DIY RokStok in maple

[TX_Diver]

A trick to get your screw holes to line up, works if you have a drill press and if you know where you want the hole to enter and exit on both the top and bottom of the stock. It’s especially useful if you’re working from a funny shaped blank that may not be exactly squared up.
Take a sheet of plywood and cut a square about a foot on either side, and put a 16-penny framing nail from the bottom up. Put this on the table of your drill press, Position you board with nail in exactly the right place, so that the drillbit point lands exactly on top of the nail point, and use at least 2C clamps to clamp the plywood in place to the table. Now sit your stock so the point of the nail sits exactly on the bottom of where you want the hole to exit. Then start the top of the hole with the drill bit where you’ve marked the hole from that end and start drilling, but stop about halfway. Then flip it over locate the nail into the start hole so it sits exactly in the center, then start drilling from the Mark on the other end. This ensures that the two holes meet exactly in the center.

This sounds good but I'm struggling to wrap my head around the angles if your piece isn't square.

How do you ensure the angle is right and that the 2 holes line up without having a dog leg in the middle?

 

[Macintosh]

This sounds good but I'm struggling to wrap my head around the angles if your piece isn't square.

How do you ensure the angle is right and that the 2 holes line up without having a dog leg in the middle?

I dont want to take this thread off topic so if you have questions shoot me a PM.

Key is lining up the nail and the bit. Those two things are perfectly aligned…so the nail locates and positions one side of the hole, while the bit locates the other. Its not for when you need a hole located to the thousandth of an inch, but it works well for action and tang screws when you have a rough inlet and then you’ll finish the inlet around where the screw locates the action. Especially action screws should not actually touch the wood so its going to be slightly oversize anyway, but the hole alignment in the middle should be quite good.
Make sense?

 

[Brucebarker024]

Great work! I’m currently working on one as well. Mines a blend between an alpine hunter and a rokstock. Really just an alpine hunter fromt
End with a rokstock grip, toe, and negative comb. It was put on hold to test a new suppressor but it’ll be back to work today.

 

[TX_Diver]

I dont want to take this thread off topic so if you have questions shoot me a PM.

Key is lining up the nail and the bit. Those two things are perfectly aligned…so the nail locates and positions one side of the hole, while the bit locates the other. Its not for when you need a hole located to the thousandth of an inch, but it works well for action and tang screws when you have a rough inlet and then you’ll finish the inlet around where the screw locates the action. Especially action screws should not actually touch the wood so its going to be slightly oversize anyway, but the hole alignment in the middle should be quite good.
Make sense?

View attachment 704959View attachment 704960View attachment 704962

That makes a bit more sense. If you know the start/finish point and have a way to clamp it, and it's a slightly oversized hole then that seems like a great trick.

Looking forward to more maple rokstok pics!

 

[Maverick1]

Looks fine as-is. Take it to the range and start shooting.

 

[Mtnmilsurp]

Working on the grip…

…and tip

I’ve done three forends/tips before but only slight modifications to grips. This is where I’m baffled by the artwork @Decker9 produces. I want a grip much like the RokStok that fits my hand.

It doesn’t need to be ambidextrous so only a slight palm swell on the right side and enough relief on the left to frustrate any lefty who steals it by giving him the slight hope that it’s shootable left-handed.

There’s so much wood to remove that I can experiment with a few different shapes as I reduce the grip diameter from 2” to an eventual 1.2” or so.

And after another 3-4 hours of rasping, sanding, testing, repeat I think it’s just about there.

I’m also experimenting with aqua fortis (thanks @HighUintas) as you can see in the cutoff in the photo above. Right side is 1 round AF + oil, middle is oil only, left side is 3 rounds AF + oil

 

[HighUintas]

Working on the grip…

…and tip

I’ve done three forends/tips before but only slight modifications to grips. This is where I’m baffled by the artwork @Decker9 produces. I want a grip much like the RokStok that fits my hand.

