Silent said:
Thank you everyone for your insight. Everyone answered the questions and reservations I had about those bench top saws, so that's safely out of my mind.
I was interested in how many recommended a jig saw, or a hand saw. Should I pass on a bandsaw, at least in the mean time until I work out more uses for one, I'll look into either using a jig saw or hand saw. If I leave a bit more of a buffer, I think I could get this thing going quicker, and put the money into some better hand tools.
Does anyone have any advice, or lessons learned from shaping a stock with a handsaw and/or jig saw?
for a first build? just
cut way way way outside your outline. you only need two lines, one to determine the length, and one to determine the side profile. The experienced builders will hog out a bunch of cuts, but stick to these first two lines for your first build. the side profile can be cut with a hacksaw by following your line till the spine bottoms out and then come in at a different angle and intercepting it: similar to slicing a pie. same thing with a handsaw, just sharper angles. this slicing the pie with a hacksaw will also get you your rough profile cut for your buttstock (but that cut is probably 150+ hours away)I get my blocks of curly maple from the log cabin shop. (gun stock wood has to go through some long, bunch of years, curing process in a climate controlled facility). pick a school you want to emulate, arrange your parts on the block, keep particular attention to how your lock's pan (I only build flinters) will eventually line up with the face of your breach plug (the part at the end of the threads)once it is properly fitted to your barrel and how your trigger will intercept the sear. mark these lines off, make a paper template to remind you of their location as you remove wood. other areas to be mindful of: location of ramrod channel below eventual lock inlet, wrist transition...much of the detail comes as you/after you inlet, the initial shaping is just getting the correct proportions down. tack as many pictures of the rifle you are trying to emulate to the walls of your work area.
definitely buy a copy of:
Alexander's the gunsmith of grenville county and maybe Dixon's the art of building the Pennsylvania longrifle
and also:
Hershel House' dvd set Building a Kentucky Rifle (ignore the bandsaw part, the man is a wizard, you will get into trouble hogging out that much wood)
the most important part is properly seating your breach plug so that: the face makes contact with the raised portion of the rifling, while the top flat of the tang is level with the top flat of your barrel, while the top and bottom rear surface of the breach plug makes perfect contact with the rear of the barrel and that the threaded portion is longer than the bore is wide (should be way longer because you only make gentle passes and remove tiny bits of metal dust until it is seated corectly) this is only if you have to fit it because you did not get it fitted when you bought it.
man I really opened pandoras box responding to this topic
there is a nice topic a few down titled "smith tools" that covers stuff you need. outside of that...probably a synthetic hammer, a pin punch, either a small lock spring vise or vise-grips, a good rasp, a few files mil cut/b@st@rd cut, half round, triangle, a few swiss files. surform. the only power tool you need is a hand drill (need is used loosely because you could just get a period hand crank but those are tricky drilling through metal, I know bc I own a couple). taps to button up your side plate to lock and breech plug tang to trigger plate, metal counter sink bit, 48 inch long drill bit for ramrod channel inlet, calipers (digital are nice, but you could just get the old fashioned kind), carbide tipped scribe, obviously some rulers...probably missed some stuff, but this is a good start. should probably just delete this wall of text horror show, but...