Tape on a gunstock

[whitebear]

Recently I picked up a rifle that I started some time ago intending to do some work on it.  I had everything marked out where I wanted it to go on the fore end and the marks didn't look right.  After much consideration I decided to erase the marks and start over.
I marked it out and started again and suddenly here is a light mark, is this just a light mark or is it a mark that didn't get erased completely.

After pondering this problem for a few minutes I went to the medicine cabinet and got a role of wide white adhesive tape and ran a strip down the stock even with the top of the barrel channel.  Then I preceded to mark off the positions again.  When I got through if it was what I wanted I could just leave it on through the inletting and drilling stages, if not I could rip it off and put on a new piece of tape and start over without all the shadows of previous marks.

[pushboater]

I cover the areas I'm going to carve with masking tape. I then draw out my design on the tape and plunge cut right through the tape following my design. It's easy to erase and redraw your design and the chisels seem to stay on track when you're following your design giving me what I feel is more control. Works for me anyway.

Capt. David

[smallpatch]

I keep blue masking tarp by my bench at all times. Wonderful stuff, and it doesn't leave residue, or dry in place like traditional masking tape.

[mattdog]

"I keep blue masking tarp by my bench at all times. Wonderful stuff, and it doesn't leave residue, or dry in place like traditional masking tape."


Yup,  use the blue stuff too.  Works great for the reasons you mention and is super cheap and comes in 1 1/2" wide rolls.

[tallbear]

MOST USED TOOL ON MY BENCH 

[Kermit]

As a pup when learning to hand cut dovetails a geezer taught me to glue white paper to the darker woods to make layout lines visible. Marking knife lines pop. I thought it an unnecessary step until my old eyes couldn't find lights bright enough. Use a slightly thinned white glue. The paper scrapes/sands off easily.

[Habu]

I don't carve enough, so sometimes I'll lay out the carving and cover it with clear plastic tape.  Then I can remove the tape and transfer the design to another piece of wood to practice the carving.  Mostly, it is a "warm-up" exercise, but it also helps me find and plan for problems that may come up (as in, "if I make this cut first, that is going to chip out," etc).

My carving and inletting has greatly improved since I started forcing myself to practice more. 

[whitebear]

I don't carve enough, so sometimes I'll lay out the carving and cover it with clear plastic tape.  Then I can remove the tape and transfer the design to another piece of wood to practice the carving.  Mostly, it is a "warm-up" exercise, but it also helps me find and plan for problems that may come up (as in, "if I make this cut first, that is going to chip out," etc).

My carving and inletting has greatly improved since I started forcing myself to practice more. 

Good idea I'll have to try that.