Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Incredible Cost Of Custom Checkering

While reading through the book “The Complete Book Of Rifles And Shotguns” by Jack O’Connor, I find this bit of information alarming. Who would think of spending that much money on checkering?

When co collas used to be a nickel

PaPaw made $1.20 an hour

Kind of like custom leather. I do not make it to sell, because I'm not going to work for 2 cents an hour. Slow tedious work that takes hours to produce by hand gets spendy. Good luck even finding someone nowadays that even does checkering.

KB

Those old prices make me want to cry.

I’ve read that book 126 x

I love beautiful hand cut checkering. Nothing else, not great bluing, or beautiful figure in the stock makes a gun standout and say look at me the way a nicely checkered stock does.

It takes good wood to take fine checkering. It all kinda goes together.

Hahaha!


Maybe you would prefer working for 6 bits an hour?

JOC passed in 1975, prices have increased significantly since then. Good checkering can still be found for reasonable rates, sources don't advertize in order not to be overwhelmed by workload.

Union plumbers were making 6.20 an hour in 1971. A first year apprentice like me made 3.10. I cleared 98.46 if I got in 40 hours. I got married that Sept. bout starved paying apartment and food for the two of us.

You make more than that??!!

Damn. I'm gonna have to ask for a raise!

That book was published in 1961.. that quote probably came from the Rifle Book published in 1941 I think. Labor is relative to inflation. Back then $450/mo. was about what a lot of people made. Prices were much cheaper.

Absolutely but I was speaking more to what grabs my eye. A more plainly figured black walnut stock from back when good hand cut checkering was still fairly common for instance grabs my eye more than a more nicely figured newer high end factory rifle stock with pressed checkering.

Great checkering more than any other one thing is what gives a rifle a finished look.

I live about 35 miles from Warsaw where the Bishop and Fajen shops were located. I was only in the Bishop shop once or twice... we considered Fajen to be better.
Truman Dam started backing up water in 1979 and during the '70s and '80s there was a LOT of very high grade black walnut for sale in this area... don't know if it came from the soon to be flooded ground or not... at little rural gunshows guys would have stacks of slabs and semi inletted blanks cheap. Like $25-$30 for really high grade wood.
Model 12s,Remington 31s,A5s, sporterized Mausers, 1903s, Winchester 1890s and 1906s and Model 70s with high grade wood were common at the gunshows and would sell for about what a factory gun in like condition would.

After Bishop and Fajen closed there were women in Warsaw that had been checkerers that would checker stocks for you if they knew you. They were professionals and I never paid over $75.



In those days there were billboards on highway 65 saying Warsaw was the gunstock capital of the world.
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Not sure "when" or "if" they stopped, but Win M12's were traditionally stocked with black walnut. It's beautiful and tough!

Prices are the same. It's the Dollar that's sh it.

Back in the day I used Fajen and Bishop simi inlets. Still have a couple of Fajen stocked rifles in French walnut. At least that’s what it was sold as. It checkered well. The lesser quality stock I did in 26 line and almost went cross eyed.

You are correct but there were very few factory stocked Model 12s with the grade of wood I was referring to... apples to potatoes.

Takes a certain kind of person to checker or hand engrave. Talent & the ability to stick with it, for lack of a better def. I used to checker 1911 frames & raised the price 20% every time I did one till they quit asking, & was glad. Wasn't going to turn down money, but not going to work for half the hourly rate of my day job either.




Hanco, Tx & Ky cost of living maybe way different. But if I'd been making $3.10 in '72, my new wife & I might have been riding around in a new car. $1.75 here,,,,,, non union, but UAW buds up he road about a dime more with dues to pay..