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Any tips on bending a stock at the wrist. My smoothbore is already finished, I either need to remove some wood and refinish or attempt to steam or bend
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Cast on by bending
- Thread starter Tony Logan
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Steam bending using raw wood, uniformly shaped, is still an iffy thing. At best, you are still going to put a lot if moisture into the wood which will mess up the finish. At the worse, you'll end up with a new 2 piece stock. If you can do it by removing some wood, your safety margin would go up about 100%.
Paul
Paul
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I agree. If you attempt to steam bend, any finish already on the piece will be pretty much trashed. Steam will soften the wood, but keeping it in the right shape and bend (and getting spring back under control) will be problematic at best.
Good luck with your project, and let us know how it turns out (by the way, we like pictures ... all this text makes my brain go funny).
Good luck with your project, and let us know how it turns out (by the way, we like pictures ... all this text makes my brain go funny).
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What about bending with hot linseed oil? Brownells has a YouTube video
ApprenticeBuilder
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A few years back while attending a gun maker’s fair there was a well built home made jig on display that turned out to be a stock bending jig.
This was a rectangle box (designed for modern work, could be re designed for muzzleloaders) properly framed in lumber with a series of turn screws in a line on either side of the box to secure the stock wood (think Christmas tree stand).
The jig was constructed in a manner that the forearm and breech area were held solidly in place (think long padded brace on either side or individual padded supports). I believe that a boiling or near boiling towel was some what wrung out and then wrapped around the wrist area and pressure applied ever so slowly in the desired direction with the appropriate lower positioned turn screws.
If I can recall the discussion correctly, the area of the wrist where the wood was to be bent was stripped of finish and the process was carried out over a lengthy time period, slow and steady on this one.
A quick search of the www turned up no matches for the design that was featured at the gun maker’s fair, I may just have to sketch it out so I don’t lose it as time moves along.
Either way you choose to go you’re going to have to strip and refinish all or part of that stock.
Good Luck
This was a rectangle box (designed for modern work, could be re designed for muzzleloaders) properly framed in lumber with a series of turn screws in a line on either side of the box to secure the stock wood (think Christmas tree stand).
The jig was constructed in a manner that the forearm and breech area were held solidly in place (think long padded brace on either side or individual padded supports). I believe that a boiling or near boiling towel was some what wrung out and then wrapped around the wrist area and pressure applied ever so slowly in the desired direction with the appropriate lower positioned turn screws.
If I can recall the discussion correctly, the area of the wrist where the wood was to be bent was stripped of finish and the process was carried out over a lengthy time period, slow and steady on this one.
A quick search of the www turned up no matches for the design that was featured at the gun maker’s fair, I may just have to sketch it out so I don’t lose it as time moves along.
Either way you choose to go you’re going to have to strip and refinish all or part of that stock.
Good Luck
Patocazador
54 Cal.
I've never bent a rifle stock but have done it several times with a sculling oar.
I made a cheap jig out of scrap lumber, bolts and wing nuts. A separate tapered piece is used as a fulcrum and the spot where it is to bent is placed over a pot of boiling water on a gas burner. Cover the wrist with a hot damp towel and steam for 15-30 minutes. Take the rifle off the supports (saw horses) and place quickly in the jig and insert the tapered piece progressively deeper until the desired angle is met. It may take several steam treatments. There are videos on You Tube.
I made a cheap jig out of scrap lumber, bolts and wing nuts. A separate tapered piece is used as a fulcrum and the spot where it is to bent is placed over a pot of boiling water on a gas burner. Cover the wrist with a hot damp towel and steam for 15-30 minutes. Take the rifle off the supports (saw horses) and place quickly in the jig and insert the tapered piece progressively deeper until the desired angle is met. It may take several steam treatments. There are videos on You Tube.
54ball
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It can be done without damaging the finish. Some high end English doubles are bent at the wrist on a special jig. Hot oil soaked cloths are used until the wood reaches a temp that it is pliable then it is bent on the jig.
Search for some videos about it. Keep in though, these are professional smiths working on shotguns that cost tens of thousands of dollars. So it's not their first rodeo.
IMHO for the home builder this operation is at best difficult and would require lots of practice.
Search for some videos about it. Keep in though, these are professional smiths working on shotguns that cost tens of thousands of dollars. So it's not their first rodeo.
IMHO for the home builder this operation is at best difficult and would require lots of practice.
