toe plate ... need advice

[Freedom]

A year ago, last spring, when I arrived at our new ranch my son and I found the elkhorn. It has been hanging outside on the wall of the cabin since that day. So hopefully there was enough season on the antler to limit it's shrinkage.

I have a really thick piece of bison horn. The horn set has been hanging in a friends grandfather's home for close to a hundred years... so I think my next toe plate will be made from that bison horn

 

[Coinneach]

I would only use metal for a toe plate unless you have built many many guns don't screw it up.

Agreed, a Toe plate is there to protect the lower butt (should I re-phrase that ?) not to be ornamental, its not an immediately noticeable feature on a ML so why not keep it as a purely functional piece of furniture ?

 

[Vaino]

To me anyways, a toeolate is a functional add on and an embellishment secondarily....so all my toeplates are either brass or steel. On the LRs w/ brass hardware, the toeplate is also brass and the Hawken style rifles have a steel toeplate that's 3/32" thick because the sling swivel is riveted on. Also fairly long screws are used......that triangular portion at the toe needs longer screws....short screws could just separate w the toe triangle......Fred

 

[LME]

I would tend to think that the toe plate should be substantial (metal) but the antler looks sturdy enough.

I was thinking the same thing? Although it looks nice I wonder what would happen when you or someone else drops the heel of the rifle on a hard surface? I put the heel of my rifle down on the floor a lot as I have seen others do as well. Horn is hard and durable but I wonder if it is a good choice for a heel plate?

 

[Vaino]

Toeplates have a function and it's to protect the toe .....and adding one to embellish the rifle is secondary. On brass mounted LRs , I use brass toeplates and on Hawken type rifles, steel is used. One aspect of installing toeplates is the length of the attaching screws....should be long [min. of 1-1/4"} If short screws are used and the toe triangle of wood separates, the short screws do nothing....they just come off w/ the wood.

The brass toeplate thickness on the LRs is only 1/16" but the long screws help to retain the wood triangle at the stock's toe. The steel toeplates on the Hawken style rifles is 3/32"-1/8" thick which is necessary because of the riveted on sling swivels and again the long screws are used. .....Fred

 

[Redlemur60]

Crazy Crow sells horn slabs and cylinders. They are imported from India and ready for knife handle making. They are older and well seasoned. I don’t THINK that they would shrink.

Shrinkage sounds like an excuse!

 

[Redlemur60]

Im putting some bone in dye right now! Pics to follow!

 

[Redlemur60]

And against jims sugjestion im trying a bone smr nose cap as well
(Im a rebel!)

 

[longcruise]

And against jims sugjestion im trying a bone smr nose cap as well
(Im a rebel!)

Oh! You are a rascal!

 

[Vaino]

Have installed metal toeplates on most of my builds. mostly brass but some steel {Hawkens}. The wood grain at the toe many times forms a triangle just waiting to be cracked off. So when installing toeplates, longer screws are used....short screws can be in the cracked off toe triangle and wouldn't have done their job at all.....Fred