Taipan 1st Custom Stock - Taipan Veteran II - Step by Step

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bowwild

bowwild

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Dec 28, 2015
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Lawrenceburg, KY
On my original thread as I was deciding to get the Taipan Veteran II, I mentioned I might try to make a hardwood stock. I started on this project yesterday. I've never attempted a gun stock before, but I do make furniture and repair same for my two grown children. I also make wooden gun cradles which I've posted for sale here and there.

1. The first step was to mill up a piece of 2 1/4" thick kiln-dried walnut, 23" long by about 6" wide. I've left myself a bit of wiggle room on all the dimensions. Then I traced the outline of the Taipan on the blank.

2. The second step was to attempt the make or break cut, the air tube channel. The channel is 1.57" (40MM). I bought a 1.5" nose bit for my router. I practiced on an identically dimensioned blank of eastern red cedar. It worked!! I marked a centerline in the top of the blank from the muzzle end to where the inlet cuts will be more narrow than 1.5". I then cut that centerline about 1/2" deep on my squared up table saw. This would serve as a guide and "encourage" the router bit to behave. I cut the channel in 4 passes to go easy and sneak up on the cut. The finished channel is about 1/32" narrower than I want. I'll have to use sandpaper on a dowel to remove a bit more wood from the channel to properly seat the tube.

I'm pretty pleased. The whole project would have been nixed if I couldn't manage that router cut. Frankly, the router is a bit scary to this hobbyist :cool: . A parallel-sided air tube is far easier to inlet than a tapered powder burner rifle barrel. You can see my planer made a small chip in the end of the top of the butt stock. Fortunately, I oversized the blank and the stock will dip down in that areas as well. The chip won't impact anything.

TV 1st Cut Barrel Channel.jpg


Next steps:
3. Sand that air tube channel wider
4. Create a template for the final shape I'm after. I want much sleeker and more skeletonization.
5. Mark and drill action/stock screws before I begin shaping to have square faces to best center the holes. This is a very important step as the remainder of the inletting works from that action screw reference point.
6. Mark all areas to be inletted for the action and use Forstner bits and chisels to complete the inletting. I'm glad all the action inletting is square and not as complicated as a powder burner.
7. Using Forstner bits hog out all the areas to be skeletonized, including the slot for the charging handle.
8. Cut to very near final shape.
9. Using various hand tools and sand paper contour and prepare the stock for oil finish.
10. Finish with rubbed and polished oil product.

If this goes well I'd like to make another out of Eastern Red Cedar and another out of Cherry. I think it would be cool to have a "trap door" in the buttstock to hold a mag or two.
 
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I used a router table. You bet, no way I'd try to wrestle such a large bit (1.5" in diameter) with a handheld. I use hand held for edge work only. I've learned most of what I know about using my machines on Youtube and by practice. I don't watch YouTube videos if the creator has missing digits. :cool:
 
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Worked on the Custom Stock today for a bit. By the way, this is the first time I've ever done a build along, but I've watched a lot of them by other folks and....well you know what Motel I stayed in last night? :cool:

I'm skipping Step 3 for a bit to keep the air tube inlet from getting too thin, too early in the project. So I worked on step 4, 5, 6, & 7.

I created a template out of 1/2" pine. I may extend the forend a bit longer since I have room. I also located and drilled the action hole screws. These action holes are very crucial and must be exactly located to make sure the action fits. I spent quite a while doing this. I did get in a bit of a hurry and cut a bit from the stock which made the action hole locations more difficult. Duh, I knew better, but....

Then I began using Forstner bits to hog out the square sided action inlet that runs pretty much the entire length of the top of the stock behind the air tube. Again to provide a guide for Forster bit placement I cut a 1/8" deep and wide kerf down the middle of the top of the stock using my table saw. This keeps the 1" and 1 1/8" Forstner bits in a straight line. Then a lot of chisel work to square up the channel. I'll have to use sandpaper on a square rod to smooth out the channel. There are two area that are a bit more open which I'll have to chisel out a bit wider. I could have used straight-walled router bits to cut the channel but I was concerned about the thinness of the stock walls and wanted more control using a drill press and vise.

My only concern now are those action screw holes. I'm pretty sure I'll have to drill one out a bit larger (+1/8") in order to make up for a very small placement error. I'm using hollow aluminum 1820 arrow shafts as "bushings" in the action holes through which the action screws fit perfectly. This will prevent wear in those holes.

