7mm-08 Project #6

Inletting the Action

Once the bottom metal is inletted it is time to turn my attention to inletting the barreled action. 

 The first thing that I do is insert the action inletting screws into the bottom metal and let it seat into the stock. I then like to scribe a line just inside the edge of the metal work to have as a reference. This is a "don't go past line". Here you can see me scribing the line with a chisel. You will also notice that the action and barrel sits very high in the stock. A lot of material needs to be removed from the stock to make the two fit together.

 I use soot from a home made lamp to show me where I need to remove wood. The metal work is covered with soot and then inserted into the stock. The soot will adhere itself to the high spots in the wood (also to my hands, face, pants, you get the picture) and that wood will be removed with a scraper or chisel. With each pass the metalwork will settle  a little deeper into the wood.

 Here you can see some soot being applied. The lamp is very simple it is an old baby food jar that I made a little ferel to hold a wick and some kerosene in it.

 Here the action is partially inletted, at this point the action has probably been installed and removed 20-30 times during the process. The action is still high and has a way to come down to its final spot.

 Here you can see my inletting tools, the chisels are used for rough work in the beginning the I switch to the scrapers. When the scrapers are used a very small amount of wood is removed and then the action is inserted and checked. This is a very time consuming process but it yields a very close action to wood fit.

I keep my tools in tool rolls that I made. It is quite and investment to buy all these tools and if you don't keep them sharp they are worthless. So for me it is worth taking good care of them. The tool rolls have a leather section to protect the cutting edge of the tools.

 

Here the process is complete, this has taken several days and countless hours to get to this point but you can see that the metal and wood have a very close fit almost like they were one piece. This is not a process you want to try if you are in a hurry. But I find it to be one of the most enjoyable processes in gun building. There is something very relaxing about lighting the torch, smoking the metal and then scraping small amounts of wood away.