Best way to add a toeplate?

[marwin95]

What is the best method to remove the wood for a toeplate? I can think of several methods but retaining a perfectly flat wood base with so thin of apiece to remove stumps me.

A friend sold me a long abandoned and never completed TC Hawken kit in darn good condition. REmove old finish, and refinish, and take off a little rust. Unfortunately, the toe of the stock is chipped.

 

[Keb]

I use sharp chisels & files. Draw filing with a steady hand & good eye makes for a flat surface, too.

 

[Capt. Fred]

Yup, and I'd add an exacto knife to the list and be good to go.

 

[Vaino]

Take a 1/16"-3/32" thick sheet stock that's 1/8" oversize per side of the toe line thickness, w/ the BP off it should be 1/16"-3/32" past the BP inlet and if a finial on the front end is wanted, file that on and file draft on the sides. Usually 2 screws are used, so use flat head wood screws and screw the TP down. Outline the finial if it has one w/ an Exacto knife, or just cut across the front if straight. Scribe a depth thickness line on both sides of the stock and start inletting until slightly below the wood. Trim the end to match the BP and file the sides to match the stock. Draw file the wood to match the TP surface and you're done.....Fred

 

[Elnathan]

I haven't done one in a while, but if I was to do one now I would go about it like this:

1) File front of toeplate, where it will go completely into the wood, with about a two degree taper along the edges so the bottom is slightly smaller than the top. Leave the sides that will show straight. Remember that the stock will widen as you cut away wood and make sure that it is wide enough to cover the stock completely when inlet - i.e., larger than the uncut toe.

2) Place toeplate on stock and scribe around the part where the sides will be inlet. If you are inletting a simple rectangular plate you can ignore this.

3)Draw or scribe lines on either side of of your stock at the proper depth.

4)Carefully file away the excess wood down to your lines, leaving just a little bit to go and angling the file up a bit so you don't take chips of the opposite side. Do this on both sides.

5) Cut away the lump in the middle of the toe left by the file and slightly hollow out the center, so only the edges will touch the plate. There are multiple ways of doing that - I personally would use a a good sharp chisel to pare away most of the lump, followed by a shallow gouge or a rough scraper to hollow it slightly. With a narrow toe like I suspect you have, you may not need to remove much - the point to take away is that only the edges need to touch. I would leave about a 1/16" or a little larger flat on either side.

6)If you are using anything other than a rectangular plate, cut a rough inlet inside your scribed lines for the front part of the toe.

7)Coat your toeplate with transfer color and inlet straight down, using files, chisels, or scrapers to remove wood at the bottom of the mortise, until you reach the proper depth. Ideally, it will be showing black along the edges, but still slightly hollow in the center of the inlet. Of course, if you didn't hollow it out deeply enough the first time you can always scrape out a little more...

8) Screw it down, file the edges to match the stock.

I apologize if some of this is too elementary.

 

[marwin95]

Thanks for your responses.
None are too elementary for me, thats for certain. I am pretty new to this stuff. I've read the books but all seem to lack in detail. Lots of info on power tools but not a whole lot on the handle tool approach.

 

[Birddog6]

I mark a line on each side for the depth of the plate, then take a coping saw & cut a groove across the toe almost to the depth of the line, taking care NOT to go past that line on each side. Make multiple cuts about ever 1/4" to 1/2" depending on the curl of the wood, more curl requires more cuts as it will chip out easily & leave you with a tear or chunk out to repair. :shake:

Take it all down to the line & then use a small bent chisel to get all flat with your depth line. Use the edge of a small piece of metal not quite as large as the toeplate to keep checking for it to be flat.
When you think you have it close, use inletting black to blacken the inside of the toeplate, lay it on the , tap it, remove & take out the high spots.Center is usually high so relieve that just a tad out to about 3/16 to 1/4" of the edge.

When you get ready for screws, draw a center line down the toeplate. Figure out how may screws keeping in mind that if you get too close to the end of the toe, you could break it or chip it out & be worse off than you started.

Off the stock, centerpunch & drill a small pilot holes the dia of the screw shaft center into the toeplate, then put the plate on the toe & predrill the holes the depth required. WATCH THE ANGLE OF THE DRILL..... you want the screws 90 deg to the plate, Regardless of the shape of the butt.... this puts the screw heads down evenly... :hmm:

Take the toeplate off & you can now countersink the holes for the screw heads, all holes the same depth..

Take a fine tipped Exacto knife & get a lil patchlube (grease type) and take the tip of the blade & gather a tad & insert the grease into the holes to lube them. Now put the screws in. IF they feel too tight, back the screw out & go to a slightly larger bit, or do a test hole in a block of wood & try it, then go to the stock.

Keith Lisle

 

[MSW]

Marwin- avoid the siren song of power tools... this work is way too delicate for their use (don't ask me how i know) :redface: :redface: :redface:

i've used Elnathan's approach, but next time i'll try Birddog's.

for what it's worth, you'll look really cool if the slots of the screws line up with the axis of the rifle.

good luck with your build... then go forth and make good smoke!