Practice inletting?

[jaxenro]

I noticed my local hardware store has thin maple boards for a couple of bucks - I was thinking of getting a few and inletting some old gun parts into them, inlays, locks, and stuff, just for practice before starting on an actual stock. Anyone ever done this and did it help?

 

[maypo59]

yes, and yes.

 

[jtmattison]

I haven't done it but I should. I have an inlay I was going to put on my GPR when I built it but I was to scared to do it.
The only way to get good at it is practice.

HD

 

[grey8833]

Always! Practise till I know each cut, using some hobby store purchased board at at $ per foot before I lay into a $250 M4 stock. You would be crazy to do anything else - unless you make guns for a living.

Mike

 

[Johnny Tremain]

You will thank yourself for it.

I did my stock cold, never having done it before.

If I were to get another blank and start again. It would come out a lot better than the one I have now

 

[jaxenro]

It seemed so obvious I felt foolish asking - but I have never seen it recommended

 

[Zonie]

One of the reasons I don't mention it is because most stores don't carry Maple or Walnut.

The Birch, beechwood, basswood, fir, pine etc that is commonly available can be used but I think it "works" quite differently from Maple or Walnut.

I guess even using one of these other woods would give the new builder some feeling for what is needed even though these other woods do not cut or chisel the same.

 

[agill]

I purchased a piece of maple from the local Woodcraft store at my wife's suggestion to practice. They have different grades and sale online as well.

 

[rich pierce]

Birch lumber will work fine. A cheap source of hardwood is firewood. Plane a surface smooth and have at it.

 

[Roy]

You can buy really inexpensive maple blanks from different suppliers or you can buy a plank from a decent saw mill or hardwood supply. If it was me I would use something cheap and practice making a gun. If it doesn't work out scrap it and try again. A few months ago we bought a few planks of red maple around $50 a piece. Its just wide enough to get an ML out of it. I figure I can get three maybe if I'm lucky four gun stocks out of them and have the grain running the way that I want. Just a different way of practicing is all. Really no need to spend all the time to inlet a lock into a piece of wood that you can't use. :v

 

[Jim Buchholz]

Scrounge around on trash night! You might find an old maple table top or pick one up at a flea market.Lots of wood there for practice.

 

[srottman]

You can get some very nice maple slabs about 3/8x 3" x 30' long for a $1.00 ea plus shipping from **** at Pecatonica River give him a call [815]968-1995. They are great for inletting practice and messing around with stains. [The staining will not be exactly like the stock you have but you can get a good idea of how your finishing will come out.

 

[Headhunter]

It would for SURE let you know how your tools work before....Like Mike F said "Laying into a $250 M-4 Maple Stock."

HH

 

[rootsy]

Just remember.. don't push or pull the tools toward you or any part of your body... I've gotten lax and learned the hard way a time or two... I don't particularly care for the look of blood as a stain on hard maple... :surrender:

 

[Zonie]

Speaking of blood, a pointed Exacto Knife (or hobby knife that takes #2 blades) is one of the prime tools used for inletting locks, inlays, trigger guards etc. and the blades used in these are razor sharp.

Because they are sharpened all along the cutting edge and the point is the only part of the knife that we really use when inletting, it is a very good idea to dull the last 3/8 to 1/2 inch that is next to the handle.

If you leave the full edge of the blade sharp you may find yourself working away and all at once you will think, "What's that reddish stuff on the wood?". Only then will you realize you've cut your finger.
Don't ask how I know this. :grin:

To dull the edge of the blade simply use a whet stone or a piece of wet/dry (black) sandpaper.

 

[jaxenro]

"What's that reddish stuff on the wood?".

So is that how they got that reddish tint on old english walnut stocks?

 

[Swamp Buck]

Good idea. I did the same thing prior to my last gun build. The maple I got from the hardware store was some regular soft maple. I inletted a couple of inlays. It was good practice for the use of my tools, but I found the soft maple boards I practiced on was much more difficult to make a perfect inlet when compared to the much harder curly maple gun stock.

 

[vikingsword]

A few years ago our local school tore up the gymnasium floor and was going to haul it off to the landfill so they allowed me to take as much as I wanted and I did, for the simple reason that it was all hard rock maple, and quite a bit of it was very figured once the finish was planed off, and it made some real nice knife handles, the rest of the pile I have stored up makes real good for carving and wire inlay practice. Wes