Custom Hard Wood Stocks

[broken_system]

Hey guys, anyone know of a shop that would carve a hardwood rifle stock? I want a blank stock tho (i.e not already cut to fit the internals of a gun). I want to be able to fit my own marker parts in the stock. If anyone knows of a shop that offers this service in Canada or would ship from the states let me know!

Oh another thing. I have googled this however I always end up at a "fancy custom stock" website that sells the stocks for alot of money. I was hoping to find a generic stock carver that would even just cut the shape from hardwood (doesn't have to be the nicest looking wood), and I would sand/seal it after.

Anyone ever hear of this kind of service offered?

[Ragnarok]

Anyone ever hear of this kind of service offered?

Yeah. There's a cheap service that can be found in most countries called "Doing it yourself".

...seriously, as long as you have a few basic woodworking tools, then it's not all that hard to actually make a stock yourself.
I need to finish my own stock project, but at the stage I'm at, I've got a test run that works fine - it's simply made out of a cheap four by two.

The final hardwood version will be done when money, time and weather permit.

[broken_system]

money

This is what I don't want to waste :S I have considered just making one myself but I have a feeling that it is going to turn out very disproportioned and ugly, not to mention if I really screw up the stock it will be money down the drain.

I was considering buying a pellet gun stock but again I want to be able to fit my own canon internals inside and not have to fill the rest with wood filler.

[Ragnarok]

This is what I don't want to waste

Which is why it pays to do a version in cheap wood first.

I bought an eight foot length of cheap wood for mere pocket change, and it was about enough to make three trial runs. (I've currently stopped at two).
If the trial runs go completely balls up, then you've lost a couple of dollars, and you can go off start looking for a professional maker.

But to be quite frank, given what I'd need to pay for a professionally made stock, I could probably buy enough decent hardwood for several stocks.
In the end, if money is what you're concerned about, even if you balls up your first attempt, then you'll probably come out on top by doing it yourself.

[CS]

I made this out of a 2x6, scrap of course. For the stock design I thumbed through a rifle magazine (search Google images) and sketched the design on the side of the board. First used a band saw to cut the outline, and to my convenience used a table belt sander to finish it off.

From the looks of it appearance/strength of hardwood isn't necessary. I'm sure you can get by with pine or fir lumber, much easier to work.

I have DIY pity.

(Another thing you can try is finding a side profile of a stock you like, preferably from a high resolution image. Then find the overall length of the gun and scale it to real size on the computer. After that just a matter of printing it off, and tracing the design unto the wood blank.

Preferably just use some freehand sketching.)

[broken_system]

Another thing you can try is finding a side profile of a stock you like, preferably from a high resolution image. Then find the overall length of the gun and scale it to real size on the computer. After that just a matter of printing it off, and tracing the design unto the wood blank.

Preferably just use some freehand sketching.)

That seems like a great idea.

We'll I suppose I'll give it a shot, I do like projects, I just have little to no experience, and very limited access to tools, but who knows it just might work out.

How rough can you be on mentioned types of wood? I don't plan on beating anyone with it (lol) but I don't want to have to spend all the time to shape the stock then have it weaken over time from use/exposure to weather, heat, cold, etc. I figure once I coat it in a nice varnish, sand it so that its smooth then seal it I shouldnt have to worry about moisture damage, just the chance of it breaking.

P.s. Thanks for the advice Ragnarok and pimpman22

[Ragnarok]

How rough can you be on mentioned types of wood?

I made the stock for my air rifle some time ago, and it's held up*, in spite of being the cheapest four by two I could find.

*What I should probably do if I'm going to delay the hardwood version much longer is sand it down neatly, then actually varnish it.

As long as you don't do anything that would be obvious abuse (dropping it, leaving it in the wet, etc), I can't imagine a big problem.
It does depend on the wood however. There are some hardwoods I've been warned away from because of brittleness.

[rp181]

agarwood works very very well

I think its worth it.

[CS]

Well for your question of strength this is what 2x4/ 2x6 are generally used for. Strength/ integrity isn't an issue that I've experienced with any pine lumber, or my stock specifically. You may notice the large knot on my stock, those often are fracture points, but no issue again. Somewhere along the pinging beneath my skull, and Ragnarok's comment remembered a illustrative story on wood and "strength":

The fort was unnamed and not yet complete when Admiral Sir Peter Parker and nine British warships attacked it on June 28, 1776, near the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.The soft palmetto logs did not crack under bombardment but rather absorbed the shot; there were even reports of cannon balls actually bouncing off of the walls of the structure. Charleston was saved from capture, and the fort was named for the commander in the battle, William Moultrie.

Fort Moultrie - Wikipedia

Just to show softwood inversely had more "strength" in a bombardment scenario. As Ragnarok says, hardwood being "hard" doesn't lend itself to actual usage/strength, maybe brittle.

[broken_system]

Just to show softwood inversely had more "strength" in a bombardment scenario. As Ragnarok says, hardwood being "hard" doesn't lend itself to actual usage/strength, maybe brittle.

That makes alot of sense. I have the right tools and power tools to cut out a basic shape for my stock, I am just woried about the sanding process, I'm thinking that it will probably turn out more rounded on one side and it will look uneven, but hey it's worth a shot, who knows maybe it will randomly turn out awesome first time Or maybe I will have to try a few times before i get it right. I'll definitely give it a go tho thanks guys!

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Making your own isn't such a chore with a bit of dedication and basic tools. Here are some examples from the forum, click on the pic for more details.











Also note that wood isn't the only option, you might also want to look at the foam and fibreglass option.

[broken_system]

Thats wiked thanks jacks! I was looking around on youtube and found a couple decent videos about shaping stocks so I'll share them with you guys for those interested:

Shaping a stock from lumber


Rounding some edges


More shaping