I have lost count of the number of ovals I have fitted for all sorts of reasons though one of the commonest was after a gun became to old off the face the only valuable part left was the silver oval and so they where removed. To fit a replacement is not that difficult and the tools required are few in number. A short bladed sharp craft knife. Desirable is a small gouge with a very open curve, but you can manage without this. Though importantly you do need a small cranked chisel lets say blade about half the length of the oval, you can make one of these that will last long enough to do the job by heating and bending a small screw driver and just keeping it sharp. Over on this side of the pond I use a Victorian silver shilling available here for a couple of pounds. I am sure that you did have some silver coinage that you could use. First thing to do is shape the oval from the coin to match the stock curve in the position you want to place it, I find that heating the coin to red heat and letting it cool slowly softens it enough to make bending easier. Now if there is a secret if it is a secret to fitting an oval from scratch this is it, you file a 10 degreeish slope all round the edge of the oval. this will in fact make the base of the oval slightly smaller, then mark around the oval base and remove the wood slowly to about three quarters the depth of the oval. next place the oval on the position you have cut out but it will not drop in so far so good. Now comes the reason for the slope tap the oval with a piece of thin wood covering it with a small hammer the wood to reduce marking it, as the oval is taped into the stock the sloping edges swages the wood out slightly making a perfect fit. It sounds complicated but it is quite quick and easy to do, I then fix the oval into the stock with an epoxy resin adhesive when set file the silver down to the surface of the wood.
