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Crooked stock blank?

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jrmflintlock

45 Cal.
Joined
May 12, 2010
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Location
Nothern Nevada
I have a maple stock blank that has developed a slight twist. Do I need to try and straiten it out before I start cutting into it or do I plane the twist out and inlet the barrel. There is enough wood to just inlay the barrel. Would there be a problem with doing that. Never worked with a crooked blank.
The twist is very slight.

What say the group?

Thanks for the help!!!
 
If the plank is thick enough I would plane it flat. In my younger life I was in a hurry to start my build and worked with a plank that had a slight twist. After I got the rifle finished I noticed that the gun was "crooked" and I was disappointed in the way it turned out. I now use my jointer and surface plainer to true up my planks on three sides before I start my builds. Just the way I now do things your mileage may vary :v .
 
Let it set till you are ready to build,might get worse or better,never know.Either way then you plane it true and go for it.
 
Is the blank dry? If dry it has warped out plane and build. If it has not finished drying let it don't rush it.

Who said it was cut correctly and would not warp? My experience buying fresh cut blanks is who knows but God.

If it was a cutout blank the plank was cut to shape to soon IMHO.
 
If not in a hurry, I would press it. Likely you have some kind of flat surface or table.
Place it on a good flat surface and then stack a bunch of stuff on top of it. Placing the blank into the middle of a stack of lumber would be ideal.
Of course do this in a nice and dry area and do not put the blank on concrete. Wood will absorb water out of a concrete floor like a sponge....especially in a basement.

Storeit like this for a while.

When ready to build.....plane the lock side flat as you can.
 
I've had it for a couple years. We had an especially wet spring and I suspect it got wet, where I had it stored sprung a leak. I don't believe it got directly wet but who knows. The warp it up near the muzzle. The lock area is still nice and flat. Thank goodness. I plan to build a .36 caliber rifle. The barrel is a 36 inch strait 7/8 barrel. I'll see if I can get picture.

Thanks guys!
 
Kansas Volunteer said:
Hand planes. They're traditional.
Power equipment for us old folks -- I did the hand planing thing for many years - no more for me thank you :v
 
Heck I'm old, too. I'll be 69 pretty darned soon. I have a full range of Record planes, from block planes up to No 8. They make my hands ache, but there is something special about watching them turn up a beautiful curl. Sometimes it's just easier to go with a muscle powered tool than to take time to set up power tools.
 
Kansas Volunteer said:
Heck I'm old, too. I'll be 69 pretty darned soon. I have a full range of Record planes, from block planes up to No 8. They make my hands ache, but there is something special about watching them turn up a beautiful curl. Sometimes it's just easier to go with a muscle powered tool than to take time to set up power tools.

You poor old boys. :(
I'll cry for ye. :haha:
 
One thing we don't know, is where you are physically. Generally, summer is the time of year that is the most humid, and, as wood is continually in-gassing and out-gassing moisture seeking equilibrium, this time of year is likely when the wood has the most moisture content. Inlets cut this time of year to be very tight will be REALLY tight when you check them again in February, and the reverse is also true. thus, a warp that's there in the end of September may NOT be there at the end of winter. With LR fore ends, because the stock and wood is so thin (generally < 1/8" in all dimensions), and, because it is the barrel that sets the the tone, if ther is a slight (and I mean slight) warp or twist to it, the barrel will generally straighten it out. The best thing for you now is to shape it as much as you can WITHOUT inletting either the barrel or RR groove, and leave yourself as much flexibility as possible for when you are going to perform those tasks. A lot of time, wood has some internal stresses that aren't revealed until a lot of the scrap is cut away. That is particularly true of highly figured wood, like crotch wood.
 
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