Gentlemen;
The technology has been available since at least 1990 for CNC turning. Kimber of America used two CNC stock making lathes/routers. Kolar Arms has been using the 3-D method for years. It is fast...no argument... it really isn't going to cost less to the buyer for the service even though faster. All it will do is make MORE money for the owner of the machine. Being a stockmaker has allowed me to see some of the innovations to try and speed up the process. To date...speed yes...cost less to the consumer..NO. (Oh, Fajen, Inc. used CNC machines too. Both three axis and five axis. The guys in CAD/CAM knew their stuff but not enough about making gunstocks. We had a digitizer too for making the CNC programing. For every successful pattern developed, there were approximately 50 pieces of scrap wood due to the of lack of knowledge in this area. That is why the Custom Shop still used the hand operated NorthStar machines for all of their work. Production side made gunstocks from the cookie cutter mold of the CNC for Winchester, Savage, and Weatherby.
