sapwood. Cherry sapwood is like walnut sap wood. It is white like maple. My daughter likes cherry furniture with some sapwood in it, it isn't ugly, but not everybody likes it. Here is my Cherry P35 stock. (it is sitting on a table with a cherry top, it gives you and idea how the stock will darken)
I also had a long piece of 8/4 cherry from building furniture for my house. It is wide enough for P35 stocks and is plenty thick enough. Cherry darkens from sunlight so it starts out kind of light colored but gets about as dark as mahogany with enough sunlight. It is fine grained. The piece I have is unfigured but has a little dark gum marks in it. I cut a piece off where I could get a stock without sap wood for this first one but if I make another out of this piece of wood it will have some sapwood. Cherry sapwood is like walnut sap wood. It is white like maple. My daughter likes cherry furniture with some sapwood in it, it isn't ugly, but not everybody likes it. Here is my Cherry P35 stock. (it is sitting on a table with a cherry top, it gives you and idea how the stock will darken)
Upvote 0
A couple design changes and quite a few hours later. Coming up on the last stretch. Need to do quite a bit of sanding and the trigger gaurd
Upvote 0
Looks like you can extend the LOP and also raise the cheek piece. Nice features. I make stocks in part to get the rifle to fit me. With an adjustable I wouldn't have to make them. The hand grip looks like the diameter is smaller than I like but if it fits you then it's the right size.
Upvote 0
Sweet! I plan on making a new stock for this beeman 1358 pump pup I'm making.
I did make a bullpup kit for my disco carbine, but I couldn't get the linkage just right and gave up because of the rear bolt setup.
I did make a bullpup kit for my disco carbine, but I couldn't get the linkage just right and gave up because of the rear bolt setup.
Upvote 0
Understandable. The hand grip is bigger than it looks because the whole thing is bigger than it looks. I did some modifications to the trigger which brought it a bit farther back. Then I got the grip slightly too far back. Couple that with a stock made to fit a full size guy and I've got quite a long rig. Bought a Notos for something more compact
Upvote 0
It's a great way to build a stock, makes the job considerably easier. Also able to create hidden voids to lighten and balance, storage of magazines etc. Also a laminated stock by its construction is more stable as regards shrinkage and warping.
Upvote 0
Hey what's up Beau?! Yeah, been good man. That is a good name for it lol. It's a hefty bitch, maybe name it bullplump!
Upvote 0
Same ole thing, finally getting moved back into our house so I may actually get to play with my hobbies again.
Bullplump is even better. The more characteristics you can get into a simple name the better!
Bullplump is even better. The more characteristics you can get into a simple name the better!
Upvote 0