Mark demonstrates his woodworking skills by turning a chunk of walnut into a rifle gunstock. This video is the hand making of it and part two is the putting on the final oil finish. Music by MBB / mbbmusic / mbbofficial / mbb_music
And here I thought there was no one in California that I would ever want to visit. Bush planes and now guns, Skywagon University is officially the best RU-vid channel in existence.
@@skywagonuniversity5023 I don’t have that artistic streak in me but I agree there is nothing better looking than wood with a nice grain. Some day when I can afford it there will be a few of them in my safe
Absolutely beautiful work!! Love the ebony & walnut combination... Proof that if you are a craftsman, you don't need a shed full of tools to make a gorgeous looking stock!!
Excellent video! 20 minutes of time well spent. Very clear on your instructions. I like to inlet the action and barrel first before taking the wood down. The way you did it worked very well too! Always more than 1 way to skin a cat.
Thank you so much for this video , my Abuelo passed away recently and I have his old sock that he broke in a fall. It means so much to me , I wanted to attempt to make a stock . This video really helps.
Thank you, thank you very much. Great video and great work. I have the processing skills and tools. I mostly do metalworking, but I don't have the courage to work with wood. I think that now, encouraged by this video, I will get to work and start to break the boredom. Greetings from Serbia.
I do not believe my eyes. I watched this video 3 years ago. earlier this year, I became interested in the Cessna planes and watched your 170 and 180 videos for my model. I'm going to go buy my first plank of walnut wood this week. That's a beautiful stock, sir. I couldn't believe my eyes when I heard skywagon University intro music on a stock making video.
Thank you Mark My grandfather Maurice Charles Leigh Jr use to make gun stocks like that for his friends. I remember as a young boy going down stairs into his shop and seeing empty powder barrels full of gun stocks and actions and gun barrels 94's sharps marlins all before 65 when i was born... i loved the smell of his shop always smelled like hoppes gun oil and wood and leather. Spent 30 years building custom homes up in Bend Sunriver Sisters and i always wanted to make a wood stock for a synthetic weatherby mark v but when the CHUMP brought COVID i knew i didnt need GUNS ANYMORE...
Mark; your skill at using hand tools to shape and finish a stock are matched and complimented by your skill with video making, editing and narration. Jolly good show!
I used to use lamp black paint thinned down with paint thinner for inletting. I have since switched over to using a Kerosene lamp to smoke the piece. Lot easier clean up, and fast application. Loved your video, looks like an heirloom stock now!
I like rifles, shooting & woodworking so this video was definitely both a good guide & an inspiration to solve a problem I've been mulling over. As a right-handed person who shoots left-handed, my choices in bolt action rifles is not expansive. Having a penchant for less common calibers only makes the limited selection worse. Because buying a custom rifle could be prohibitively expensive, I had resolved that I might need to get a bit creative & resourceful if I wanted to own something similar to the classic styles that I admire. I appreciate you taking the time to post these videos as it has expanded my options & given me lots to think about. 👍
Great demonstration Mark! I need to start with a 95 percent stock that for me will be about 80 to 90 percent and modify and then finish it. The principles and tools are the same though and you have done an excellent job of listing and teaching those.
This is precisely what I was looking for. My uncle used to do a bunch of woodworking and if he could make it he did so and I sadly didn’t get a chance to learn with him since he passed when I was young but this is something I always wanted to be able to learn and do. There’s just something extremely beautiful about crafting this with your own hands.
Great job Sir. You provided me some great pointers as im going to be trying to make a stock for my grandfathers Winchester model 58 .22 rifle from 1929. Luckily i have the very beatup original stock for a template. Thank you again !
Very well done good sir, and thank you for the video! Your dedication to time and hand tools and not just going overboard with power tools is admirable. I love the time lapse of you hand sanding and watching all your tools fall off the table. That hits home haha.
Hello Sir, thankyou for sharing your footage. I'm in the middle of making my second gunstock. I'm making a laminated version, to replace a bland, uninteresting air rifle stock. I pretty much have the same set up as you, with the rasps, files, chisels etc. I woodwork in my kitchen. I'm glueing the laminates individually, as they tend to slide otherwise. Someone told me to sprinkle salt in-between, though I don't like that idea, either. My most favourite part of the build, is filing with rasp, to pencil.lines, shaping the lumber.. The stock comes to life and comes alive. I love creating something like that. Great job! Thankyou again, take care.
