Advice Shaping Stock

[nuttbush]

Pards,

I am at the point of assembly of a Tennessee where everything is fitted and I am ready to start shaping my stock down. It was one from TOTW and has quite a bit of wood to take off on the butt end. I was going through a woodworking catalog to get some ideas of what to use. No better place to find knowledgeable kind advice than here. Sanding maple would take forever. I have found rasp's, spokeshaves, microplanes, files, etc..
Any of you pards out there who have built your own tell me which way might be the best way to get this wood off before final finishing. Many thanks.

 

[Roy]

Rasp's, files, srapers, gouges, and whatever I can get my hands on work well for me... :haha:

I really like the cabinet makers rasps.. but a trip to the local hardware and you can pic up whatever you may need to remove the wood.

Different people get along with different tools

 

[paulvallandigham]

Those stocks come from Pecatonica, and have extra length on them to allow you to cut the stock to your particular Length of Pull. Since Tennessee Poor Boy style rifles generally don't have a buttplate, the first thing you want to do is determine the LOP, and cut the stock to that length. If you are putting a buttplate on it, do that first.

Let the amount of wood needed to be removed to give the stock the lines you want dictate what you use. Rasps gouge out a lot of wood, and should never be used for close work. Micro rasps can take you closer, but again, be careful.

I happen to like using scrapers, because you can shape and control the amount of wood removed with each pass rather easily, and take your time doing it, so you don't mess up a nice piece of wood. But, you won't see me trying to remove 1/8" of wood with a Scraper! Scrapers are finishing tools. The benefit of a scraper over sand paper is that you don't tear the grain, and create whiskers as you do using sand papers. A scraper is similar to a hand plane, only it doesn't have the supporting structure of the plane. You control it with your fingers, and take finer cuts.

 

[Roy]

this is my new tool of choice...

Copied somewhat from an original Its a bit wider..

In the pics the blade is standing a bit too proud, I have it adjusted now where its barely showing.

 

[TNHillbilly]

Is that what they call a spokeshave?

 

[Mike Brooks]

# 49 cabinet makers rasp and a small plane. Other than a 1" chisel and mallet and a couple scrapers, those are my entire inventory of stock shaping tools.

 

[Roy]

Is that what they call a spokeshave?

Nope its a scraper. It doesn't dig in like a plane or a shave.

 

[William Joy]

A quality plane ( Lee Nielson) and a cabinet file.....

 

[Elnathan]

Curse you, Roy! I have been planning on making one of those myself - even got the wood and started cutting it - and I thought I was going to spring something new on people. :wink: Oh, well, now I can ask you questions. How wide did you make the mouth? What are the dimensions?

TN Hill Guy,
They are called gunstock scrapers, hand scrapers, chairmaker's devils, spokeshave scrapers, and probably other names I haven't heard of.

 

[Roy]

:haha: :blah:

I used a thin blade, and only opened up the opening about .020 :thumbsup: I had a tool maker, Paul Hamler, help me on the design. :thumbsup: I'll get the other measurements for ya.

The thing is I can cut a nice even curl with out chatter markes on curly soft maple. Works even better on hard maple. :thumbsup:

 

[Don B]

Roy,

Is the blade flat, or is there some dish to it like a cabinet scraper?
What did you use for the blade?
What kind of edge do you keep on the blade?

Don

 

[Roy]

Don,
It is sort of convex and I was shown properly how to put a rolled bur on the edge. Paul gave me a piece of steel for the blade, it reminded me of steel banding except it was quite wide. I'll run down and get the measurements.

 

[44-henry]

I generally use whatever looks like it might work. My favorite tools are a good reliable straight edge to check the stock along with a #49 rasp, an antique wooden spokeshave, and a block plane.

 

[Roy]

It .025 in thickness and you can just see the bur in this pic

Now there are a few things I would change when I make the next one. I would put my blade more to center (didn't have any thick brass) and I would place my bolts a bit closer to the blade to get a better bite right now I have a piece of 600 sand paper sandwiched in to hold the blade. The total length of the tool is 11 1/2" I have some rose wood that I am going to make a couple more, now that I know what I am doing :haha:

 

[Elnathan]

Thanks Roy. I am using Bolivian Rosewood for mine, as it turns out I can get a 1x1x12" turning blank for $2 at the local high-end hardware store. You can use wood instead of brass, if you can't get a thick enough piece of brass, as does this lady: Scraper Tutorial
Garrett Hack has one in Classic Hand Tools that is sort of a cross between your version and her's. I was planning on using bone, but don't have a big enough piece, so I think I'll use wood and sole the front plate with bone. The bone and the rosewood should make a nice contrast.

 

[pichou]

Buddy o' mine has a original chair seat scraper... made just like the one in the link, except a curved edge, and the handle is shaped like ””u”” so there is clearance for the fingers under the ”” parts. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Roy]

Paul said that making it wider that it will also produce a smoother cut. Mine is something like 3/4". If I move my blade back a bit I think I might have even better results.
I used mine today to shape around the lock and a good bit of the buttstock. When I get the thimbles inlet and the pins drilled I will test drive it on the forestock... :grin:

Pichou, yep made sense to me :thumbsup:

 

[Tater John]

Thats nice roy. I have something real similar to yours called a bowyer edge I use to shape/tiller bow limbs. Yours looks more refined and slim. When I get around to shaping a stock someday its definately the tool I'll be reaching for.

Rusty

 

[Roy]

Finally got around to taking a few more pics... the more I use this tool the more I like it.

Shaped up a the forestock on a gun a couple days ago with it. It took nice long cuts very clean. This is figured maple shavings.

Notice the two holes in this curl. they are the pin holes for the barrel or thimbles. No tear out.

 

[RC]

:shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2: ..MAPLE??? ROY SAID...""Notice the two holes in this curl. they are the pin holes for the barrel or thimbles. No tear out.""""""""
you don't know what the holes is for???? my barrel gonna fall out on my thimbles??? :shocked2: