A few months ago I glued up some walnut and Brazilian Cherry ... also known as Jatoba... to make a better carbine stock for my Marauder pistol. Like many I wanted a shorter length of pull, a way higher cheek weld and also more weight in the back of the carbine.
During that process I found an Ace folding stock mechanism on sale and decided to try to make it a folder.
I shelved the project for a while but decided to get back to it now that I have free time. I have a lot of projects going on and wish I had waited as I've made some mistakes and wish I would have gotten some more important projects behind me before getting back to this.
There is an entire strip of 1/4" Jatoba running through the length of the stock. The reason for it is that 1) I had it and 2) the P-Rod pistol frame is 1/4" thick so it ended up spacing the walnut pieces the right distance apart to slide over the pistol frame.
Because I used four different pieces of walnut I also have a thin vertical piece of Jatoba behind the folding stock mechanism. I was going to have a seam anyways and it wasn't a good place for the hinge so I figured I'd throw in some cut off pieces. My phone case much be full of sawdust so the pictures didn't come out great but you might see a faint vertical strip of Brazilian Cherry behind the hinge.
I wiped a bit of solvent onto the stock to show what the color might look like. The strip of Jatoba will be a much darker red once it ages and gets some sun exposure.
So the good news...
The cheek position and length of pull make this carbine feel so much better. The weight feels much better to me.
I think I have the hinge point further forward than I would with the adjustable AR stock adapter plus folding mechanism. I think I also have a much better folding mechanism. Or at least I did. More on that in a bit.
I have very little money in this project. I paid for the folding mechanism and I think I got it for around $45 shipped. Everything else was stuff I had laying around. I almost burned the walnut in a campfire last summer.
The bad news...
I built a mock up of the folding mechanism with some other scrap hardwood and was happy with the results. When I went to install it in the walnut I broke two threaded inserts and two screws. Getting frustrated I slathered JB Weld on both side of the hinge and clamped the thing together. I probably should have taken a short cooling off period as I did get some JB Weld in the mechanism and it is hard to operate now.
I wish I had put the hinge lower and further forward. I had a plan to do that but now that I've epoxied it in place it might mean destroying the hinge. Ideally I'd like a more comfortable place to put my thumb. I still have a lot of material to remove in that area so it may work out and I do have an idea for cutting the hinge out and laminating a new one back on with more Jatoba.
But even if this stays as a mostly fixed stock that is only occasionally folded it's such an improvement.
Last bit of bad news. I still have A LOT more sanding and routing to do.
During that process I found an Ace folding stock mechanism on sale and decided to try to make it a folder.
I shelved the project for a while but decided to get back to it now that I have free time. I have a lot of projects going on and wish I had waited as I've made some mistakes and wish I would have gotten some more important projects behind me before getting back to this.
There is an entire strip of 1/4" Jatoba running through the length of the stock. The reason for it is that 1) I had it and 2) the P-Rod pistol frame is 1/4" thick so it ended up spacing the walnut pieces the right distance apart to slide over the pistol frame.
Because I used four different pieces of walnut I also have a thin vertical piece of Jatoba behind the folding stock mechanism. I was going to have a seam anyways and it wasn't a good place for the hinge so I figured I'd throw in some cut off pieces. My phone case much be full of sawdust so the pictures didn't come out great but you might see a faint vertical strip of Brazilian Cherry behind the hinge.
I wiped a bit of solvent onto the stock to show what the color might look like. The strip of Jatoba will be a much darker red once it ages and gets some sun exposure.
So the good news...
The cheek position and length of pull make this carbine feel so much better. The weight feels much better to me.
I think I have the hinge point further forward than I would with the adjustable AR stock adapter plus folding mechanism. I think I also have a much better folding mechanism. Or at least I did. More on that in a bit.
I have very little money in this project. I paid for the folding mechanism and I think I got it for around $45 shipped. Everything else was stuff I had laying around. I almost burned the walnut in a campfire last summer.
The bad news...
I built a mock up of the folding mechanism with some other scrap hardwood and was happy with the results. When I went to install it in the walnut I broke two threaded inserts and two screws. Getting frustrated I slathered JB Weld on both side of the hinge and clamped the thing together. I probably should have taken a short cooling off period as I did get some JB Weld in the mechanism and it is hard to operate now.
I wish I had put the hinge lower and further forward. I had a plan to do that but now that I've epoxied it in place it might mean destroying the hinge. Ideally I'd like a more comfortable place to put my thumb. I still have a lot of material to remove in that area so it may work out and I do have an idea for cutting the hinge out and laminating a new one back on with more Jatoba.
But even if this stays as a mostly fixed stock that is only occasionally folded it's such an improvement.
Last bit of bad news. I still have A LOT more sanding and routing to do.
