Reprehensible as popsicle stick usage may be, he may have inadvertently did a good thing by relieving the fore end to receiver contact, although the thickness of the stick is way more than enough. Perhaps too he felt it necessary to close the gap if the back of the fore end wasn't touching the front inner face of the receiver yet the edges of the receiver were touching the outer end of the fore end. (How's that for double-speak?) Only way to know for sure before condemning the smith to Savage hell is to see the gun.
"Put the popsicle stick down and walk away from it with your hands in the air."
