Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Detail sander for grinding recoil pads?

Has anybody had success in finish grinding recoil pads with the hand held oscillating detail sanders made by Porter Cable and others?

My thinking is that you could do the bulk of the grinding on a regular jig, mount the pad, take the base down to final fit with files/sandpaper and then match the rubber and base with the detail sander(20-30,000 oscillations per minute.)

This would only work IF the detail sander would cleanly cut the rubber.

I am talking about a super-deluxe job here for high grade finished stocks, not your ordinary close enough effort.

Has anybody tried this?

I have used a Makita sander on stocks with the pad in place and the sander didn't have much effect on the rubber at all. Did all right on the hard base but not the rubber. I have had my best results using a belt sander to finish the rubber (a 180 grit belt).
I have never tried a jig at all but gring the pad down to two layers of masking tape with a sanding disc or a coarse belt. I then sand away the pad and most of the tape, leaving mostly just the adhesive, with the finer belt. Works ok for me. GD

I too have had my best luck with belt units.

A bench-top belt sander is my preference. I suppose you could use a hand-held belt sander, too - never tried it.

I'm not a gunsmith and I've tried using a vibrating sander, files and sandpaper and they just don't work. They're not aggressive enough to make a clean cut without deforming the material.

It's kinda like using a dull knife to slice a tomato vs a sharp knife that can make a clean fine cut. You can't cut thin slices with a dull knife.

A belt or disc sander for recoil pads works much better.

An uncle who was a gunsmith used a felt wheel on his polishing setup. He did a lot of contract work for what passed for a big box store back in the day so getting the job done efficiently was important. Best I can recall he used cellophane tape on the stock and ground until the felt scratched the tape.

Sanders work great as long as you understand the pad must be cold... put it in the freezer for at least an hour before final finishing and do not rush it.

Belts move material faster for roughing in, but orbitals do a very good job for final cleanup as long as very good sandpaper is used on the cold rubber.

Ihav never had any luck with a hand vibrating sander. Pretty hard to beat a 12" disc /4" belt combo

Yes, orbitals work. Use wet or dry sandpaper and dish soap. Some recommend mineral oil, but I've found it makes a gummy mess that clogs up the sandpaper quicker than the soap. Clean the paper often with a wet sponge, but not too wet, and unplug the sander when cleaning - electricity and water don't mix... They do make wet or dry orbital sanders, if that's a concern.

I worked in Browning Arms gunsmithing shop in St. Louis for many years, we used a belt sander with a new coarse belt. The stock was masked with two layers of masking tape, the excess pad was ground away until the masking tape was just barely scuffed. Change to a used belt of the same grit, mask stock with scotch tape and sand till just touched the tape. New scotch tape applied and pad was sanded with sanding block and wet or dry paper using WD 40 as a lube. When the tape was scuffed all the way around you're done. Till you get the hang of using the belt sander you need to check frequently with a straight edge to see that you are grinding the pad in line with the lines of the stock. Nowhere is this more important than the toelike of the stock. A strip of wet or dry re-inforced with a backing of masking tape can be used to "shoeshine" the sides of the pad especially the black hard rubber backing plate to remove small flats and grinding marks. After this you can use some Flitz or similar on a shop towel to polish the hard rubber for the ultimate professional result. Practice with take off pads and junk stocks as it does take some time to perfect your technique.

Many thanks to all for the helpful replies.

Lubrication does seem to be the ticket for cutting the rubber portion.

I am going to run some tests using soap as a lube and also freezing the pad before doing the final fit.