POLISHING BUTT PLATE

[hortonstn]

what method do you guys use to get the casting marks out of a butt plate and polish it out?
all advise is appreciated
thanks
paul

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Sandpaper and then diamond tools.. by hand, then 1500 grit wet dry paper seems to get a pretty mirror finish

[Long Ears]

Brass or Steel? Sand cast or Lost Wax? The Doctor is right on the money IMO. Except for the 2 hours before his procedure that you use lots of elbow grease and files. Good Luck, Bob

[Swampwalker]

First, make up a little wooden jig out of a piece of 2x4, with  a cut out the shape of the buttplate mortice.  Attach the buttplate to the wooden jig so that you can easily manipulate it in the vice.  Start with rasps (if lots of material removal is required), then mill file, etc.  I drawfile the parts when possible, which gives a very smooth finish.  I can go from drawfiling to 220 grit emery paper, then 320 etc.  This goes pretty fast with brass, somewhat slower with steel.

[A.Merrill]

    When using a sand cast butt plate or trigger guard, the first thing I do is check to make sure all sides are square an parallel to each other. Then I polish with files, sandpaper,wet sand, buffing wheel. Then file the bevels ( drafts ) on the inside edge.    Good Luck    AL

[Pete G.]

I make the jig like swampwalker and then attack the thing with a concave cabinet scraper. Be careful though because it is easy to take off more than you want before you realize it. Finish up with files, sandpaper and 0000 steel wool.

[Jim Kibler]

File it out and finish to no finer than 400 grit or so.  I wouldn't suggest buffing or finishing much finer.  Highly polished hardware looks out of place.  

[FRJ]

OK, I'm a new guy and don't  understand how  you would use a file on a curved butt plate. Please explain. Thanks, Frank

[Jim Kibler]

With a tight radius butplate, use a half round file or other shape that has a bit of a radius.  If your butplate has little radius, a flat file will work fine.  Try it.

[David Rase]

Like Jim Kibler said, use a flat file on an early style butt plate and a half round on a late Hawken or Southern Mtn. Rifle.  And don't polish past 400 and some steel wool.  No buffers.
DMR

[hortonstn]

thanks i appreciate your help
paul

[James]

I have found the smaller triangle files to work well on the butt-plate.

[A.Merrill]

    I buff to a near mirror finish. It shows scratches an high low spots better. After I remove those I buff with 0000 steel wool.    Good Luck    AL

[Mtn Meek]

Here is another tip from Jack Brooks' website on holding a butt plate while filing.

"First we will prepare the butt-plate casting. The edges of the casting that contact the stock must be filed smooth and the problem holding the odd shaped part troubled me for years. The great thing about teaching is that you always learn something from your students. I watched Fred Dimke soft solder a 1” square steel bar about 3” long onto the outside curve of a butt-plate casting. After it cooled he was able to easily position the butt-plate for filing by gripping the steel bar in a machinist vice. Why hadn’t I thought of that? You will need to do a little filing on the end of the bar so that the solder will flow between the surfaces."

One could soft solder a similar bar on the inside of the butt plate to work on the outside surfaces.