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
. 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.
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.
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
. 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. 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.