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the videos with hot oil make it look easy, should probably try with a pawn shop gun and then sell it back.
Cast On-I am a lefty and it the butt needs to go to the left if i am looking down the barrel.
Cast off- bent the opposite to the right for rightys.
Cast On-I am a lefty and it the butt needs to go to the left if i am looking down the barrel.
Cast off- bent the opposite to the right for rightys.
Col. Batguano
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I'd go cheaper than that. Start with a board roughly the size and shape of a gun stock.
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Seems to me any bend put into a stock with moisture will tend to return to it's natural position when it drys out over time. Cast off and on, toe in or out needs to be cut into the stock when it is put on in my opinion.
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now I'm all curious about how this turns out...
:hmm: :hmm: :hmm:
:hmm: :hmm: :hmm:
MD
the stock will spring back a little, you have to over bend it for what you want to allow for the movement.
I have not done it yet myself, I got a buddy that has done a couple. Certainly was simple enough. Heat lamps and oil on original shotguns. did not hurt the finish and it worked....
Fleener
the stock will spring back a little, you have to over bend it for what you want to allow for the movement.
I have not done it yet myself, I got a buddy that has done a couple. Certainly was simple enough. Heat lamps and oil on original shotguns. did not hurt the finish and it worked....
Fleener
Not intended for Fleener. Furniture makers routinely bend hard wood and it stays that way for centuries. I have done several guns including a Thompson center renegade and they will not return unless you reheat and bend them back. I was bending re curve bows almost 60 years ago. If you allow them to cool before removing them from the jig they will return a very small amount. However it is not an exercise for pot heads. I have to go it is time for my dogs algebra lesson.
Col. Batguano
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It wood [sic] be interesting to see exactly what is going on at the cellular level in wood, both pre, and post bending. Do the cell walls mostly elongate, or crush down on the respective sides?
My guess is both. Maybe the easily measured science experiment is to measure a board on both sides (precisely) while it's straight, and then bend it. Take the measurements again.
My guess is both. Maybe the easily measured science experiment is to measure a board on both sides (precisely) while it's straight, and then bend it. Take the measurements again.
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Yeah, I have a friend that has done it with a double barrel shot gun with mixed results.
And I have seen it done on furniture and one time a circular stair case but to my mind it should be fashioned in when stocking not afterwords with the use of steam forcing the wood to do what is unnatural for the grain structure.
I always wonder what they are going to do if they get good and wet one time. I have seen straight grain wood stocks warp and swell, when they really get soaked, to the point the POI was substantially altered.
One mans opinion.
And I have seen it done on furniture and one time a circular stair case but to my mind it should be fashioned in when stocking not afterwords with the use of steam forcing the wood to do what is unnatural for the grain structure.
I always wonder what they are going to do if they get good and wet one time. I have seen straight grain wood stocks warp and swell, when they really get soaked, to the point the POI was substantially altered.
One mans opinion.
Although I've read the other posts that say that heat is the only thing needed, I subscribe to the camp that says moisture is also needed to get wood to bend and keep its bend.
The moisture softens the wood grain and allows each long grain to slip relative to the grain next to it.
(Imagine a bunch of flexible pieces of straw forming a 1 1/2 inch bundle. The ends of the straw are all cut the same length when they are forming a straight bundle.
Now, if one bends the bundle of straw, the ones on the inside of the bend won't move much but those on the outside of the bend will slip resulting in the ends being shorter than the inside straw.
This happens because the length of the larger arc is longer.)
As for using just heat, I still remember one of our members using electric heat lamps to heat the wrist of his TC Hawken.
Without going into details, he charred the wood so badly he ended up throwing the stock away.
I don't think his stock ever did actually bend.
The moisture softens the wood grain and allows each long grain to slip relative to the grain next to it.
(Imagine a bunch of flexible pieces of straw forming a 1 1/2 inch bundle. The ends of the straw are all cut the same length when they are forming a straight bundle.
Now, if one bends the bundle of straw, the ones on the inside of the bend won't move much but those on the outside of the bend will slip resulting in the ends being shorter than the inside straw.
This happens because the length of the larger arc is longer.)
As for using just heat, I still remember one of our members using electric heat lamps to heat the wrist of his TC Hawken.
Without going into details, he charred the wood so badly he ended up throwing the stock away.
I don't think his stock ever did actually bend.
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