One of the more useful tools is my digital caliper for measuring width, length, and depth of inlets.

Template to get a "feel" for shape.
TV Custom Stock Template.jpg


Two Action Holes. The holes are in the center of the channel, even though the picture makes them appear above center.
TV Custom Stock Overhead Action HOles.jpg


This is the Forstner bit rough inlet for the action. There is still a bit more rough inletting to do as a couple places have to go a bit deeper.
TV Custom Inset Channel.jpg


Another angle of the Forstner bit work.
TV Inset Channel 2.jpg

So far so good. There really isn't a lot of wood in a stock. Therefore it is difficult to get very creative. My goal is to have a more streamlined stock and that it not be fragile.
 
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Looks great so far. I made some screws without heads for marking the location of the action screws. I just bought screws from the local Home Depot that were the right thread for the gun (a P35 in my case) and cut the heads off and then sharpened one end into a point. I then thread them into the gun and lower the action into the stock to precisely mark the position of the screws. I have to have the inletting done first, of course. In your case you could leave the screws sticking out plenty and see if they go into the holes you've made.

If your holes are not exactly where you want them, and maybe if they are in the case of the rear screw, you might want to drill them out to something like 1/2 inch or 5/8th inch and glue in a piece of dowel then drill that dowel piece after the glue dries. I like to do the rear screw hole this way because I want the head to be recessed into the stock and I have found no good way to make that recess inside the cut out area of the stock behind the grip. With a dowel I just leave the end recessed. I epoxy a washer in these holes so the dowel doesn't show and the screw has something to bear against.

You may find it works better to use your big router bit to open up the area for the air tube the small amount you need to instead of trying to do it with sandpaper. You would need to cut the two sides separately. Carefully. The bit is more likely to make a smooth curve than at least my hands would with sandpaper.

I cut the external curves with my bandsaw and the internal with my Bosch jig saw. I drill too when I can, the drill press makes a straight through hole more reliably than even a good jig saw. But I don't start shaping until the inletting is complete.

After the shape is done I pretty much sand the stock to shape. For gross removal a 80 grit flapper wheel on a right angle grinder works great. I have used a 40 but I found it difficult to control. The 80 is slower but more controllable. After the flapper wheel I switch to a random orbit sander with 80 grit then work my way up. On areas where these tools do not work, like around the grip, I use little drum sanders in a drill. I also use a Wen stationary oscillating drum sander especially on the inside curves.

I've never found a good inexpensive source of a butt plate but more recently I've seen cheap ones on Aliexpress. I used good double sided tape to secure synthetic rubber that is about 1/8th thick to the butt for a butt plate. Whatever you use it should be in place as you do the final shaping to it ends up being flush.

I like Osmo polyx oil for a finish. I've used it a lot on furniture. It's fairly durable and very easy to use. It is also easy to touch up spots if the stock gets a ding.
 
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JIimD,
Excellent insight and advice! I've used that dowel techinique on furniture, but I had not thought about using a washer to cover the dowel. Great idea!

I might try, on the practice piece, shifting the large round nose bit a 1/16th on each side of the channel I made for the air tube. That would be a much nicer finish than sanding. I am so very close though and my fit is actually tighter than the OEM fit and it is pretty good. I might also try a straight bit (trim bit) on the sides of the long rectangle inlet for the action behind the air tube. You are certainly right about the much better, even job.

I used a bandsaw and jig-saw to make the 1/2" thick template, and my oscillating sander as well. I will use those on the main stock when it is time. I haven't thought much about the butt plate yet. I do have a handful of hard plastic butt plates, but I could use one of the cut to shape jobs. I will definitely have something in place before I shape and sand that area though. I remember not doing that about 50 years ago when I refinished a Browning A-bolt rimfire and got a nice (not!) rounded edge - yuck.

I don't feel a lot of pressure on this project. I bought an 2"x8"x8' kiln dried walnut board. The figure is nothing special. If I mess up in a way I can't fix, I'll just start over on another 23" piece. Frankly, I hope this goes well and I discover some short-cuts and fine-tune my skills to maybe turn out a handful to sell.

I'm going to have to learn how to stipple because that's what I'm going to do for the grip . I'm not going to tackle checkering.

I also want to use some gouges to add a bit of detail to the flanks of the stock.
 
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