doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stock bending

Over here in Brit land there is a saying there is more than one way to skin a cat and what has that to do with gun stock bending you my ask. In the early 1970s I took one of my guns to a workshop in Lower Loveday Street in the then Birmingham gun quarter to have the stock altered. Not long after I entered the workshop and finished the formalities of the paper work one of the craftsmen was about to change the cast and drop on a guns stock, now me being the very curious type of young man I stayed and watched how it was done.
The short answer was fire smoke and great experience! Firstly the guns action was clamped in a vice with the guns trigger guard removed here I should say the gun was a side by side with a straight hand English stock next a fitting was clamped to the stocks butt end, this fitting had rings fitted top bottom and one each side. Now on the floor was a traditional 56 pound weight with a ring also set in the wall at the back of the bench where a number Iron ring�s at about centre height of a guns stock when mounted in the vice.
Now from what I was told is the old traditional way of bending a gun�s stock firstly a thick wad of cotton waste was wrapped round the hand section of the stock this was held in place by four or five turns of cotton cloth all tied up with string. Next the weight on the floor was moved to position its ring in line with the bottom ring of the stock fitting. Now two pieces of cord where fitted to the rings of the stock fitting the one on the side was looped through one of the rings on the wall next the bottom ring was looped through the weights ring on the floor.
The window was opened at the back of the bench now all was ready, the cotton waste and rag holding it was flooded with Linseed oil until it was fully saturated and then lit. The oil soaked rag was left burning for what seemed an extraordinary long time to me, but amazingly the wood under the burning oil package became pliable. The flames where now extinguished by smothering them with a damp cloth, the stock was then moved to its new position using the bench top as the datum surface the chords tightened holding the stock permanently in its new position and to be kept there overnight.
It was obvious to me that this process had been done many times by the man doing it because it seemed deceptively easy but that is the trait of a person who has confidence in what he is doing.
This is just information on a method I feel should be remembered and who knows some brave member may give it a try!