Barrel inletting question

[cglynn]

Greetings all.  First and foremost, I want to recognize the incredibly talented builders on this board.  I see nothing but rifles that demonstrate the utmost in quality workmanship.  For a newbie like myself, it is incredibly awe inspring, motivating, and gives me something to work towards.

After months of lurking, I have taken the plunge and started to build a rifle from a blank.  I built a TN style gun a year ago from a precarve.  It came out reasonably well, and served as a good learning tool.

I have gathered all of the needed parts for the rifle and began marking the location of the barrel channel.  Enter my quandry...Upon studying my blank, I have realized that it is twisted the entire length of the forestock.  The twisted area is still square which is how I missed it in the first place. 

The major question is, how should I proceed inletting the barrel being as I cannot use the top surface of the stock as a guide for anything, as doing so will result in a twisted barrel inlet. 

Your help and guidance is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Chris G

[J Shingler]

How much wood do you have to work with? You will make your like a lot easier if you can square the blank to the sides. Then you can proceed to do the layout and inletting your barrel. Most blanks have enough wood to plane the top flat if it is a little out of square.

[northmn]

Depending on the drop, you can lay out the gun on any part of the blank.  Some like to slant them so that they get better grain through the wrist (often leaves slight cross grain along barrel).   I usually offset the barrel channel to one side to get better figure or to make for less wood removal on at least one side.  Get a hold of a band saw and planer, or at least a band saw to cut it out where you want it.  I have often used a table saw to square up.  If you insist on the old fashion way get darn good handsaws.  Ripping 3" of hard maple full length down a gunstock is not my idea of an enjoyable hobby but some like it.

DP

[Elnathan]

Since you haven't yet cut the blank, the best course would be to plane or otherwise work the top and both sides square. It is a pain, but trying to lay out and cut a warped stock will be much worse, I think, quite apart from the difficulty of inletting the barrel. Make sure your square is accurate, too - lots aren't, and this is one place were a substandard tool is worthless. I have discovered that I can get by with cheap chisels, as long as they are sharp, and hardware store files can be lived with, but to discover that your "good" square is off after you have drawfiled and inlet the barrel while relying on it is...disconcerting.    I bought one of these after that experience: http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/product_info.php/cPath/35_167_509/products_id/1270

[Ky-Flinter]

Hi ya Chris, welcome to ALR!

If you purchased the stock blank and haven't cut on it yet, maybe call the supplier and see if you can exchange it for a straight one.  Good luck.

-Ron

[Roger Fisher]

Hi ya Chris, welcome to ALR!

If you purchased the stock blank and haven't cut on it yet, maybe call the supplier and see if you can exchange it for a straight one.  Good luck.

-Ron

If she were mine I would have a hunch that that beastie would continue twisting after you pleg yourself cutting her square. I'd ship her back for an unhex'd one since you paid good money for that animal in the first place.  See what the supplier says.   BTW a good tool to cut slabs off a blank if you are in to sweat equity is a jap cabinet saw that cuts on the pull.  They are sharp and easier to control.  You can cut down to 1/8th inch slabs!

[Dale Halterman]

What Roger said about continued twisting. I went through that with a very nice blank that I got cheap because of the twist. Took it home and squared it with a hand plane. Apparently that released some stresses because it twisted again. Squared it again and it twisted again.

Return it if you can.

Dale H

[cglynn]

Thanks for the advice all.  The blank in question is a piece of cherry given to me by a neighbor.  It is a bit thinner than I would like, 1 7/8", but its enough to get me a 1/4' cast off, and still have enough room for a cheek piece.  Barrel is a 42" .45 cal straight octagon.  Might have to wait a bit longer to get her started, as the general consensus seems to be dump the current blank.  Their may be one other option out there, and it involves setting up a set of rails that a router can ride on.  That would most likely result in a vertical barrel channel (while I am thinking about it, forgive my blasphemous use of the R word, its just that I am running out of ideas for this piece of wood).

Thanks again.  Whenever I get this build started, I will get pics up, and attempt to keep an updated build log.

Chris G

[Dphariss]

I would lay it aside and buy a blank from some eastern supplier. With some experience you can overcome the warp if it gets no worse. If it continues to worsen it may not be worth the work of making a full stock rifle from it.

Dan

[Brian]

What Dan said.  Set it aside and get another one for now that will not give you problems.  You can always play with that one at some future date.