Being a selller of wood blanks, I am often asked to provide a list of stock turners. Too often, I am asked for someone who provides "press fit" turned stocks.
They do NOT exist!
There are "drop in" stocks (most often fiberglass stocks) which then require bedding in place with microbed or Accraglass. The stock is then painted to make it look like a perfect fit.
You cannot do that with wood. Gun metal varies a bit from the manufacturers. The wood stocks are them made a bit small so the tedious task of proper hand inletting will make a perfect fit (hopefully). Some stockers make a closer fit than others and one might specify a couple thousandths left to remove. The turner needs the metal for this and usually turns a pattern piece on a classy Hoenig machine or something similar, beds in the metal and then copies the pattern piece with a slight amount of wood left to remove. This is not as cheaply done as a large outfit using 8-gang machines and providing a rather rough (but cheaper) turned stock. The latter may well be under $100., but the former may run $300-$450. The former is certainly more money but saves a lot of time in hand fitting.
Final suggestion. Don't forget to use release agent!
