-
Final photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock.
Happy New Year everyone!
I was stuck home after some minor sinus surgery, so I decided to try making a HBR Stock for my Savage Target Action based rifle to keep myself busy. Please understand that I have no formal woodworking training and I may just throw the stock out at some point if I don't like the way it's going. I thought some of you might get a kick out of my folly. I'll add photos as the project progresses
I started by downloading a few stock photos and working with them in Microsoft Paint to make a paper template.
Since this may just end up being firewood I am investing as little as possible in this project. So far I purchased a sheet of 18mm 4x8 standard Lauan from Loews, enough for 4 stock blanks, and a couple bottles of interior/exterior wood glue. That brings the total invested in this stock so far to about $15. I know this wood is not exterior rated and I don’t even know if it will hold up longterm. I'm not going to count the cost of the tools used, since I had most of them before starting this project, but I did purchase a few inexpensive router bits on eBay.
Like I said I'm just a little bored and I don't want to waste anyone’s time. I know I'm not the only one out there that's given this a try or at least thought about giving it a try.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1464.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1465.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1463.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1470.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1469.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1466.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1468.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1467.jpg
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Looks like time well spent to me, I'll be following along as I have thought about this many times.
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Looks good to me, keep up the good work. Where'd you get the laminate blank? I have thought of ordering one from Bingham archery products, a bit of a throwback to my bow building days.
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
I made the blank myself out of 18mm plywood. The main body is 3 layers and the forearm will be 5 layers. I glued the first 3 rough cut 7" x40" pieces of plywood together with the wood glue and then stacked a whole bunch of weights from my gym on top and let the glue set overnight. My family was teasing me about that. Wish I had thought to take a picture of that process. I'm not going to glue the two additional forearm pieces on until I've had a chance to cut the 1.25" channel down the center of the stock for the basic barrel/action inlet. Just waiting on a $9 router bit from Hong Kong.
Just finished up a little more sanding and it's not looking half bad. I need to run out for some emery cloth strips to smooth out the grip area.
I plan to cut down the base of the butt to 1" and have it taper up towards the top. Not sure how I'm going to make those cuts though. I planned on doing them on my cheap table saw, but I will only be able to cut one side due to the tilt. I will probably pick up a cheap right tilt table saw for that cut and to angle the forearm portion as well.
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
i think on the butt & forearm you should be able to rip one side then other by going from front to rear one cut then rear to front 2nd cut. you may need to raise hight of rip fence with a pc of plywood or make a L shaped sled to run aginst fence good luck jw
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Nice work. Thanks for taking the pics and sharing. Please keep us in the loop as this progresses
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
JWW123 thanks for the suggestions on how to cut the angles.
The forearm shouldn't be a problem. Since I'm using a small table saw I will be able to do a push turn the stock and then pull through for the other side. Unfortunately, it's going to be a little more difficult with the butt though. I can't just pull through, due to the wide grip. I think you gave me the answer though. I'm going to try positioning the stock for the pull just past the grip with the blade down. I'll then recruit my Wife or Son to slowly raise the blade while I hold the stock in place against the rip fence. I should then be able to complete the pull through without cutting the grip area.
Here's another photo with a little more of the sanding done. I didn't get a chance to smooth out the front of the grip, but I did pick up some emery cloth so I'll get to it this weekend.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1474.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1471.jpg
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Looks good so far. Cant wait to see the rest of the progress. I have a big hunk of black walnut with a stock outlined on it, but have yet to cut it out. Like you, I thought it may be something to keep me busy...LOL
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
If I may make some suggestions. Inlet the barrel and action before you do anything else. Then you can fit the buttstock to your needs relative to your head position to the action and scope. As for weatherproofing. Whisker the wood with water to raise any grain and remove those pain in the butt little whiskers. Stain it whatever color you want and use 4 aught steel wool to smooth out any more wiskers. Then give it a good oil finish per what instructions come with the oil. Looks good so far. Be carefull, you will be getting requests for stocks and the next thing you know you will be in the business. I know, it happened to me over 40 yrs ago when I built a flintlock rifle and have been doing it eversince. A part time money maker. Lets see the finished stock. Your on the right track.
El Lobo
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Boy a cheapskate, like me! Love it! Do you have any issues with voids in the plywood? What type was it. Really cool project.
