# Stock duplicating and inletting



## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

Anyone know of a stock duplicating/inletting service in the Northern half of Ohio? Already have a gunstock blank.

Been surfing the web and found one east of Cleveland. Choked on my coffee when he gave me a price. I don't expect it to be cheap, but that would be like making a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Thanks


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## ClickerCrazy (Feb 4, 2006)

What kind of stock are you wanting? I may know someone.


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## C.Keith&Co (Aug 28, 2010)

Try calling Gatewood 330-725-4867 he is in Medina, he has a duplicator. - I have ran a duplicator and it is alot of work , the duplicator just roughs it out then you have to use a drum sander to shape it then hand fit the metal to the wood, its very tedious work. then sand the whole thing and refinish it. add $150.00 to checker it also. I hope this was helpful and have a nice day ! Curtis


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## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

Perfect. Thanks.

Edit - Spoke with him for a few minutes. Could not believe he's less than a mile from the house. I've been surfing the web all over the place for two weeks. Great prices for what I'm doing and he's not crazy backlogged either.

Thanks again.


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## C.Keith&Co (Aug 28, 2010)

hey your welcome glad I could help.


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

billk said:


> Perfect. Thanks.
> 
> Edit - Spoke with him for a few minutes. Could not believe he's less than a mile from the house. I've been surfing the web all over the place for two weeks. Great prices for what I'm doing and he's not crazy backlogged either.
> 
> Thanks again.


 And this is why I love this site!!!!!! Guys going out of their way to help someone.


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## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

billk said:


> Perfect. Thanks.
> 
> Edit - Spoke with him for a few minutes. Could not believe he's less than a mile from the house. I've been surfing the web all over the place for two weeks. Great prices for what I'm doing and he's not crazy backlogged either.
> 
> Thanks again.


Picked up the duplicated stock today. Very nice work and only 2 week turnaround. The inletting looks beautiful and has just enough wood left in place to properly bed the stock. He left additional material on the comb for me to fit it to my scope.

Have some work to do. Just gotta remind myself to take my time and do it right.

Give Claude Gatewood a call or check out his website at http://claudegatewood.com/ if you're looking for any stock work. I saw a few pieces in process that are very impressive.


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## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

Here's a few pics of progress to date.

Started by opening up the inletting a little and setting pillars in place. That part was pretty easy actually. The Brownells Acraglass gel is pretty easy to work with, but messy. Word of advice, cover the wood with masking tape before messing with the stuff.

Next step was to get the forward and rear recoil lug areas opened up. You'll notice that the trigger block and magazine well are welded to the barrel. This is where the pain in the butt came in. I decided to do the receiver inletting in multiple steps starting with the area between the lugs. Because of the area involved, I used polyclay to build up the barrel/action, checking fit as I went using inletting black (another messy product - like india ink)

Set the action up in glass and let it sit for 6.5 hrs - just enough to harden with no stretch - dentable with a finger nail. Pulled the action out, which was no easy trick and found that most of the clay stayed in the stock. Lots of picking with the woodcarving set I purchased. cleaned up OK with fine steel wool. Magazine area was a real pain as it was too tight and took a bitos sanding to open up. Found that I had a few big voids as well around the trigger area.

Second phase was to tighten up the inletting bedding in the receiver area. This time I avoided clay except around the safety lever and the gap between the magazine well and the barrel. Wow - did it ever lock up tight! I was using 2.5" bolts threaded into the tang/recoil lug and popping it with a hammer. Started to actually bend one of the bolts it took so much pressure to break it all free. Half of the tape stayed against the bedding, but peeled off nicely with the release agent in place. Turned out I had a slight mechanical lock around the long sides of the magazine well. Had to gouge it's way out. Good thing I didn't wait for a full cure. Had to use the woodcarving tools to open up the safety lever area, but I had planned for it.

Yesterday, I opened up the barrel channel and free-floated the barrel in the bedding. Tried to break it free last night but it was pretty tight again. Managed to pop it loose after work today. Seems like the masking tape holds really well against the glass, peeling off in layers as I worked it free.

Learned a few things along the way but it's worked out well. Taking a bit longer than expected. Brownells techs recommended freezing the thing for 8 hrs. They claim if shrinks the metal and breaks it free on its own. I'd read that online as well. I tried freezing some overnight and the thin areas got a bit brittle. I think I would let it fully cure for 24hrs before I tried freezing.

One word of note - Acraglass is some tough stuff when fully cured. The woodcarving tools can only remove a few thousandths at a time.

Also tried a few finishing options. Birchwood Casey stain and Tru-Oil is what I'm going with (Gander Mtn kit for $17). Followed directions on one side, but Internet tip to thin wth denatured alcohol works very well. Photo is a little bit lighter than the actual sample because of the flash. I'll probably go just a little darker by diluting the stain a little less.

Fun project overall so far. It's just sandpaper and wood next, followed by the finishing with stain and tru-oil.


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## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

billk said:


> It's just sandpaper and wood next, followed by the finishing with stain and tru-oil.


Famous last words there. Man that maple is hard wood. The duplicator left a good amount of wood for shaping/sanding. I didn't want to go at it with power tools, so it took forever to work it into shape starting with 60 grit sandpaper. Once it got close, I started working it down with finer grits donw to a final sanding with 220 grit. Two coats of walnut stain and then several wetsandings with tru-oil (2x 320 grit, 2x 400 grit, 2x 600 grit) got the finish looking really nice. About 8 coats of thinned tru-oil (6x 50/50 with mineral spirits and 2x with 70/30) and she's ready to shoot.

Far more work than I expected, but I'm satisfied with the end results.

Not enough time to refinish the steel this year before hunting season. It'l make for a nice winter project.


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