Our goal for this post.
I did not like the stubby looking forend as it was after I cut the stock off and made the filler insert shown in the last installment of this How-to. I rounded up some scrap wood and compared them to the stock to see what I liked best. I could have used black walnut, english walnut, myrtle, or maple none of them looked good next to the laminate of the stock. I had a scrap of black and gray laminate left over from a stock I made for a client. It had the best look of all the samples I held up, just my opinion.
Because of the shape of the stock I felt it best to keep the forend cap short and shaped to match the overall look of the stock. Of course much of that can be a matter of personal taste. There are style and form rules for classic rifle stocks, but thumbholes ignore all those rules. Consequently I was not afraid to make a cap that was different than your used to seeing.
Shaping of the new tip underway.
Started by sanding the beveled cut on the stock smooth so that there would not be any noticeable gaps in the joint between the cap and the stock. I put the blank to be used for the cap on the belt sander and removed all the saw marks as well. Then position the blank to make sure it will provide wood where you need it for the forend cap.
It’s not unusual for the joint surfaces to have a little rounding that would cause a large gap between the two pieces of stock material. My solution to this is to use a chisel to undercut the stock face leaving just 1/8″ of material at the edges for a tight glue joint.
Scraping out the tip to match the barrel channel in the stock.
Once the epoxy is set it’s time to cut off any excess material and prepare to shape the new tip. Be sure to leave enough material to get the shape your after, it’s easier to cut more off than to put it back, trust me. You will note above that we taped off the stock, this is to minimize any chance of damage to the finished stock as I do not plan to refinish the whole stock if I can avoid it.
First coat of finish on.
Chisels, rasps, files, and hand sanders are the standard tools for the shaping of the new forend tip. Work the shape down to match the existing lines of the stock, since we don’t plan a total refinish we are careful to get close and then file down the last little bit with fine files. Then switch to 180 grit sand paper to finish the shaping. By taping the stock with painters masking tape you can sand very close if your careful. When doing the final blending of the lines tape the stock about 1/2″ back from the joint and carefully sand with 320 paper. I was cautious at this point not to cut all the way through the stock finish. Then switch to 400 grit paper, remove the tape and gently blend the sanding lines.
Here is the final profile of the forend tip from the side.
Bottom view of the stock with the new tip on and finished.
We will start refinishing the receiver and other parts in the next segment. We will also install some aftermarket parts and let you know if there are any tricks you need to learn. How about a trigger job on the existing 10-22 parts?
Read On: How to Update an Old 10-22
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