The Finer Points of Checkering A Gun Stock

[@leeadams5941]

Now that was an excellent video. I can imagine the amount of time you have put into that stock. Its been worth the effort as it looks great. I was very interested in the tooling required as I have never seen it. That and the approach to getting what you want in the design. I doubt a shakey, one-eyed old guy like me will ever checker a stock, but its fascinating to see the work you have done on that A3. Its going to be a beautiful rifle and a project you can be proud of for years...God Bless and I am very much looking forward to seeing the finished project.

[@beestoe993]

I bought myself some chekering tools and cradle several years ago, now Im glad I did. They are getting hard to come by. I am getting close to retiring, that is when I intend to have a go at it. This is rare content, thanks for making it!

[@gizmocarr3093]

You might mention before you ever try doing checkering on a stock it is best to practice on a flat piece of wood to learn how each checkering tool works. Checkering tool sets come in in line per inch sizes. Checkering sets range from 18 to 32 lines per-inch. Choosing the tool set for cutting the diamond size you prefer to use is important to understand. The finer the pattern the more important the quality or type of wood and grain structure is. You seldom see fine line checkering on rifles but more often on Shotguns. There is a difference in pointed diamonds and ones that are not, that make checkered stocks range in quality and value. Just seeing a checkered stock is not a sign of quality, if the checkering is badly done. It is another good idea before you try from scratch to checker a un-checker stock. Try practicing on an old one already checkered. Repointing the existing pattern to new condition is an easier way to learn how to reduce mistakes. 🙂

[@mikepair8837]

Good advice

[@antsfur]

Yes i second that good advice and also most shotguns are 24 lines per inch and small bores are 26 LPI and some Italian guns in fact most are 26 LPI. Some walnut are fury i.e. soft and will require some resin to harden the wood before you checker.

[@peterconnan5631]

Thank you for this Tom, it's got me quite excited. I have done a couple of small checkering jobs, but all more than 20 years ago. Yesterday I cut the profile for my next project out of a blank that I have been saving up for a quarter of a century. Lots of work ahead, but I'll be keeping this video down-loaded for when I get to that part of the project.

[@mikepair8837]

Absolutely first class. So easy for me as a Southern man, is your delivery. Just finished watching a video that was so technical, I got lost. Thanks for this

[@fxpestoperator5527]

This Guy is just Absolutely First Class!!! What a wonderful video!!!🙂 Watched every second!

[@cousinfuzzy4544]

That’s turning out to be a beautiful stock and one you can and will be proud of. You talked last week about the history of a gun. Any son or daughter or grandkid would be thrilled to tell the story behind this stock. Great work and an excellent video.

[@edwardabrams4972]

Reminds me of a gun that Al Biesen had checkered that looked like the one he made for Jack O’Conner that I had a chance to buy but had just bought a new gun a week before🥲 sure wish I had gotten that rifle! It was a true work of art! Great job on stock it’s starting to look very custom. Those older rifles like the Pre64 with the barrel screw and the checkering around them was a nice touch

[@TomRiverSimpleLiving]

It's funny how there are some rifles we just never forget, and I doubt you will ever forget that one by AL Boesen. He was a master at his craft. But with that said we never know what the future hold and you just might run across one yet? And thanks for your comments on this one. I am really happy with how it's coming together. Now if I can just get it finished! LOL

[@kentowens2179]

Your stock is looking really good. Nice work.

[@antsfur]

Nice checkering its lopkong good, i like my borders to be concaved ! Thanks for showing us ypur handy work.

[@drummer0864]

I had to redo checkering on a stock that was modified with Bondo to raise the comb and had gotten into the checkering. Never have done checkering before, I can relate to every one of your tips and know exactly what you've referred to. I still have not had to lay one out and start with the master line part, I have a replacement A5 fore-end I've been holding off on because of the trepidation of the layout. Now after watching yours and a couple of other videos, I'm almost ready to dive in. I was looking to see what other cutters I'll need to actually make this a viable project, but you have restored my confidence to give it a try. Thanks for now. As far as the other stock turned out. All the Bondo was removed, the checkering came out acceptable and a linseed, hand rubbed finish applied. No one has ever mentioned any of the mistakes that I know are in the checkering, but I know they are there.