It doesn’t need to be ambidextrous so only a slight palm swell on the right side and enough relief on the left to frustrate any lefty who steals it by giving him the slight hope that it’s shootable left-handed.

There’s so much wood to remove that I can experiment with a few different shapes as I reduce the grip diameter from 2” to an eventual 1.2” or so.

And after another 3-4 hours of rasping, sanding, testing, repeat I think it’s just about there.

I’m also experimenting with aqua fortis (thanks @HighUintas) as you can see in the cutoff in the photo above. Right side is 1 round AF + oil, middle is oil only, left side is 3 rounds AF + oil

That will look really nice with that bit of curl in there. I have no idea what the aquaphortus will look like on the mineral street wood that's on the center of the butt and grip.

If you really want to get crazy, look up pictures of tannic acid aqua fortis. Botanic acid will will darken the end grain curl to where it's nearly black Aunt a very strong contrast between the reddish and blackish hues. Stocks with a whole lot of figure using that staining combo are pretty incredible looking

 

[rabbithuntr]

That stock is looking great! I will I put boiled linseed oil on a couple of older stocks I have and I’m happy how they turned out, I definitely liked it better than polyurethane.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Decker9]

You’re doin a fine job!!

 

[Jt89]

Looks awesome so far!

 

[Jason Snyder]

Very cool!

 

[Fire_9]

These threads are awesome

 

[bbell]

Just found this thread. Nice job on your stock. Having dabbled a little with muzzleloaders and finishing off a flintlock that was in the white, I think you are doing amazing! A wood RokStok is high on my list of wants

 

[TomJoad]

This is so awesome. I’ve been noodling about making RokStok for a vintage Sako I’ve got chambered in 6.5 Swede, you may push me over the edge!

I’m really terrible with documenting progress. Never photo things in progress. Here is a CZ 455 I just finished for my 9yo. 12” lop and 16” barrel with aperture sights. I had no butt pad for it so I glued on a 1/4” thick piece of belting leather. This one came off a drive belt from a turn of the century metal shaper:

 

[Mtnmilsurp]

This is so awesome. I’ve been noodling about making RokStok for a vintage Sako I’ve got chambered in 6.5 Swede, you may push me over the edge!

I’m really terrible with documenting progress. Never photo things in progress. Here is a CZ 455 I just finished for my 9yo. 12” lop and 16” barrel with aperture sights. I had no butt pad for it so I glued on a 1/4” thick piece of belting leather. This one came off a drive belt from a turn of the century metal shaper:

That’s great! My next project will probably be a stock for my son’s CZ 457. The factory stock is way oversized for him but I’m a little intimidated by all the hardware CZ embeds in their stocks. Was that a problem?

 

[Belial]

Great project!!

 

[TomJoad]

That’s great! My next project will probably be a stock for my son’s CZ 457. The factory stock is way oversized for him but I’m a little intimidated by all the hardware CZ embeds in their stocks. Was that a problem?

No issues with any hardware I found on the 455. I’ll peek at the 457 tomorrow to see if I have a different opinion. That rifle is in the factory stock.

 

[RaggedHunter]

Man this is a cool project. Great work, I'm really enjoying following along.

 

[lak2004]

I wish I had some skill to tackle this or modify an existing tupperware stock for a model 70. Seems like it might be a while before a rokstock mold is made for a 70, if at all. And I'm thinking my 300wsm could benefit from better ergonomics. Muzzle rise and recoil suck as is even with a mcmillan sporter stock (tampered by a brake which I hate shooting with and the suppressor doesn't do much for recoil).

 

[Mtnmilsurp]

After fitting the recoil pad (sorry no photos of that process) I sanded down to 400 grit, then narrowed the grip yet some more, then sanded down to 400 again.

Let’s give the Aqua Fortis a try! This is weird stuff. It looks like this after cotton swabbing it on…

Then you run a heat gun over it to just below combustion temperature and it turns red like this…

Then I rubbed tru-oil over that and reassembled for this photo…