Can I use this for bottom molding groove?

[squib load]

Will this work on bottom butt stock molding?Thanks,squib

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

You could,

If you look closely at an original you will notice that generaly there are no parallel lines around the butt stock area, everything tapers to draw the eye foreward.

 

[bioprof]

I use the same set-up to make a scratch along the forestock to start a groove. I deepen it with other tools though. You really have to be careful so as to not go off track though. Go slow and easy.

 

[squib load]

My thanks to both of you.Prof,I saw your setup.That is where I got the idea.What do you use on the butt molding?Thanks,squib

 

[tg]

"If you look closely at an original you will notice that generaly there are no parallel lines around the butt stock area, everything tapers to draw the eye foreward"

It looks like some follow the bottom of the buttstock parralel for some distance then tape off RCA #21/#26 look to be as such.Some are defintley tapers the full length, I free handed the lines on a swamped barrel forestock and used a tool on some straight ones

 

[Vaino]

The lower butt molding tapers from the buttplate to the forward termination, so I pencil the outline and knife in, then back cut. After the molding width is done and if a "bead" is wanted, it's penciled in and cut in w/ a checkering file and the contour is rounded. Below is an example of a lower butt molding w/ a bead. What you have pictured isn't a proper tool for outlining this. ....Fred

 

[rich pierce]

Agree 100%. Everyone I know starts the lower buttstock molding by hand then uses some tool or another to smooth and "regularize" the molding (checkering tool, bent file, etc).

I have thought of a way to employ a scratch-tool and get the molding to taper from the buttplate to the guard, but haven't followed through (too much work). Perhaps a fella could make a tapered piece of flexible material as narrow as the toeline and put the thick end at the guard and stick it down with double-sided tape. That way the scratch tool would start cutting a wide distance from the toe line at the butt then be drawn farther away at the wrist. If I made 100 rifles it might be worthwhile to make the setup.

 

[davec2]

Rick, it doesn't take much time to do. I made a small scratch stock to put in the butt stock molding. It is just a small, formed scraper with a different contour on each end. Since I did not want the molding to run parallel to the underside of the stock, I ran the tool against a straight edge held onto the surface of the stock with a commercially available double sided mounting tape (1/2 wide by ~1/16 thick) that holds very well but peals back off cleanly and easily. Once the scraper is run along the edge once or twice, there is enough form scraped into the stock so that the tool will easily follow the groove and really not need the support against the straight edge. In this case the lower edge of the stock was straight, but if it is curved, you can band saw a quick template out of hardboard to give you the curve you need. Easy. Quick.

 

[tg]

Again, are there no originals that run parralel to the butstock for a distance before the taper begins?

 

[rich pierce]

Lots of variation. Often the taper of the molding line is subtle. Take the Free Born rifle, an early one, for example. Tapered or not? Depends on point of view.

How about the Dickert snake rifle?

How about this Angstadt?

 

[rich pierce]

@Davec, wonderful work as always!

 

[Stophel]

Lehigh guns often have the moulding lines parallel with the bottom of the stock. :wink:

 

[squib load]

Hi,I saw some of you drew the line with a pencil.So I grabbed my pencil and made a line.the first line I used a wooden dowel and sandpaper to create a depresson.On top of that I made a groove.It looks great.All it takes is nerve.squib

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

All it takes is nerve.squib

:thumbsup:

 

[fm tim]

Cut a piece of wood that is as long as the length of the butt stock from the end of the trigger plate to the butt plate. Make it about 1/8 inch thick at one end and thick enough at the other end to get the taper you want. Lets say make the thicker end 1/4 inch thick. That will produce a 1/8 inch taper.
Clamp it to the bottom of the butt stock with the THICK end near the trigger.
Now use the scratching tool to mark the line on the moulding.
The result is a line that is near to the toe line at the trigger, and further away at the butt plate.

 

[squib load]

Thanks,thats a good idea,squib

 

[tg]

Thanks Chris, I thought I had seen this feature on a few originals,. it is hard to tel in photos if the taper is very slight.It almost seemed to be treated as an absolute on this post which puzzled me.