I've made a couple of posts recently about the stockmaker I'm working with and was going to include some of these comments in the last one but thought this deserved a separate post. I'm not getting any remunerative consideration for this and I didn't talk to him about this beforehand, but what I'd like to do is give a whole hearted personal endorsement to Chris Schofield of
Walnut Grove Gunstocks as a stockmaker.
He doesn't do finished stocks, but semi-inletted (or what I call "almost finished") stocks for a gunsmith or other skilled individual to finish. I once ordered a stock from one of the big makers a few years ago and when it arrived it was so rough I sent it back - it looked like they hacked it out with a chisel or maybe a trained beaver knawed on it.
Not so with Chris. The stocks I've seen are so well shaped on the exterior you could almost finish sand them and use them as is. The inletting is still a bit "proud", the barrel channel needs to be inletted for your contour and they do have extra wood on the exterior so you can make that final fitting yourself which is what you want anyway, but you won't have to do any major shaping to get things right.
But mostly I want to recommend Chris himself.
Like I said, I didn't talk to him about this beforehand so I need to be careful here and not make promises for him he can't keep. But he has worked with me closely to get exactly what I want. I know firearms and shooting but this stockmaking is new to me. Chris is a sculptor and artist and is just getting into the stockmaking business as he recognized a need here. Lots of the old masters are, well, getting old, and good pattern and stockmaking is a dying art. He was mentored by a fellow whose name many of you might recognize (the guy asked not to be named so I won't, you'd have to ask Chris personally).
Chris knows stocks and he knows wood. As he was finishing up the pattern for my stock we started talking about details. I asked for a particular feature that all the cool rifles wear and he explained to me how that was incompatible with this style of stock. But then he suggested a modification to the cheekpiece which helped it tremendously, both in looks and comfort. A big glob of bondo and some sanding later and the fit of the cheekpiece to my face was miles ahead of that factory BDL pattern we started with.
He spent 5 1/2 hours with me yesterday making sure everything was just right. Now that's the part where I don't want to make promises for him so I wouldn't expect that all the time. He needs to earn a living and a real artisan needs to be paid for his skill so I can't say what level of involvement he could give every single person.
But the point is he wants things to be right and
he wants things to be right for the customer, that I can say without reservation.
After all that work and late in the afternoon, he pulled apart two or three big piles of blanks to help me find just the right one to suit my tastes. when we found it the price was really reasonable. Seriously - I had brought a blank with me purchased at a gunshow where I paid more for it than the one Chris sold me, and the one Chris had was a far nicer piece of wood.
Well, getting long winded as usual. But if you are looking for a semi-inletted stock made right by a guy who really cares that it is made right, you would do very well to give him a call or email him.
http://www.walnutgrovegunstocks.com/Just wait until he's finished with my stuff so he doesn't get overwhelmed and I have to wait...