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Yes, there are a few voids in the plywood. Since this is Lauan plywood, they are minimal though. Originally, I figured this would just be a test or proof of concept and at best a painted stock. I didn't want to waste $100-$150 on a stock blank. At this point though I am planning to fill/skim coat any voids or questionable areas with wood filler before doing a final sanding. I will then stain and Urethane the stock after bedding the action and inletting the trigger guard.
ellobo - I absolutely agree with you. I'm kind of at a standstill until that 1.25" router bit arrives. I've left a "little" extra wood just in case I want or need to fine tune the shape. Honestly though, even without the bottom of the butt being cut it feels great on the shoulder and lines up well. I've inlet and bedded numerous wood and fiberglass stocks over the years, so as long as the final cuts go well and my rough measurements for the trigger guard location work out I should be in good shape. I am still concerned about the cuts for the bottom of the butt though. They could easily be make or break cuts and the inexpensive/ inherited table saw I'm using doesn't have a Zero Clearance Insert. Still thinking about a band saw for those cuts. I don't have one, but it would be nice to have around. Lot's of used 12" saws out there for <$100.
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
I just wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions and encouragement. I really appreciate the support.
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
very nice, i am no craftsmen iehter but i think you are doing a good job. i am looking forward to the inletting pics.
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Made my own stock once. Inletted the action area with a drill and router and chisels. Barrel channel was a pain. Make sure your router can't walk on you.
Good luck and posts pics of progress. Looking good so far.
Larry
Tinkerer
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Dude......THAT LOOKS GOOD!!!
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
looking good. keep us posted.
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Apache
Dude......THAT LOOKS GOOD!!!
+2!
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
I like the color of that wood, that should be very pretty finished.
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
I've made many a plywood stock. I used 1/8 luan and cross laminated the layup. I did the inletting and bedding first, then did the profiling. When it was ready for a finish I first coated it with polyester resin and put it in a vacuum chamber. This will fill all the voids and seal it. The final finish is automotive clear. The colors are achieved with tint added to the clear.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y48...woodstocks.jpg
-
Re: Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Beautiful. I don't expect my stock to turnout half as nice as your stocks. I am planning to keep the total cost in the $40-$50 range though and to learn from the process.
-
More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
The $9 router bit I've been waiting for finally arrived from Hong Kong this afternoon, so I was able to start the basic inlet. I also attached the additional wood to the forearm. I should be able to square it up, angle cut the forearm wood, round the edges and start the final shaping tomorrow after the glue sets overnight. After that I will inlet the trigger guard and install a recoil pad.
Here are so more photos.
[img width=580 height=386]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1492.jpg[/img]
[img width=580 height=386]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1493.jpg[/img]
[img width=580 height=386]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1487.jpg[/img]
[img width=580 height=386]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1490.jpg[/img]
[img width=580 height=386]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1494.jpg[/img]
[img width=580 height=386]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1496.jpg[/img]
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Very nice wish I had the time to do it look great and can I put the first order in for one
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
I love it! Keep us updated!
Henry.
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
You are making me want to give this a try!!!
That's coming out great!!!
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
You're my hero! I will be following this post too. You've given my something else to now work on. It's amazing how something that started out as just a "let's see if I can do this" has taken on a precious life of it's own! Good luck.
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Almost done! Cut the forearm angles today and started to square everything off. I'll inlet the trigger guard and drill the first action hole tomorrow or over the weekend.
Learned a lot and having fun with this project. Thanks again for all the kind words and encouragement. Here are a few more photos.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1498.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1499.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1500.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1501.jpg
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
very cool. cant wait to see the finished pics.
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Look's like you are a better stock maker than you give yourself credit for, If this stock go's forward to being used in a Bench rest match the front of the stock shouldn't be more than 3 inches wide and the buttock has a set size also BUT check on what they should be.
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
What size bit did you use for the receiver/barrel channel?
I assume you're gonna bed that also?
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
I used a 1.25" round nose bit for the barrel/action channel. I did open it up further using a piece of pipe with sandpaper wrapped around it to accommodate the 1.36" diameter of my barrel and action. Yes, I will go deeper with the router or a forstner bit in the action area and bed it with an industrial steel epoxy. Due to the weight and length of this barrel I will probably also bed the first 3" of the barrel.
I only shoot against myself, my shooting buddy and occasionally a few prairie dogs, so I'm not worried about conforming to any BR standards on the forearm width or the bottom of the butt. It wouldn't be any problem meeting the standards mentioned above, but it's not my goal. A couple more passes through the table saw and I could change any dimension.
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Yes, 3-bolt 4.4" single shot target action.
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
That is so cool! Very nice. I'm jealous.
-
Re: More Photos - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
I meant Heavy Benchrest.
You're going to laugh when you see the router jig I used/made. It's just 4 pieces of scrape wood. You just need to make sure it perfectly centered. It wasn't hard to do. I started a shallow cut first to confirm the jig was properly aligned. After that I did the cut to the desired depth with just one slow cut. That $9 Hong Kong router bit did a great job.
