# Checkering?



## 1222DANO (Mar 17, 2014)

i got a checkering kit and started practicing on a cherry board.
Can anyone give me some tips or ideas? 
I have just started trying out each tool and made a square and a diamond shape trying to stay inside the lines trying to reach perfection..


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## 1222DANO (Mar 17, 2014)

heres what i got,, i've practiced for hours.. 

i've figured somethings out, i just wondering whats an idea if you push through... or for finishing lines..


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## SGADawg (Mar 17, 2014)

That looks pretty good for a first attempt.  As hard as cherry is, you set yourself a challenge to start.  I don't do checkering but have a good bit of woodworking experience so here are a couple of hints.

1.  Work against the grain so that if the wood chips, it chips out instead of going deep.
2.  Sharpen your tools and then sharpen them again.  Dull tools lead to chips and extra difficulty.
3.  Patience, take your time and go slow (the very reasons I don't do fine woodworking much).  If you get tired or frustrated, quit right then, that's when mistakes are made.

Good luck.


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## 1222DANO (Mar 17, 2014)

i'm ditching the cherry, i was thinking it was too hard of a wood.. 
its all i had other that pine at the time.. i wish i could find some old broken gun stocks..


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## doublebarrel (Mar 17, 2014)

Brownell's use to sell checkering decals.You can find old walnut stocks on Ebay.Advertise on GON Market place for old stocks.Look at checkering videos on Youtube,get the book checkering and carving gunstocks by Monty Kennedy.You need to buy are make you some layout diamonds that are three and three and half to one.BB


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## 1222DANO (Mar 17, 2014)

heres my first pistol grip,, i gotta do the other side tommorrow.. its not perfect by no means but i like it..


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## 1222DANO (Mar 17, 2014)

i think i'm gonna finish it on up into the trigger area.. on past the bird.. i don't know why i made that circle around the bird. it was the last thing i done and i wish i hadn't of..


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## lagrangedave (Mar 17, 2014)

I took a stock off a 700 this weekend. You're welcome to it for practice if you want.


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## 1222DANO (Mar 17, 2014)

lagrangedave said:


> I took a stock off a 700 this weekend. You're welcome to it for practice if you want.





thanks for offer but i don't wanna mess up a good stock.. i'll find some broken ones till i get practiced up.. i'd hate to mess up a good stock.. i don't want someone looking at it and shaking their head wishing it wasn't all scratched up.. thanks anyways..


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## lagrangedave (Mar 17, 2014)

NO no it's a buggered up one that is going to be trash if you don't use it. I walked up on a brand new replacement in breakup camo for only $70 new. Win Win.


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## 1222DANO (Mar 17, 2014)

lagrangedave said:


> NO no it's a buggered up one that is going to be trash if you don't use it. I walked up on a brand new replacement in breakup camo for only $70 new. Win Win.




sounds good can you pm me your address and i'll send you some shipping money and my address.. maybe i'll send it back more buggered up..


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## Supercracker (Mar 17, 2014)

get a baseball bat and checker it. Good practice for compound curves.  Also try checkering the outside of one of those cheap wooden salad bowls!


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## 1222DANO (Mar 17, 2014)

Supercracker said:


> get a baseball bat and checker it. Good practice for compound curves.  Also try checkering the outside of one of those cheap wooden salad bowls!




Sounds like a plan.. i gotta get a gun vice built.. or i'll buy one not sure yet.. i really like doing the work..


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## 1222DANO (Mar 18, 2014)

finished the other side with alot more consistent lines and looks a whole lot better without my other last minute mistake..


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## collardncornbread (Mar 22, 2014)

That is A-OK. I like custom work better than assembly line.
I have a couple ideas. I have a sawmill. and I have an old old old piece of walnut I had cut way before I bought the mill. I could send you a couple short pieces for practice.
Or As I was telling another member. I have a ruger compact, laminated I am thinking of sending back to ruger to have done. If you can do as good on it as youy did on your blackhawk, I might send it to you..???
Thumbs up!!! Keep practicing. I like American know-how.


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## tim scott (Mar 22, 2014)

danny,
much better but now go back and turn those lines you've laid out into checkering..... you've just started on that last grip. remember sharp points with no flats left. it takes going over it again and again til you've got them deep enough. i know i told you to stay away from the really hard woods til you get a little experience but on thinking about it.... in some ways the hardest woods are nice in that they don't get fuzzy and clog up the lines so bad... they cut very clean and can be taken to sharp points easy..... just hard on your hands as they are very slow to cut. i'll see if i can find you some small pieces of ebony, rosewood and african blackwood..... these will be what i'll have you checkering on knife handles..... i'll have "A" send you a pic of one very old knife i have thats checkered.

glad your taking this seriously, i know that last grip took you some time to lay out but now that you have all the lines in place and laid out the work on it goes alot easier..... work on the checkering  everyday!!!!! like any skill it takes time and work.
call me when you have the time.....


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## 1222DANO (Mar 23, 2014)

this was my critter getter, i don't plan on ever getting rid of it so i just went with trial by fire.. seems to fit me.. i'll keep perfecting this craft.. 

I found me a stock locally and i gotta pick it up sometime. i have another on here i've gotta get sent to me.. 

I'll do some more practicing and post for you to see..


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## mike bell (Mar 28, 2014)

Have you read any books or watched any video on checkering??  What tools do you have?  From you pictures you posted on the Blackhawk grips, I can see you may want to get a couple of books and templates for lay out.   The proper ratio for gun stock checkering is a 3 to 1 diamond ( if I remember right).  

