Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Checkering?

Anyone know much about how to learn the art?
Or what it cost to have it done?

There's some good youtube videos on it that did a good job of discouraging me from ever trying.

There is a book by a man named Monty Kennedy I think. It has everything you’d ever want to know about the art of checkering gunstocks. It is a tedious process.

It's easier to recut than to lay out a pattern and checker from scratch. This guy is great and I've sent him a bunch of work. He's not that expensive and turnaround is good. http://www.casecustomgunstocks.com/

Sometimes it's easier to get it done than try to learn.

If you want to learn, get books on the subject and good tools. I like the carbide tools that Brownells sells. They're not cheap, but work well.

DF

That right there could be the perfect summation of most of my efforts at being handy.

I don't know what it would run today but when Sterling Davenport did the checkering on my stock it was IIRC $250 give or take. I think that stock was one of the last ones he did before retiring.
Paul B.

This is my latest, recutting a pre-64 that had been sorta recut, but filled with way too much finish. I used the Brownells carbide tools. Now, this took a good while, probably several hours per panel. A real pro can turn out the work much faster.

I have a magnifying visor that I wear, have a light that I place at an angle to see the grooves better. It is sorta tedious and I send out work, mostly. This gun had already been "bubba'ed", so I wasn't too worried about messing it up. If so, I'd have sent it out. I was working on an old pre war Superposed with orange peeled finish. When I found out who owned it, I immediately took it to a pro to restore the wood and recut the checkering. Here's that link. Pretty long, but an interesting read. http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=124719 No way would I attempt to work on a gun with that provenance.

Here's the link to the pre-64 project.
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/15163238/5 Scroll down to find the picture with only one coat of Tru-Oil, brushed out with a tooth brush so as to not fill up the grooves.

DF

The Final Touch by Joel Schafer.
A must have in your library. .

Best to have two copies in case one gets loaned out and not returned.

For sure, two copies...

Checkering may be a bigger undertaking than one would think. How many really have the time to invest to learn it.

Reading books by the masters is key, then buying good tools, etc. LOTS of practice and time invested. The masters didn't get there overnight..

But, if that's your goal, go for it. Those guys first had to have the goal, the passion to become what they ultimately became.

DF

Having done it both from scratch and recut, I've decided I can hold onto a stock just fine without it...

the quality of the wood and the finish have to be there, and the former is quite expensive. Lesser woods chip out, no matter what you do. If you're not ready to spend $500 on the wood, forget it.

I started many years ago with some discarded stocks and a Brownells basic checkering tool kit. Then progressed to recutting some already checkered stocks and upgraded tools. I read every thing I could find on checkering and stock making and gradually worked my way into both.

A person needs manual dexterity, good lighting, and a lot of patience. Some say you need a checkering cradle. I don't have one, and I sure never had $500 piece of wood. All of mine were from American black walnut my brother cut and aged about 20 years.

It is not rocket science and I am not a professional, but think I can hold my own. Sadly arthritis has stopped me from doing much.

Here are an old, Ithaca SXS 1936 era, and a Fox Sterlingworth of the same vintage. I made the butt stocks and fore ends, finished, and checkered them .

I never had a checkering cradle, either. Good lighting and something like an Optivisor. Google that one. It magnifies the work, makes it easier to see what you’re doing. The light source at an angle helps. Sorta makes shadows in the grooves, highlights the diamonds.

DF

Yea,I forgot the Optivisor,

I would never have patience for that. Time would be a problem too

I had a 12 gauge Fox XE with a straight grip stock recut and lengthened. There were all kinds of issues.

The original stock was 13 inches. I'm 6' 3" so the length was no good. It also had a lot of oil soaked into the head that needed to be removed. The checkering was just about gone, with barely enough to use as a guide. I had it redone, with length added and the checkering recut. I don't regret it. But as a rule, I would have left it alone if it fit better.

I made sure the guy that did it was qualified to make it look as close to how it was originally as he could. Here it is with another unrestored 16 gauge Fox XE POW grip for comparison that I won't touch.

It's tedious and time consuming but not hard to learn. Takes a bit of patience, manual dexterity and hand eye coordination is all. Only way to learn and get good is by doing. Get a set of checkering tools, some pattern templates from Brownells and an old stock and go to town.

A couple of good reasons to sent it out.

I don't do patterns any more, do recut from time to time.

DF