louisvanhovell Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 (edited) After having done a lot of reading about stock making, and fantasising about "the perfect stock", I decided to do it. First, I had to prepare. This involved convincing my gf that we did not need our spare bed. I succesfully bribed her by promising that the money earned would be spent on dinner at a restaurant together. That was nice. But it was even nicer that I could now buy a s/h work bench and put it in the spare bedroom, which I have silently baptised as my "man cave". It even has a pin up calendar on the wall, what more could a man want. Anyway, living in Amsterdam I thought it would be difficult to find some good walnut blanks. It turns out that there is a famous old wood shop here, which sells quite nice pieces for only about 30 euros. So I bought a lot, as I'm planning to practice some more :-) I also bought a few maple blanks, with which looks like tiger striping - we shall see. The shop also sells good quality Swiss made gouges, Pfeil, which I find are indispensable. I use 1 gouge all the time. I also use a small sanding machine and a Dremel. For the inletting, which was very complicated, I obviously used a router. The BSA Firebird stock has many many depth and width differences. I took a 2 hour lesson by a retired furniture maker, at a great wood working place. This made all the difference. Hans explained to me that we needed to make a good base for the router, with 4 "stops" for each segment of the inletting, so that we could use the router accurately, safely and more easily. Now I am shaping the stock. This is the fun part, but it is also very labour intensive as in my case, I remove very little wood at a time. I could use power tools more, but then I miss control and being able to adjust all the time. For instance the thumbhole; it now fits perfectly snuggly around my thumb, with my hand in a very relaxed position. I chose to make a stock for my Firebird first btw, because it is my favourite airgun (having adjustable power - not a problem over here - and interchangeable barrels; .20, .22, .25 > changing only costs 2 minutes). It is a pcp designed by John Bowkett around 2000. And its standard stock is very bland. Anyway, I've still got many many hours to go. Greetings, Louis Edited January 30, 2018 by louisvanhovell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultrastu Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 Looks nice .well done . The fire bird is a gun that I've always wanted. Can I ask what energy you run it at .? And approx shot count ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisvanhovell Posted January 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 3 minutes ago, Ultrastu said: Looks nice .well done . The fire bird is a gun that I've always wanted. Can I ask what energy you run it at .? And approx shot count ? I love it. If you find one, have it blueprinted by JB. They have a slow leak from a production fault and John does an excellent job to get them leak free and spot on. I've only used the .20 so far, 35 consistent shots @ 14 ft/lbs, jsb exaxt 13.63gr. On the photos is the .25 barrel; I shall be testing it when the stock is ready. The power can be higher, but I don't know the maximum tbh. 14 fpe gave me a nice trajectory up to 40 metres, well 1 mildot holdover at that distance with a zero at 25 m. You can top the air up with a buddy bottle in the field, which is very easy and the intended way to do it. So even with higher power and fewer shots per fill, you'll have plenty of shots for hunting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 Looking good so far I have always told myself I could do this, the only part that would be a challenge is the letting in for the action. Did you measure the profile of the original and then just rout to that? [p.s. my woodwork teacher always shouted at us for putting planes blades side down on a bench ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winnie&bezza Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 Looking good so far ?? I made an air rifle stock and put the progress up on here a couple of years ago. I found Japanese saw files and carving files were my main shaping tools and can remove a lot of stock with them. Are you going for a stipple or Chequer grip? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisvanhovell Posted January 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 43 minutes ago, Dunkield said: Looking good so far I have always told myself I could do this, the only part that would be a challenge is the letting in for the action. Did you measure the profile of the original and then just rout to that? [p.s. my woodwork teacher always shouted at us for putting planes blades side down on a bench ] Hahaha woops I didn't think of that. I'm learning... It makes sense, as the blade should stay as sharp as possible. I don't use the plane though; I find that it is too wide and too awkard to work with. There's so much details to get right; a bit off here, a bit off there. Probably it's down to my not being very competent yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louisvanhovell Posted January 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 35 minutes ago, winnie&bezza said: Looking good so far ?? I made an air rifle stock and put the progress up on here a couple of years ago. I found Japanese saw files and carving files were my main shaping tools and can remove a lot of stock with them. Are you going for a stipple or Chequer grip? Thank you. I will have a look at your thread later. And I'll also look into Japanese saw files and carving files. It would be nice to try different techniques. And also to do a stock in half the time. Just to see how that works out. As to what stippling or chequering is concerned: I am planning to do neither. I don't have the skills for chequering (yet) and tbh I don't like the look of stippling. I have ordered some cheap chequered wooden grips for a Colt pistol on Ebay, and I'll see how they look and feel. I bought them mainly to get a wider grip; the stock is 4.5cm wide and this gives a good grip but I like them quite chunky. We'll see. The grips are also darker, which could look nice for contrast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winnie&bezza Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 Ok that’s Fd fair enough mate. I do prefer stippling to Chequering on rifles. I put my stock thread on airgun section but really it would prob be best on craft/diy section as I reckon more people visit it. I might be wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 30, 2018 Report Share Posted January 30, 2018 Send your designs to Air Arms (aka CZ). They need some help, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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