I took stock making and checkering classes at Trinidad State gunsmithing school.  I have several books and have all the tools.  Even the MMC cutting head for a foredom tool.  If you need any tips let me know.


here is the basic way I was thought:

Generally you outline the perimeter at about 1/2 depth of cut with a 60deg. edger, then you lay out your diamond template to get your master lines. And cut lines using a long cutter at about 1/2 depth.  then mark the lines so that you know which lines  these are your master starting points.  from the master line, go to the left or right (of the line) with a double spaced cutter and continue out to the perimeter.  Then go back to the master line and go out to the other side.   After many hours and eye crossing headaches go over everything again to full depth........

When you run into issues....  TAKE A BREAK! walk away and come back later.  Trust me

Also get some walnut scraps from a furniture or a wood shop if you can find some.  English, Clairo and black walnut are the most common custom stocks.  Sometimes you see maple used but its high grade with a lot of figure.  Just sand them smooth like a stock and lay out an outline then your master lines and go to town.  I have a box full of my practice blocks and I dated them so I could see how I progressed as I learned.  I loved it and stockmaking was my favorite part of gunsmithing school.

I get all my tools from Brownells and Midway most of the time.  

Heres a good video that shows the basics from Mr. Larry at Midway.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lbK3us_JCY


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## 1222DANO (Sep 1, 2014)

Some of the latest creations still learning but its coming along. i enjoy the checkering the more i do the more i wanna do.. Some of the lines are just me playing around trying to learn what can and can't be done.. i also learned where lines come to a point you can't continue running over them they have to be light or the wood will fall away.. just something to share, thanks guys.. and mike


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## 1222DANO (Sep 1, 2014)

Not completely done with the pistol grip but you can see the heavy line down the center thats me trying to fix the intersection of all those lines. if you look in the lower corner where its rounded bout in the middle is where the wood fell away from all the intersecting lines..


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## tim scott (Sep 2, 2014)

danny,
that diamond pattern is looking good, your learning just takes time.... now your doing new mistakes just as expected... you've gone from too timid to way too rough.... there's no way to repair those heavy run overs.... back off a little clean the cutter more often.... takes doing a lot more before you get the hang of it.... and you have to get over the thought that this is just an old broken stock to practice on..... you have to treat every piece you touch as a very valuable pricey hunk of wood... I have three thousand dollar pieces of wood piled in my shop.... add to that the labor of stocking them up and I'm not very forgiving. but then in some ways the high end wood is easier to work... very hard and dense so it cuts much cleaner.....

when you start out working a pattern get all your lines in properly spaced and straight before you start cutting to full depth... kinda work up to full depth as you get it roughed in. do you have a riffler? funny looking bent file used for straightening out lines? it's a must have!!!!

I hope to be picking up an early .378 weatherby in perfect condition in this next week. again congrats on you new one.... 
tim


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## tim scott (Sep 2, 2014)

danny,
I almost forgot you need to get a couple more cutters. I want you to try finer and finer checkering... more lines per inch. in a way easier to do but also harder in that it's much more difficult to see.... cheap solution for now is a pair of reading glasses, all they do is magnify. also have you made a checkering cradle or are you trying to hand hold the work?
tim


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## 1222DANO (Sep 3, 2014)

i'm hand holding the stock.. i need to invest in a cradle for sure.. i'm about to order a good bit more tools so any suggestions wood be great.. before i start next time i'm gonna have a good light,magnifying glasses, riffler and some more cutting tools.. i think thats whats holding me back is the thought of just grabbing it up doing some checkering because its a practice piece anyways. i'm gonna get the mindset of its of value and has to look highend when finished.. that weatherby sounds nice i'm sure you'll enjoy it.. 378 i bet thats an awesome round and thats close to that 375 holland and holland you we're looking for..


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## tim scott (Sep 3, 2014)

danny,
ok, that explains a lot..... you can't hand hold the stock!!!!! making a checkering cradle is easy. I mean you built your own huge house... you can take a piece of 2x4 for the main frame and a couple pieces of scrap and a couple of bolts from the hardware store........ an hour and your done. what you do is grab the main frame in an old swivel bench vise and go to it..... you can make fancier later on..... it's all about learning the basics first.... gotta learn to walk before you can play football. once you learn how to do the simple basic patterns by hand then you can start making some money.... and with that you can buy all the expensive fancy tools like a power checkering unit and an engravers vise or a binocular microscope..... all needed on down the road but also about 6 grand invested. I've known guys that paid their way thru college, made their new truck payments and always had walking around money. all from a few hours checkering nightly.... but they treated it like a real business and put in the hours nightly.
be careful with the magnifying glasses wear them too much and don't take the time to take them off and look around so your eyes can re-adjust now and then your eyes will get use to the glasses and you start down a road needing more and more magnification and basically you go blind. you have to look up and focus across the room often!!

yeah the .378 weatherby is everything I want for penetration but they are the worst recoiling guns made, just brutal.... still would like a nice lite weight .375 Holland and Holland for all around use. i'll get a package off to you in the next week or so. give me a call when you get the chance and can talk.
tim


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## doublebarrel (Sep 5, 2014)

When checkering pistol grips get a flat board and carefully screw each grip down on it and put board in vise to hold it.One at the time. Bobby


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