Thread: Who does checkering nowadays?

Not my own project stock unfortunately - still a fair way to go before that one gets to the checkering stage. Younger brother has just about finished a stock for his .270. It's not exhibition-grade craftsmanship, but worthy of a decent checkering job in a simple pattern.

Kevin Gaskill used to be the go-to for this, but isn't doing any nowadays. Who else in NZ (Waikato area obviously a bonus, but not essential) does checkering? I remember reading a while back about TJ doing some - is that still the case?

Yes TJ does excellent work & a true "top bloke" but I'm not sure if he's still doing it nowadays

Have you spoken with Kevin recently?


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Yip TJ is still muckin round with stocks

Carlson Highway is too it seems.... havent seen post from TJ for yonks.....

Best to contact TJ via FB.

Thanks everyone.

Originally Posted by MSL

Have you spoken with Kevin recently?

Yes, brother emailed him yesterday. Got a quick reply saying he couldn't help.
@dogmatix - I signed up to Facebook years ago but never use it. How would I find TJ on there to message him?

Alternatively, it looks like he might still post occasionally on the other forum so I could try sending him a PM over there.

@garyp in Hawkes Bay. Try him

@PaulNZ sent you a PM re TJ.

Laurie Bradley does excellent work.

@PaulNZ sent pm re TJ

Thanks all. I've replied to both PM's, sent a message to Gary and will send an enquiry to Laurie Bradley a bit later. If anyone thinks of someone else please add them to the list.

I recently purchased a rifle put together by @FRST on this forum. One of my key motivators in making the purchase was to see in "real life" what the laser engraving on the stock had turned out like. On this rifle a silver fern-leaf pattern was used, not to everyone's taste but the execution was excellent. It (laser engraving) may be worth considering for stocks where a true craftsman is hard to find or "something different" is desired.

Originally Posted by Tentman

I recently purchased a rifle put together by @FRST on this forum. One of my key motivators in making the purchase was to see in "real life" what the laser engraving on the stock had turned out like. On this rifle a silver fern-leaf pattern was used, not to everyone's taste but the execution was excellent. It (laser engraving) may be worth considering for stocks where a true craftsman is hard to find or "something different" is desired.

Yes, I saw photos of that rifle and was quite impressed. Laser checkering is apparently common in the big factories, so perhaps no reason a conventional pattern couldn't be lasered in either? I had assumed the programming and setup (particularly on curved, irregular surfaces) made it cost prohibitive for a small shop to do one stock, but perhaps not. Maybe I should call around some of the local engravers? Anyone else looked into this?