I applaud your efforts! It sounds like you are approaching the project with the right attitude. There are as many ways to finish a gunstock as there are opinions on internet forums. They are all good (well, most of them). You need to settle on what works for you. After, and only then, you have mastered the art of stock finishing should you look toward checkering. Monty Kennedy's book remains the best. Ask questions 'til you're no longer welcome, read everything you can lay your hands on, then buy a set of basic tools from Brownell's. (I went with DemBart's, and still use them, but there are others out there---maybe better) Then, lay out patterns on pieces of scrap wood and start checkering. Make your mistakes there, (and you will make mistakes) and not on that nifty stock you just created. Step up to pieces of curved scraps, and when you can lay out and execute a neat checkering pattern there then snatch up your new stock. Checkering is one of those art forms that may seem daunting, but if one takes it a simple step at a time, one can do it.
