Aproaching the Cheekpiece

[Eric Smith]

I am not yet ready to tackle this aspect of the build. What I would like to do is gather some input. How do you handle this part of shaping? What technique do you employ? What tools do you find most effective? What advice could you offer? I am sure I will make a big botch of it, and it will probably look like it was done with an adz,. but I will learn from it. Before anyone asks, I have the books. Think of this as a suppliment.      Thanks in advance to all who reply.

[Roger Fisher]

Think of it thisaway....That cheekpiece is already there.......Just remove wood that shouldn't be there and go slow.  Actually,for me atleast the cheekpiece area on a build is pretty much one of the easiest parts of said build.

[Acer Saccharum]

Before I say anything about cheekpiece, what have you got installed? Barrel and lock?

There are some other things that need to be addressed before the cheekpiece is shaped.

Buttplate needs to be in place. This allows the comb and wrist line to be fleshed out.
Trigger needs to be installed. This will give you the bottom line of the stock, from grip to buttplate to be resolved.
Guard, depending on style, this will also determine the bottom line of the stock.
Step toe stock or not, the guard and trigger need to collaborate to determine the bottom profile.

Now you have the top and bottom profiles, you can now figure out where the cheekpiece goes, how big, vertical placement, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Tom

[rich pierce]

Really study top and bottom views of originals and you will see that often contemporary cheekpieces are exaggerated by comparison.  Very few originals have a blocky "flat" at the lower edge but that is sometimes seen in contemporary work.  Many don't leave enough room behind the cheekpiece and extend it too far to the rear.  It may be helpful to initially shape it with a smooth taper from the rear of it toward the buttplate, and from the front to the wrist, THEN delineate it as appropriate for the school or original builder you are using for inspiration.

[Ed Wenger]

Excellent advise by all.  Rich brings up a really good point about exaggerated cheek pieces.  Take a look at the thread Mike Brooks posted a short while ago about evaluating a rifle.  In it, he pointed out how the underside of the stock is a little "thick".  The cheek piece looks like it stands out a good bit, but actually, not so much.  I visited the longrifle display at Landis Valley last week and paid particular attention to that area of all the rifles.  All of them were "thick" under the cheek piece and didn't stand out like most contemporary guns you see today, mine included.


          Ed

[Eric Smith]

Tom I have a LOT of other parts to install before I get to the cheekpiece. I just thought I would give this some thought before I actually have to do it.

[Acer Saccharum]

Fresh the Landis Valley show, I paid particular attention to the Musician's Rifle. Sighting along the bottom line of the stock, from toe of Buttplate toward trigger, the wood swells out under the cheeckpiece. This reduces the 'shelf look', but it does not reduce the overall thickness. The illusion is that the ch piece looks lower in relation to its surroundings.

Not all guns swell out under the ch piece. This is where seeing original work is a boon. You can seldom tell from photos what is going on.

[Mike Brooks]

Not all guns swell out under the ch piece.

Correctamundo Kemosabe. Much of the euro stuff I s a bit pudgy as are many earlier colonial American guns. It's a really authentic illusion if you can pull it off. Golden age guns tend to be much flatter in this area.
 We get way too crazy about straight lines on these guns, probably from reading Peter Alexander's material. I remember years ago him writing about checking all areas of your gun with a straight edge to make sure everything is flat and straight. When I applied the straight edge to originals I found nothing was straight or flat.
 A great exorcize with a straight edge is to apply it to A Martin's Lehighs. Those things really move!

[Acer Saccharum]

Correctamundo Kemosabe..........When I applied the straight edge to originals I found nothing was straight or flat.

Look at a French pistol, or a Lehigh, or a jaeger.... NOTHING is straight.
Straight lines draw attention to themselves, and have nothing to offer. Straight lines are dead.
Curves, on the other hand, the eye does not settle anywhere, and you look the whole curvy thing up and down, trying taking it all in.

[Don Getz]

When you talk about those fat looking areas below the cheekpiece, they are prevalent in Berks county rifles.   You don,t
see it in Lehigh's, Bucks, etc.   You are also more apt to see it on an early gun versus the guns of the golden age, where
they are starting to slim down the butt's..........Don

[Acer Saccharum]

are starting to slim down the butt's...

I have been working on this for years, at least, recognizing that the Butt needs slimming. That is the first step, eh.

[b bogart]

Does this cheekpiece make my butt look fat?

[David Rase]

are starting to slim down the butt's...

I have been working on this for years, at least, recognizing that the Butt needs slimming. That is the first step, eh.

A slimmer butt will only make your head appear bigger.