[@markhaywood7307]

Don't know if anyone has said , if you soak the cutters in mineral Turpentine then dry off and brush in the Gullet direction with what i know as a "suede leather brush" then you will find the cutters perform better. essentially you are cleaning the Tool. Also an old toothbrush can be used to clear the lines in stock, good coverage on topic by the way

[@cbsbass4142]

Great job. Looking good. I wish I had that much patience and talent.

[@daveyjoweaver6282]

Kind Thanks and Many Blessings! A Lovely Job, flaws and all, it looks Great! DaveyJO in Pennsylvania

[@jeanmorin3247]

That's a very interesting presentation. You can hear about checkering on You Tube for ten years and never get the full story like this. Superb!

[@TomRiverSimpleLiving]

Thanks Jean! I noticed when I first started recheckering the FN stock it was tough to find a video that really explained checkering along with the problems. That's what made me want to do this video and hopefully it will help someone out in the future?

[@jaybailleaux630]

Magnificent ! Done some stock work like shaping, inleting , glass and piller beading but never attempt checkering. Had a local rifle smith tell me he could teach a 12 year old to checker a stock . I don't know about that. Seems tedious.

[@mikepair8837]

Lawn mower, weed eater, train horn, and dog barking in the distant background. I love it. No fake stuff here

[@hokanut]

Really nice work and video. Thanks for posting !

[@m1a1abrams93]

I could see where a roll of painters tape could help with keeping your lines straight.

[@trapdoorspringfieldmodel1888]

So far I think the checkering is looking really good!!! There is one fine point of checkering that you didn't cover, and that it is sometimes best to not even checker or to pass doing a fancy checkering pattern. This is because checkering can hide some of the grain of the wood, and in fancier walnut the figure that a person has paid for can be somewhat covered up by it. A perfect example of what I mean is one of my local gun shops has a Marlin Model 1897 Annie Oakley Edition .22LR on display that has some really nice fancy walnut in the stock, but the checkering job that Marlin did on it was butchered. That poor checkering job ruined the look of the gun, and hid some of the beautiful figure. Ironically, had Marlin gone the cheaper route of not checkering the gun would have been truly spectacular.

[@concernedaussie1330]

Really awesome & helpful advice & information. Really inspiring me to have a go at bringing some new life into a bunch of Lee Enfield sporters I have . Back in the day just about everyone used Lee Enfield sporters or fullwoods in Australia. As a kid everyone had them , but now it’s all plastic stocks or the modern tacticool off the shelf rifles. I feel the need to help a friend who has neglected his father’s no1 mk3* Lithgow . His dad was killed in Vietnam when my mate was 6 months old . So he grew up fatherless & enjoyed using the rifle over many years . But now it’s in a very sad state of affairs, woods split & cracked , has shrunk , very badly oil soaked in the usual spots & the bedding is kaput. Shoots 8-10 “ patterns at 50 yards. To be honest all of his old rifles are in the same shape. He doesn’t have the money ! Or even finding gunsmiths that do restoration work fullstop is a difficult task . So I’m having a go at a butchered no1 mk3 stock right now . If I can get this one looking nice & shooting well , I’d like to have a go at my mates dads rifle .

[@jamesmooney5348]

Great job Tom!

[@308guy8]

Can't wait to see it when it's finished your more than welcome to come to Virginia and try it out this fall

[@RogerSnell]

Love this! I hope you will do a follow up on this stock, I always wondered how much finish would go on the checkered part so it wouldn't get filled and become slick. Great video!

[@johngeddes7894]

Gunstock sealer. Midway USA.

