Why is it so expensive? Is it cost of wood primarily, too few good stockers or the time to do it?
King, I hesitated to get into this discussion but you asked the right question and deserve a reasonable answer - at least the best that I can come up with.
My base price for stocking a sidelock is $4200. That price means fitted properly to the metal, finished with a modified oil finish that you can see in the following photo and checkered in a standard point pattern appropriate to the gun. That price does not include the cost of the wood, a leather covered pad, a skeleton butt plate or perhaps a complex checkering pattern. As far a wood goes I always tell the client to buy the best that they can afford because my labor is the same whether its a $250 blank or a $2500 blank.
Why is it so expensive???? Well, it takes me a least 100 hours to do the job and that means that from an hourly rate perspective I make less than your plumber. I should state that I am not fast, if you want fast take the work to "Bubba" down the road. BTW I've seen Bubba's work!
The pictures that I'm posting for reference are of a Lefever Optimus Quality gun. Its a close as I can come to a sidelock gun at the moment and is IMO one of the most difficult shotguns to stock because of the shape of the top tang. This frame has to be inletted from the top down and you only get one chance to get it right. The checkering photo is to illustrate how a checkering pattern can make a huge difference in the stocking cost. This pattern with a matching forend would be an additional $1400 added to the stocking cost.
