Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing finishing recoil pad?

I had read here in the past some tips for fitting Decelerator pads which I found useful the last time I undertook that task (10+years ago). I can no longer locate said tips. One of them was placing the pad in a freezer so it sanded more evenly.

I am at the point where I now have somewhere between a 16th to a 32nd to remove. It is being done on an already finished stock to make matters more difficult.

Looking for advice on finishing the last little bit to obtain nice even appearance on the sides of the pad and close fit to the wood.

Thanks

Wrap the stock just above the pad with masking tape then a run of electrical tape. Sand to the tape. If you go through the electrical tape it is time to slow down of course. Use wet/dry sand paper to do the final sanding and use it wet with water.
Good Luck,
Rick
PS follow the line of the belly of the stock for the line of the toe on the pad. It looks awful if you sand it square like at the heel.

I do the above, but finish by hand using emery tape.

ditto. Slow and easy !

Use blue painter's tape to avoid lifting the finish. I use wet or dry paper wrapped around an art gum eraser as a sanding block. The erasers small size allows for better control than a larger sanding block. With the coarse grits electrical tape over the painter's tape is a good idea. Once you're down to the electrical tape with coarser grits switch to finer grit and continue until you just scuff the painter's tape. Once you scuff the painter's tape that's close enough. Only way to get a flush fit is to fit the pad prior to finishing the stock. I've never had a customer complain about the pad being a tape's thickness above the stock.

Ive tried jigs but always end up finishing to the tape....so just start and end there. I use two colors of masking tape and pay attention.

Masking tape measures .005" thick. Finish your recoil pad down to just marring the tape with sanding block or files but not going through, and call it good. Nobody will ever say a thing about it.