I spent this morning hand sanding with a long auto body block. The forearm is dead on and perfectly flat and parallel. Still need to inlet the trigger guard, fill the voids and final sand the stock. I will probably finish it before bedding the action. We'll see. Might do it the other way around.
I dug out some wood from the action area. Nothing fancy, it's going to be full of epoxy steel anyway. I will probably go a little lower into the stock, but I'm waiting to see how the trigger looks in the trigger guard first.
Here's a couple more photos.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1503.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1504.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1508.jpg
[img width=512 height=768]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1510.jpg[/img]
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1512.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1513.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1514.jpg
-
Re: Bedding and trigger guard are done - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
I finished inletting the trigger guard and bedding the action and the first 3" of the barrel. This is the first time I poured the pillars while doing the bedding. It's tight as a drum and I just need to backfill the trigger guard/rear action screw with epoxy and drill it through. I always use that hole to properly align the action, so I couldn't drill it down far enough to complete that pillar.
I really don't have much left to do. I have to inlet the trigger/safety area, install the buttplate and then finish the stock.
[img width=580 height=386]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1515.jpg[/img]
[img width=580 height=386]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1517.jpg[/img]
[img width=400 height=600]http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h457/zargon123/IMG_1516.jpg[/img]
-
Re: Bedding and trigger guard are done - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
You do great work! I'd love to try one of your stocks on a 110 (single shot).
-
Re: Bedding and trigger guard are done - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Nice job!
Did you buy the router bits online? If so, what is the website?
Thanks,
JR
-
Re: Bedding and trigger guard are done - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
I bought the router bits on eBay. They were shipped from Hong Kong.
-
Re: Bedding and trigger guard are done - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Thanks for the info.
Thinking of doing something similar for my 116 CF LA.
JR
-
Trigger inlet and stain - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Well, it's really pretty much done at this point. Unfortunately, due to the quality of the wood, I had to go with a dark stain to cover up some of the voids, dark spots and overlaps. I knew this going in though. I really want to see if I could do it first before spending any real money on it. My family and my shooting buddy hate the color of the stain, but I honestly like it(a little lighter though).
I think I'm going to buy a sheet of $100 void and overlap free plywood and make a few more of these. I figure most of the time was spent setting up the table saw cuts and the router, so I might as well do several at one time.
I'll keep this stock for measurements and just because it was my first attempt. I learned a lot, made a few mistakes and came up with better ways to do things, but had fun doing it. I’ll post a couple pictures when it’s all done with the action/barrel, trigger guard and butt plate are installed.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1518.jpg
-
Re: Trigger inlet and stain - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
Even though the wood isn't perfect I couldn't take the stain as dark as it was. I decided to lighten it up this morning. You can't really tell from the photos, but it is now much lighter than it was in the first photo.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/...3/IMG_1522.jpg
-
Re: Trigger inlet and stain - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
wow that is nice. what is the total time it took you , do you know?
-
Re: Trigger inlet and stain - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
It's tough to say. I did a couple hours here and a couple hours there. I'd say somewhere between 10-20 hours with the bedding and inlet. I'm pretty sure I could bang out 4-6 of these over a two too three week period part time. I think I'm going to give that a try next. It would be so much more efficient to do several at once. Setup time for the tablesaw cuts and router jig/bits would be spread out over the group instead of just the one stock.
-
Re: Trigger inlet and stain - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
"I learned a lot, made a few mistakes and came up with better ways to do things"
Can you flesh out that statement with pointers for fellow DIYer's?
6 in two weeks...
Waiting list ? :)
-
Re: Trigger inlet and stain - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
did you use any special type of glue or just regular wood glue? also about the wood is it something more than just regular plywood?
-
Re: Trigger inlet and stain - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
A couple years back PS magazine had some articles by a fellow that did his own stocks for 600yd BR. Can't recall his name, but he got on the map by setting the new 600yd group record of right around 5/8" for 5 shots with a .308 Win using an old Hart barrel... ;)
Anyway, IIRC, he went down to the local box store (Lowes/HD) and got S4S poplar and glued up his blanks from that with Titebond... nothing super special. I've been tempted to 'prototype' an idea or two that way; just never seem to get around to it.
-
Re: Trigger inlet and stain - Decided to try making a HBR Stock. Bored!
i think the hardest part would be the inletting for sure, but if i could save the money by biulding the stock myself then i could be able to send the stock to someone who knew what they were doing on the inletting. i am not looking for any record breaking type of equiptment i just want something that looks good and will aloow the gun to shoot to the best of its ability. i know i have some to do with that but as long as the stock is solid i can manage my part.