doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com DIY checkering

I want to start doing checkering & have no tools, no books, no experience & only some idea.
What would be a good kit that will give me all that I need to start & still be complete enough to do all my needs.
eg. I see a Dem Bart starter kit with a book by Philip R Eck, how is that kit ? Are there better.
Then there is a Gunline leader kit with a book by Monty Kennedy.
Could I please get some advice on tools & education from you fellows who do this work.
I do well at learning from text.
O.M

The Dem Bark kit is okay. The �book� that comes with it is more of a pamphlet but it covers the very basics. You want the Kennedy book. He covers a wide array of topics, even shows you how to make your own tools, and it�s interesting to look through. I haven't tried the Gunline tools.

You will eventually want a more cutters and tools. Like chisels, some become favorites, others not so much.

Good luck. I�m not very good at it.

Book by Kennedy is considered the best source, but its a lot of patterns that you will drool over but not use immediately.

If you can find a video by Joe Balickie it will give you an idea of how a master does it.

A recent new book by Joel Schafer on checkering was also a nice read and its more current. It shows you some interesting ways to hold the stock and some of his methods.

I have been checkering on and off for quite a few years and you have to be detail oriented A type personality to really enjoy it. Its tedious work, sorta like reloading. You have to be able to get into the groove and go, but also have a feel for the wood and the grain. You have to put in hours of time and learn from your mistakes.

I would suggest starting off by finding a gun with checkering already in place but worn down and recut it. YOu can follow those lines and get a sense of how the tool cuts without having to learn how to layout the pattern, start your master lines, and then space.

Master line layout and spacing the lines is the most important and extra time spent going slowly to space properly from well set master lines means that your follow up passes go smoother and it looks great in the end. Otherwise you spend hours on your second and third cuts dealing with issues around spacing and you may not have evenly sized diamonds that look odd.

My two cents.

Jason

The gunline tools are better than the dembart tools in my opinion.

The starter sets for botb are out here and easy to get. But additional cutters os getting to be a problem since both companies are for sale and suppliers are backorders since aupply is spotty.

If you had to pick a line per inch to start with. Try 20. That is a good one to get good at cutting well.

If you haven't picked up a book yet, you might consider 'The Final Touch' by Schafer. I've also noticed that cutters and other checkering tools are getting tough to come by and more expensive, so it may help to be fairly sure of what you want before spending good money. Best of luck with it.

Go to youtube and watch a few videos on checkering they give you a lot of good information and an ideal of what you will need to get started. Larry Potterfields are basic but gives you a thumbnail sketch of how to checker.

Final Touch by Joel Shafer and carbide tools by Ullman Precision are what the pros are using these days.
I'd considered the book essential, much of Kennedy's book is very dated; procedures, tools and patterns and Schafer's much more complete.
Potterfield's 10 minute checkering is about worthless.
Checkering is about the toughest part of professional stockmaking�IMO

Ditto Steve's comments! Good checkering takes a lot of practice and mistakes stick out worse than a sore thumb!! I know from trying it myself.

Ullman does not offer spacing tools. So one is limited to just re-cutting patterns if just using their tools.

SDH, Joel is a good friend, and he told me that he was more than appreciative of your support and encouragement on this project. It is a fine book by a fine wood man, and a fine man all around.