doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Checkering transplant???

I've got a nice double with an even nicer stock with grip checkering that someone totally ruined beyond repair. Is it feasable, advisable, or idiotic to consider a thin grip transplant on both sides of course from another similar stock(maybe a contrasting color like a forend cap)? I guess what I am talking about is a funky kind of inlay??
Doable or total folly? Fire at will.
thanks
Rick

I would certainly want to evaluate the stock to determine if it may be beefy enough to permit scraping that checkering off, fair the reshaped grip into the rest of the stock and then rechecker it in the conventional manner. Certainly would be much more likely to produce a harmonious outcome.

I guess you could do a stock transplant in reverse, retaining the old butt portion and splicing in a new wrist and head but for the labor involved in that you might just as well restock the thing. I just don't see trying to form a very thin curved inlay to wrap around each side of the stock as being a very practical and a thick inlay would likely make the wrist weaker than just scraping and recheckering.

What gun is it and how thin is the wrist in particular? Is the gun worth restocking which would probably be cheaper than the inlay anyway.

Jerry asks wise questions

refinished many shotgun stocks back in the day

never had a problem with re-checkering after sanding off
old checking but have an expert look at the gun in question

if the stick is nice enough there are tricks,
including sawdust and glue to fill an extra deep scar or two

if the gun isn't worth restocking then talk to whomever you
want to recut the checkering and see what they think

best wishes

Pictures please
Thanks
Mike

I've actually built up a few diamonds from sawdust and cyanoacrylate glue (superglue). It gets hard as heck and checkers nicely with a sharp carbide checkering foot. I've never done a large area, but I think Harris' idea is worth exploring and should work fine.

Well, it is not a very expensive gun (ok, I admit it, it is a cheap SxS double rifle in 45/70). As much as I like shooting it, I don't know if it is worth the money to restock. Whoever went at it might have dropped it, and tried to repair. There is a defect ( divit, trench, whatever ) across the length of the bottom of the checkering; I estimate about an eighth of an inch deep by about twice that wide. Looks like a file was dragged across. I picked up the gun and went at the stock because it was so blocky and looked like a canoe paddle to begin with. I went at the stock and recontoured it and refinished it, but couldn't figure what to do with such a big divit.
OK, I have to fess up. It is a Russian/Rem. I was figuring I've got a couple of old stocks around that I could cut the donor checkering panels from ( maybe a quarter inch thick?) and epoxy in like an inlay. If I remove all around to rechecker like suggested, the wrist will be way skinnier than I like. I am just experimenting on a low cost gun.
I don't want to transplant anything except the checkering panels on the grip. Still a fool's folly?
thanks

think you can easily go glue and sawdust route

if you're experimenting what the heck you can always remove built
up area and you're back to where you are now ... little risk

donor way more work

consider re-cutting all the checkering below flush ?

OK, why not inlay blocks of matching wood (assume walnut?) after carefully routing out the existing checkering panels in a jig to form a flat bottom mortise? Glue in the new blocks of wood, leaving them well proud of the stock contours, then rasp down to shape and cut new checkering. Disguise the glue line with mullered borders. Finish to suit. Gun is probably not worth the effort, but it's good practice.

too much work to rout for panels
and then make matching panels
and blend how many linear inches of edge
yikes

just my opinion

now, maybe: rout damaged area only ( or better mill w/ Bridgeport)
and inlet plug and re-checker only as needed?

more than one way to skin a cat and each to their own
hope that doesn't offend the PC online :-)

Russian Remington!!! Fill that sucker with sawdust and superglue and checker it up. Or you could give the gouge a little shaping like maybe a slim tear drop and fill that with a piece of dark wood inlay. Same on both sides and it will look real natural there.