Thread: Walnut stock build (done the traditional way)

And so after 89 1/4 hours of planing, chiselling, scraping, sanding and much thinking and looking, here is what I have. This is after the first ‘base coat’ of oil, which now needs to dry a couple of weeks before I get stuck into the finishing.

Overall, I’m really happy with the result. What I like most about it, is the diminutive ‘feel’ to it. The combination of grip circumference, sweep back, forend length and volume and the lack of cheek piece makes for a very sleek and quick handling stock, yet not so light as to be ‘twitchy’. It’s something that you can appreciate through pictures, but once it’s in your hands it all makes sense.
A lot of time was spent in the trigger finger reliefs, but the result was worth it.

The finishing phase is going to take a while, but the grain is going to look wonderful by the time it’s complete.