[@ralphross-ke7pp]

Awesome video. So down to earth. Thanks

[@dalanwanbdiska6542]

Nice. I want to up my game in the gunwork world and id love to get onto checkering my own stocks. Ive seen alot of videos so i know the process already. Lots of videos. Id love to do that to my sks stocks for grip . Make them look custom ,not bubba as they call it. I finally got my hammer pivot pin from newyork to Saskatchewan Canada and it took a year. I need to order a spring and plunger next for my savage 77c. Soon as i got the pin i took out my block and hammers and put the pin back into the hammer. It fit tight and perfect and i put the sks back together and went out backyard and loaded a stripperclip full and aimed and boom boom boom. Works successfully. I love the sks. Im going to bed mine in the next weeks , m14 bedding. I bedded 1 sks once and the group was tightened up from 5 to 3 moa to 2 to 3 moa easily. I love all guns.

[@cb750k1974]

Great video Tom, very informative......I've thought about giving checking a try......first on a 2x4, then maybe a baseball bat, just to figure it out.......maybe one of my old ax handles too.

[@TomRiverSimpleLiving]

I'm glad you enjoyed and definitely start on something other than a stock you care about! LOL I started by recheckeeung my FN stock that had been refinished and someone had sanded away most of the checkering on it. That was confidence booster because with the magnifying lense I could see the mistakes that even a Profesional had made but mistakes that I had never noticed. So I realized mine wasn't going to be perfect but that was OK because it was still going to be nice. Just take your time and be patient. And if you get a chance watch the Midway usa video on checkering and Mark Novak has some great info also. Good luck.

[@rogernichols9987]

Tom I have tried to do this before and have to get help from mr,Harry Smith who was a great guy and a great gun Smith as well if not for him I would have been looking for a new stock for my rifle. This is a project that is time consuming and very difficult to do unless you want a lot of creator as you say in it thanks for letting me put my 2 cents in

[@dominicohea5624]

A lovely job.

[@TomRiverSimpleLiving]

Glad you think so!

[@craiglacount89]

Really great video! I do wonder after you checkered did you go back with any finish stain and or oil in the checkered areas?

[@johngeddes7894]

Gunstock sealer coat, as found at Midway USA.

[@PKloc]

This isn't related to this particular video, but it relates to the channel... the question is... do you ever hunt with a shotgun? I know I'm probably speaking for many who watch your channel and would like to get some tips, and expand their knowledge on shotguns, shotgun use, application pros and cons etc... thank you in advance

[@TomRiverSimpleLiving]

P. Kloc I was actually planning on doing a shotgun video a couple of weeks ago but I got side tracked with other projects. But that is something I hope to cover soon. And I do have a good bit of experience with shotguns. So hopefully I'll get to that one after I get some of these other projects wrapped up.

[@southerncountryboy8]

Tom, have you ever done any muzzleloader hunting? I'm also located in the southeast. Considering purchasing a muzzleloader to get into the woods a few weeks before everyone else. With our heavily pressured woodland, I'm thinking it might be a good idea. Would be interested in seeing a video on muzzleloaders some time.

[@TomRiverSimpleLiving]

I have hunted with a muzzleloader and I have taken more deer with my muzzeloader than most of my rifles. I take one deer with it every year between Oct 1 and the start of our rifle season on Oct 11, which isn't a lot of deer but it adds up after enough years. So it's definitely worth getting one. And that's probably the easiest hunting of the year because the deer aren't spooked yet by all of the hunting pressure. And I will try my best to do a muzzeloader video here soon.

[@southerncountryboy8]

@@TomRiverSimpleLiving I ended up purchasing a new Knight Mountaineer in .50 caliber. I've got it sighted in and it's ready for muzzleloader season this October. Shoots great! really nice shooting gun.

[@myparceltape1169]

If you thought anything that you did was perfect, you would not look at it and think that it had been an effort worth making.

[@joeparker7508]

I can't see anymore

[@johnpalmer7272]

Enjoyed that. I want try that. Shake too bad

[@joeparker7508]

Use have a lot of mess ups

[@BuckIt00]

If it shoots half as good as it looks!

[@TomRiverSimpleLiving]

Thanks Brandon. And I'm really itching to find out! The anticipation is really getting to me at this point! I already know the gun is a shooter which is part of what made me want to do something special for the stock, but I haven't done any load testing so i have no idea as to just how accurate it actually is?