Nicely done. Beautiful work, sir. You and your offspring should be absolutely proud of it. I've made several stocks for muzzleloaders. A custom stock takes a tedious amount of sanding, but the end result is rewarding. I've finished my muzzleloader stocks with boiled linseed oil that has been warmed and beeswax added in. If I ever ding the surface then it's easy to sand out and re-oil. I felt the ability to easily repair to be important since I had used these muzzleloaders for hunting in the past and they'd get some rough duty.
Absolutely great video. What led me to this? I was asking "the computer" how MASS PRODUCED stock is made for millions of military rifles of the past? Question still remains given the talent of yours and time invested.
Greetings from thr UK , thanks for the excellent video , im restoring an air rifle from the 60's and rather enjoying it , I just stripped and wirewooled then stained the stock again , next time I'm thinking of making a stock thanks to your video
Excellent. I started on air rifles in England. First was a Webley Vulcan, then a BSA Airsporter. Then an Original 45 and an HW 80. The hard part on an air-rifle is cutting the long cocking slot down the whole length of the fore-end after the whole thing is made. They recoil slowly and violently so make sure the screws that hold it on are good and tight and fit well.
Been chewing on the idea of making my own stock for my first deer rifle. It’s worthless by most people’s standards but I like it. Nice work!! Thanks for the motivation.
Mark, hello from the Oregon Coast. Relatively new subscriber here, you hooked me with your Mooney video's. And now I see you are into firearms as well. Firearms have been a part of my entire life since I lived in Mount Shasta as a young lad before my father died. Finally learned to fly in the early 90s after getting out of the Marines as a helicopter mechanic but sat it aside for every lousy reason in the book. Mostly working shift work in law enforcement and having children (did not help had an ex wife who spent money faster than I could make it). Retired a few years ago (I am '58 vintage) have been thinking about getting current again (what is all this glass panel stuff .. haha). Just need to put a big medical issue behind me first, i.e. Liver Cancer. Thank you for what you do Sir!
Hi L D! Don the camera guy here. 21 years Air Force, 10 years Concord PD ... looks like we were on the same glide path. Took 10 years off from flying and still can't figure out why that happened. Don't wait another moment. Go get that medical and jump back into the left seat! You won't regret it!
I have a Romanian PSL parts kit that I bought some walnut to duplicate the stock, only the fore end needs to accept a larger diameter barrel and the stock will be a little longer because the stock one was meant for a smaller soldier wearing a winter coat. I also have an old black powder double barrel that has a really small stock as well, so I'll be making a slightly larger stock as well.
Beautiful great work I wish I had this skill my father could make a beautiful stock but I was young didn’t know that I should of been learning from him bud he was self taught so maybe I can use same books and learn too
Very beautiful work. Recommend you take a weekend and build a sturdier workbench. Doesn’t need to be fancy. Or at least put some weight on the shelf of the one you have. I think you would greatly enjoy and benefit from a gun stock vise as well.
I have to be able to walk all around the bench so it has to be small. It is not as bad as it looks in real life. Time lapse shows it all over the place.
For the channel, why not build a small jig and cut it with a router? Same with the other pockets.. a brass or wood jig that a router can ride inside would have likely saved you hours of hand work. Also, to prevent the stock from being crushed with the vise after inletting, make a block of wood that sits where the action would sit. In conjunction with vise jaws/clamping blocks, it'll spread the force and provide the internal support.
I failed on the inletting on my first attempt, with a Tikka T3x action. It has square and curved action. You’ve inspired me to have another crack at this, with the addition of the dremel. My Weatherby Vanguard may be an easier action to inlet. Thank you.
@@skywagonuniversity5023 Mark, would it be possible for you to upload the inletting part of this video at normal speed? I’d love to see if I can replicate your results. Thank you in advance. Matt
Cant We Use An Electrical Sanding Or Grating Tool On The Wood Block We Start With? ... &really THANX for this interestingly very helpful guide.... It Truly Is A Privilege To Have How To, Go To Folks Like You On RU-vid Extending Such Wonderful, Complete and Descriptive Ways For The Whole World, That This Platform Has Somehow Become, An International School Beyond Any Physical Learning Establishments Magnitude Of Traditional Knowledge Acquirement. Thank Yall
You can use an electrical tool if you want but only to remove the bulk of the wood. Too much wood too soon and you lose where you are on it. This video was supposed to show how to carve a stock without many power tools.
wooo, excelent job my friend. i love this job. i would like to make one anytime. Greetings from Venezuela. He has a friend here. I have a marlin rifle just like yours
Slow gives me a lot of time for measurements and planning. I have those carving wheels too but they really can over-remove wood at first if you are not careful.
