Laminated Stock and Fore-end

[impala59]

I have half a plan to make a laminated stock and fore-end for my Sabatti 18/22 (bull barrelled 10/22 clone) and I wondered about the process of laminating and the type of woods to use. I would appreciate the recommendations of the pw members. Part of the plan is for a full pistol grip as one is not made for this rifle (to my knowedge) and I am concerned over the possible weak point at the top of the pistol grip. One idea that I have been toying with is to include 2 or 3 layers of 3mm aluminium in the laminate. Has any one tried this or similar and with what level of success?

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2016 by impala59

[demonwolf444]

I am not speaking from experience of your exact project but have played around with similar ideas; you will face many challenges with this project - I'm not saying don't attempt it but that the process will be very challenging.

 

Here are the following reasons

 

Laminate like you see when its all different colors is exceptionally thin veneers of beech cut with specialist saws that can accurately cut this thin - it is unlikely with conventional shop equipment that you will be able to produce accurate thin cuts of veneer. When you start to cut thicker pieces of veneer you end up with less impact from the lamination.

 

The veneers are then planed and sanded down again on specialist equipment, you would probably have to do this by hand, which when you consider you would have to do about 50 to 60 sheets not including mess ups and flaws in the wood would be a mammoth task.

 

In order to get the different colors in each lamination the veneers are impregnated under high pressure with dyes to dye the wood fibers right through the veneer. Again this requires specialist equipment though you could do it by soaking the veneers in tanks for a long time to get them fully saturated.

 

You then need to glue the sheets together your only going to be able to clamp a few bits at a time to get enough clamping pressure so you do get big scucum voids and glue lines.

 

When you get around to shaping the stock having aluminum in the stock is probably going to make carving the stock difficult. When filing down the shape your file is going to pull pins of ali from the ali laiminations across the wood which is much softer where they will probably stick into the wood going to be a lot of hand sanding to get all of these pin marks out of the stock.

 

So besides those obvious difficulties in making your own laminate what are your options?

 

Birch Ply is easily available but is not stained - it is literally just very high quality plywood you wont be able to differentially stain the layers of laminate but you could stain the stock and as the grain in birch ply runs in different directions each layer if you stained with a color you will find that the end grain layer will soak up more stain than the layers with the grain running length ways - this will give you a two tone of the same color similar to conventional laminate used for rifle stock but ultimately reasonably disappointing in my experience.

 

You can buy laminate blanks from which you carve your own stock from - i have never used it so can not attest to how it carves - probably like birch one would assume. I think Richards microfit supply blanks, they are expensive and come from the US, think a lot of laminate is made in Sweden so you can get it there but i have never been able to find it in quantities small enough for my uses. Though it was many years ago that i was looking into this so that might have changed now.

 

Bearing in mind that the stock on that gun is held on by a draw bolt - i think, ( could be wrong ) then i don't think you need to worry too much about a weak point at the top of the pistol grip.

 

My advice would be to buy some cheap birch laminate to practice with, then if you make a satisfactory job of that look into getting a laminate blank

 

Also worth noting that as its a two piece stock - you don't need a conventional rifle blank you can probably get away with using a two piece shotgun blank this might be cheaper.

 

If you do go down the birch ply route and want to color stain it i suggest liberon concentrated dyes. High quality water based dyes the tiny bottle is enough for several stocks and wear gloves as this does not want to come off your hands quick.

 

I was going to find some picture examples for you here but gave up after finding this - the guy wanted a black and green two tone laminate effect - i think his results are consistent with the lack of joy i had when i looked into this. Pictures of the stock i did were burnt ( to get the stock to catch ) so by internet rules; it didn't happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[impala59]

Wow! thanks for great answer and pointing out pitfalls!!

My feeling is to go with your suggestion of quality ply as an experiment to feel my way, not too much cost and who knows, it may turn out great!

I see your point about aluminium swarf damaging the rest of the finish while shaping and a friend pointed out the different heat expansion rates of wood and ally may have some effect on durability

Thanks again, I will post when I get started

[Scully]

I have no experience of this to be honest, but just wanted to say how much I like the look of that little rifle; cracking bit of kit.

[ditchman]

I have no experience of this to be honest, but just wanted to say how much I like the look of that little rifle; cracking bit of kit.

 

 

my mate ..many years ago had i think a Remington..very similar to that cept not a banana mag....it used to break down into a brief case...

 

1. moderator off
2. forestock unclip
3. barrel unscrew
4. but unclip off
5. scope unscrew

 

very nice piece....never seen one since

[subsonicnat]

Finish's on these will probably either have to be Sprayed on Colour,or if preffered to keep lamination visible,either varnish, or some form of it..

Lamination I would have thought would give give it a lot of strength,as grains would be alternate directions,,best of luck with wood choices,but would try out different types of woods,and of course the look you wish to impart to the weapon..

A Trial block would I think not be a bad idea..

[impala59]

I have no experience of this to be honest, but just wanted to say how much I like the look of that little rifle; cracking bit of kit.

 

And very cheap too! It has a Ruger heavy barrel and uses 10/22 magazines but the rest is "European American Arms" made in Italy (it has that distinctive Italian shoulder at the rear of the receiver) Handles well and is a candidate for my woodworking experiments as it is a simple straightforward design

 

Finish's on these will probably either have to be Sprayed on Colour,or if preffered to keep lamination visible,either varnish, or some form of it..

Lamination I would have thought would give give it a lot of strength,as grains would be alternate directions,,best of luck with wood choices,but would try out different types of woods,and of course the look you wish to impart to the weapon..

A Trial block would I think not be a bad idea..

 

Thanks for more good advice and pointers

[rovercoupe]

If you can find old reclaimed birch ply it is far better quality than modern stuff which is full of voids even the best stuff! The other problem with modern ply is the overlap of veneers makes it look ****. If i had any more old stuff You could have it, it was 20 year old ply and was stupid heavy and really strong with no flaws.

 

I think its possible to make your own laminate with a bit of vac gluing it could work. One day i will try it!