OK; I've got the roughing out done, and the pad's on the stock with the wood taped off. What's the secret to getting it down to final shape and finish? Good old garnet, or something else? Grit(s)? Wet/dry? Sanding block, etc?

I thought of using a grinding wheel my my Dremel but that looks like a real easy way to make a mistake. So I'm using garnet and it seems a slow and not real productive process, which I'm OK with as long as there's not something bettr/easier/faster I should know about.

Also, what's the final finishing grade and what do you use to finish/seal the rubber and bring back the smooth surface and appearance?

Thanks...

Later: or if anybody could show me to an existing thread; tried a search but couldn't find the answers I need.

Take it off the stock and use the B & R Jig with an 8" or bigger bench mounted disc sander with a rigid disc running at least 1600 RPM. I have used a homemade clone of this jig for many years and it is the best one I have ever seen anywhere. You can cut a pad or a plate to a perfect fit off the stock with the stock lines correctly carried on to the pad. I grind almost to the line with 60 grit AO and cut the line away with 180 grit AO. This leaves a very smooth finish that you can polish by hand if you like.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=9152/Product/RECOIL_PAD_FITTING_JIG

OB

Thanks. I'll get one of those next time; too late for this one though. Gonna have to finish it out by hand. Any comments appreciated as I'm working on it now and hoping to finish it up today.

Well it's a fine kettle of fish you have yourself in now Mr. Feather. (I just couldn't resist) Double mask your stock get some good grade wet/dry cloth backed emery paper. Back it with a sturdy piece of wood about 2 1/2 inches wide and 6 inches long. Sand parallel with the stock lines using the stock as a guide. I would start course perhaps 100 grit to get you pad down to just about fit and the finish with 180 - 200 grit. If you have a soft pad like a Galazan Period Correct or Old English a few hours in the freezer will give you a firmer material to work with. Others have their own methods but this one has worked for me in the past, now I send my stocks to a profession to have pads installed. $35.00 plus postage is pretty cheap in the whole scheme of things. By the way if you are putting the pad on the Trojan thats OK but if you are messing with one of your Foxes you really need some professional help.

If you do not have a recoil pad jig and disc sander, you can do it like this...
Mount it on the stock and scribe around the stock on the back of the pad with a razor blade or other sharp implement. Then take it back off. In my early days, before having the "proper" equiptment; I used an angle grinder mounted with a 180 grit flap disk. Get some chalk filings into the scribed line so that you can see it better and then mount it in a vice and do one side at a time. Slowly and carefully grind it down to meet the line. This takes so finess, but it will work. And it prevents from damaging the stock.

Dear Mr. Barrell: thanks for your help. Putting the thing in the deep freeze would have been a good idea; unfortunately by the time I read your post I was already done, or at least as done as it's gonna get. If I do this again I'll get the name of the guy who'll do it for 35 bucks, who is either a saint or really mentally challanged. And don't worry: the Foxes are all still virgins.

Thanks to the others for their suggestions as well; the problem was, I'd already gotten it down within thousandths; shoulda asked before I started.

I'd say if you're within "thousandths" AND the entire perimeter is still proud of the butt AND the depth of abrasive scratching isn't deeper than the amount required to polish the plastic base and fine sand the pad, you're better than I am. I have a homemade grinding jig mainly for swinging the toe to the correct angle and I do ALL the shaping and fairing off the gun on a staionary belt sander. When I've got down to that chalk or white paint-filled scribe line, I check it and correct and then polish. I don't care if it's a 32nd proud if the stock finish is intact, the lines of the pad continue the lines of the stock, the scratch pattern on the pad is light and uniform, the plastic base is fine sanded or polished to a likewise uniform look.

jack

I guess everything is within thousands; just depends on how many! Hundredths, maybe? I could catch my thumbnail on it and figured I shouldn't be able to. Guess I was too picky; where were you yesterday ?

Looking for a dubyadeeaitch for my Burro trailer. Charlie Chan say strategy for maintaining acceptable standard often preferable to botched pursuit of perfection. But if you can achieve perfection without sacrificing your eyesight and a kidney that would be great too!!

jack

Fin:
All the advice above is relative to craft and value. For a Parker, the advice is valid. For a finer gun, there is no substitute for perfect hand work. ANY "scratches" are not an option. And ANYTHING but a perfect fit is not worthy. This cannot be accomplished by ANY sort of jig. It takes careful and long hand work. One more thing... anyone who charges $35 to "professionally" fit a pad is either a slave labourer or a bodger. No other option.

Best, Kensal

I can tell you've free-handed around a lot of pad toes, Kensal. Any of them fair into the underbelly of the stock? I'd say you're pretty much full of it as the only pads and buttplates which fit perfectly are those which were screwed to the stock and then shaped, which is to say ground down together with an object to which they're attached. Producing the same result with the pad screwed to a finished stock might indeed require a nearly infinite amount of "hand work" to produce a flush transition. In a similar vein, how many stocks are filed flush to an engraved and finished receiver? Addons and retrofits produce compromises in the real world if not in yours and "perfection" is often produced by a highly rationalized (and not particularly skill-intensive) method.

jack

Well, it is a Parker, and a Trojan at that, so I guess I'm good.

Whenever I size a pad, I mount the pad onto the gun and mark it around the bottom with a regular #2 pencil. Then I use my Ryobi vertical belt sander to sand it down. I keep turning it over to see where I need to sand. The pencil mark won't rub off while I'm doing this. I tried using a scribe once so I could fill it in with chalk and it caused the wood at the very end of the stock to round off all the way around the gun, because I pressed too hard against the stock. Uh-oh. With a sharp tool, you take the risk of cutting the end of the stock, too. So, I just went back to using the pencil. If it does rub off, which it usually doesn't, I just put it back on the stock and remark it. I use a sliding t-bevel square to copy the angle of the toe and I set my sander deck to the same angle and it comes out exact. When I get it close, I put it back on the stock and sand it with fine sandpaper on a block until I get it perfect. If I have to sand close to the stock, I'll remove it, maybe several times until it is exact. Works for me.

I attach the fullsize pad to the butt and take 2 wraps of electrical tape (.010") around the wood tight to the proud edge of the pad. I use a coping saw to trim the toe....no closer than 1/4". Nevertheless, that's a good chunk of rubber I don't have to turn into dust.

This is not a pad job, but I freehand grind them on my highly sophisticated homemade stockmaking maching. I use a 60 grit disc and just kiss the electrical tape.



I peel off one layer of tape, leaving me with a .005" mask. I hand sand with a 220 grit bock until I scuff up the electrical tape. Then I remove it, replace it with 2 wraps of scotch tape (.002") and hand sand to 320 grit. I remove the tape and take the pad off the stock,take another swipe or two around it with the 320 block, break the knife edge on the pad with a piece of 400 paper, rub in a few drops of silicone oil and replace.

Most people can't remove a pad that's 1-2 thou proud and re-install it to fit perfectly all around.