@@skywagonuniversity5023 not really the same, but I'm making my own wooden stock for a gel blaster and holy hell it's hard work. I admire the work y'all do !!! The detail and craftsmanship y'all put in is insane. Keep at it!!!
It's much more difficult than a person might think . I did a few , you did a much better stock than my first . Mine was functional, fit me fine , but good lord it's ugly
@@yostevo I've never heard of an Oak stock. Not sure why it is not used. Walnut is not that expensive. I buy blanks off Ebay and local sawmills for about $100.
@@skywagonuniversity5023 My buddy had one on his 10 gauge. Oaks solid, so it handles heavy percussion well. This one will most likely house my Rem. 7mm or this Douglas Premium .308 I'm hoping to get. Basically I use what I can get in this super awesome economy
I've only done pistol grips for bullseye guns (and one silhouette), pretty much used the same tools, save I used rasps instead of Surforms. There are a couple air rifles I should make some stocks for. After learning more about woodworking tools I'm thinking a millwork plane (look up hollows & rounds) or scraper (thinking beading tool only bigger). Plus more chisels, spokeshaves and planes for shaping. My neighbors brother build a stock duplicator, basically you had a stock to copy, a blank, a means to rotate each clocked together with a router that would rough out the blank. I'm not sure he ever got it to work good enough to do commercial work. Many years ago a couple friends were fitting stocks to black powder flint locks and they used a black marking grease to fit the barrel. In that case I suspect a millwork plane would be faster and more accurate. Now, about checkering......... :D
listen to the boss,,,,, don't forget to stop by for black coffee together... goes duit and goes natural so that you will increase your enthusiasm for work and add brothers thank you very much
An older friend of mine told me once, “the art of the wood rasp is that you can see the form before it becomes permanent!” The problem with power tools is that the form becomes permanent way too fast. I made a “Sam Maloof” inspired wooden rocker. 260 hours, but I used wood rasps from France that were marvelous!! Very nice video and stock. Did you build any palm swell into the pistol grip and did you put any cast into the stock?
Do you have any recommendations on how to handle a forearm barrel band? I've got an old Ruger 44 carbine that someone cut down for a kid, then added back pine later. I'd like to rebuild the stock in walnut, but that barrel band gives me pause. Brilliant demonstration, which demystifies so much.
I have done this successfully a number of times but I usually purchase a rifle or shotgun with a cheaper synthetic stock as my template to make a stock from a premium wood.
You are very skilled. I tried to do a stock with hands tool but it was really hard. And the bedding of the action not very precise. Next one I will try with vertical cutter
@@skywagonuniversity5023 hi! I am now at a good point. It is going to be a decent job, but with the tool I am using, after many hours the stock is still too large. Which is the name of that tool with yellow handle? Maybe it is faster than my rasp. Thanks
that is beautiful work. my grandpa use to make stocks, and I'd like to do the same for my own stuff in the future. might start with a little .22 that really isn't special. May I ask about how many hours you had invested in each of these stocks?
The first stock I made was when I was 14 and it was for an air-rifle. I used a not very nice bit of wood and it was a not very nice bit of wood. It turned out so nice that I wish I had used a better bit of wood and put it on a better gun.
Really dig you adding the Ebony - did you notice any issues with that dust getting on your skin? Stuff can be pretty awful compared to other types of sawdust.
Pardon me for asking. But is there a reason you have the claw-hammer, or is it just the hammer that you use? My claw-hammer worked for just about everything I needed that wasnt forging. I just got ball peins so that nobody said anything 😅
Is this your first time doing it ? I want to build a bullpup stock too , I've seen some walnut trees around but I don't know how to choose which part of the wood by looking at the tree alone . Any pointers ?
I've done it since I was a kid. First one was for a Webley Vulcan. The problem with choosing a tree is that you have to have a dry piece of wood and that takes 10 years, so you have to buy a chunk. Get it 30 inches long, 2.5 inches wide and seven inches tall.
Do you have any photos. I can't imagine using those two tools because the files I use are round and flat and can get into all in corners. I'd be interested in seeing photos of your work.
