| Q. Why do you have to
re-cut the
checkering when you refinish a stock? |
| A. In the process of sanding, lifting dents, filling the
wood, and applying the finish, the checkering gets worn on the
edges and
it picks up unwanted finish. The re-cutting cleans out the finish
and sharpens all the diamonds.
Old/used checkering is dirty,
it has picked up grit, grime, blood, sweat and laughter. Stripping the finish
(assuming the checkering still has finish) and
re-cutting is the way to
clean checkering. I can mask off the
checkering during a refinish job, but I
highly recommend that it not be done. |
| Q. When
my stock was returned to
me, I could still see some of the
scratches. Why was it not done right? |
| A. What you are seeing
are water stains. The original
finish had been removed when the stock was
scratched years
ago. Over time moisture has discolored the wood down to a very deep level.
In most cases I can rasp the wood down to remove the deep water
stains, but there comes a time when I have to stop due to critical
stock dimensions and/or metal to wood fit. The scratch is gone,
but its shadow lives on. |
| Q. Do I have to send you the
whole gun? Can I only send you the wood? |
| A. Almost all repair jobs require the metal.
Most refinish jobs do not. The bottom line is, we are going
to need to talk about it. I will try to do the work so you do not
have to send the entire gun. |
| Q. How long will it take you
to do the work? |
| A. That is a tough question. I wish I could
turn pieces out quickly, but I use hand rubbed oil finishes which take 4
to 12 coats, and each coat requires a day to dry. Some wood will
look great after 4 coats, others will take coat after coat before I get
the color and the gloss desired. On
average it takes me 3 weeks to
refinish and checker a stock. I
use the first in first out method of
queuing, so your piece may have to
wait its turn. |
| Q. Do you glass bed actions? |
| A. Yes I do. I also glass bed
barrels.
If you want your barrel bedded, tell me how much of the barrel you want
bedded. There are all kinds of theories on how a barrel should
contact the stock, or not contact it at all! |
| Q. I sent you a stock with a
crack in the wrist and you charged me to remove oil in addition to
repairing the stock, why? |
|
A. In order for the glues and
epoxies to bite into the wood, the
surface has to be clean. Oil
soaked wood will not allow good wood
to glue contact. |
| Q.
After you are finished will I be able to
see the repair? |
| A.
In 98% of the cases, the
repair job will be invisible from 3 feet
away and beyond, under normal lighting
conditions. As you can see from the
photos I included on this web site, some
repairs can be seen when pointed out at
close range. The stocks I have shown
were not heavily re-stained after the
repair job. The customer chose
to stay with the wood's natural colors, thereby allowing the grain patterns to
show. Some of my
repairs can be detected at close range
when I use minimal stain and normal
refinishing techniques. I feel
confident that I can mask any repair job,
however the trade off sometimes is the loss of the woods natural
beauty, thus new stocks are sometimes the
better choice. |
| Q. I have a shotgun stock that is
a pistol grip, beavertail fore end. Can it be made into a straight
stock with a splinter fore end? |
| A. In most cases it can, and they turn out very
well. One thing to consider is the trigger guard tang. Do
you want to stay with the original, or upgrade to a long one.? |
| Q. Do you bend stocks? |
| A. No, I do not at this time. |
| Q. How do you remove oil
from
oil soaked wood? |
| A. I use
chemicals, heat, and time. This is a touchy process,
for instance, if any epoxy has been used on the stock in the past, it is
coming out too! Usually this epoxy has been used to fill voids in
the stock, but sometimes it was holding the stock together! You
will not believe how many times this has happened to
me. It takes days, allowing the wood a break in-between
applications to let it dry out and allow oil to ooze out under
heat. I also look for cracks that can develop,
or where masked by the black oil
soaked wood. If you are
reading this answer, you have an idea what damage oil can do to wood over
time. So be careful when you clean and oil your gun, use only as
much as is needed, and store the gun barrel down for a week, until the
excess oil has time to dry. |
| Q. Do you guarantee your work? |
| A. Yes and no. I guarantee that the material
and the techniques I use are first rate, top of the line, and will
last a lifetime. What I can not guarantee is that my fix will be better
then the original design of the stock. For instance, LC Smith
stock design is poor, the darn things crack under recoil because of the
wood to metal fit. I will glass bed the action and take special
care to insure that the lockplates contact the wood just so, but in the
long run it is still an LC Smith, and in addition, I can not control what
loads you fire in the piece. |
| Q.
How do I get my gun/stock to you? |
| A.
It is legal for you to send me a gun for repair as I hold an FFL
license as a gunsmith. Ship it directly to me "Stockmaker", when
finished I will ship it directly back to you. If the metal is not
needed send the wood, butt plate, grip cap, and any metal parts that
are integral with the wood, except the receiver. And as
stated above, there are many jobs that require the entire gun. I
cover a little more about this on the Shipping page. |
