Project Information
I share a shop with a gunsmith - so I guess it was only a matter of time before someone asked for stone inlay in a gun! This .22 came in only partly functional and with a stock that appeared to have been "modified" at some point by someone with more energy than skill. Since it was going to be a first gun for a little girl they wanted it to be functional and pretty.
I sanded down the stock to get rid of any evidence of the previous attempt at "carving" and then reshaped it to make the curves flow into each other and get rid of the "chunky" feeling it had. The inlay had to cover two stripped out and unusable sling stud holes - so I chose a tumbling oak leaf design that could wrap around the stock.
I think the biggest challenge was that the stone is hard enough that hand sanding the inlays wasn't an option. So, once the inlays were in, I had to use a palm sander and a reeeeeaaaaaalllly light touch to sand down the stock without loosing the shape.
I sanded down the stock to get rid of any evidence of the previous attempt at "carving" and then reshaped it to make the curves flow into each other and get rid of the "chunky" feeling it had. The inlay had to cover two stripped out and unusable sling stud holes - so I chose a tumbling oak leaf design that could wrap around the stock.
I think the biggest challenge was that the stone is hard enough that hand sanding the inlays wasn't an option. So, once the inlays were in, I had to use a palm sander and a reeeeeaaaaaalllly light touch to sand down the stock without loosing the shape.
