Thread: Walnut Stock Build

One more post and this’ll be up to date with where I’m actually at. If I was writing this chronologically, there should actually be a post in between thinking the pattern stock was done and then deciding to modify it further; roughing out the walnut stock on the duplicator.







A little like cheating perhaps, but yes – I have access to a stock duplicator, and no – it’s not mine. Interesting bit of kit to steer around once you get the feel of it, and that carbide roughing mill in the router certainly strips off the wood! As far as duplicators go it’s not the most sophisticated, the better ones have linkage to keep the cutting bit vertical as it goes up and down in height whereas this just rocks forwards and backwards. I trust it to be accurate to within about a millimetre with me at the controls, which is why the inletting will still be done on the mill and by hand. But still, it’ll save me a bit of work.
I made up several tracers/stylus’s out of aluminium – you can see the largest fitted in the photo. First duplication was 12mm oversize; to get the feel of using the duplicator and so that I had a few mm to re-orientate the stock layout within the blank if the grain pattern changed once some wood had been ripped off. A couple of weeks later I went over in all again 6mm oversize. Here’s the stock at this point, next to the since-revised pattern. The heavier-than-normal grooving midway along the stock in the first photo is where I forgot to lock the spindle rotation - dammit. Lesson learned, and no harm done.







The plan was to let the oversize stock settle for a few weeks to work out any residual stress before re-mounting it for final duplication at 1.5mm oversize. When this lockdown lifts and I can get back to the duplicator that’s what I’ll do. Then onto the mill for inletting, followed by final shaping with hand tools. Sanding, finishing, bedding, checkering (outsourced), recoil pad, flush sling swivels, pistol grip cap inlay, new trigger blade, new bolt handle… plenty to keep me occupied for a long time yet.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the read. As long as people are still interested, I’ll post an update when there’s something worth updating about. Hey, with a bit of luck we might all be too busy hunting, fishing and shooting in a few weeks time to be posting on this forum anyway – but I’m not holding my breath.