I was one of the two plank students and, as always, I had the absolute time of my life and learned a tremendous amount at Mike and Wayne's class in Friendship. I got the entire stock shaped down to its final outer dimensions, I installed the triggers and trigger guard, installed the tang bolt and rear lock bolt, shaped the lock and side plate panels, got the wrist and entire butt stock shaped to its final form, and started inleting the front two pipes. I learned a lot about marking out a stock, line work, correct architecture, hand tool technique, and a tremendous amount of tips and methods for achieving different results in the process. It was a very rewarding week, made possible through Mike and Wayne's passion and dedication for teaching.
On top of Mike and Wayne, I'd also like to acknowledge my classmate John for much of the success I had this week. Watching him hard charge through the work really motivated me to step it up.
There were many high points this week but the one that stood out to me the most is the elevated level of respect I now have for Wayne. I always respected him as a highly experienced and skilled gun builder, but I didn't realize just quite how good he was until this class. Wayne is mythical. So cheek pieces were always something that gave me problems, there's so much complex geometry and transitions in them to where even when you're looking at one already done correctly it still becomes a bit difficult to connect all the dots. So I watched how Mike marked it out on his demonstration stock, watched him shape it out and took careful notes, handled the study pieces brought in, and then I went back to my bench to perform the same task. Mike was watching me work and pointing out things and then asked me "you got it?" I replied with an enthusiastic "yes" and he walked off to help another student.
Well, within a few minutes I had completely bungled up the cheek piece I was working on. Then I walked back to Mike's demonstration stock to see how bad I messed up and my heart sank, Mike noticed my despair and came over to see what I had done. Now, normally, I will point something out specifically on my stock and under my breath ask Mike "Did I sit the bed here?" and usually Mike will just say nah and tell me what I did wrong and show me how to correct it. But this time he just said yep and told me he'd have to come back with his magic wand to try and fix it. He got pulled off on his way back from his bench by another student and it was at that moment Stoner swooped in like Batman to save the day. He brought a handful of tools and walked me through step by step, highlighting areas on the stock with a pencil and showing me which tool to use and what to do with it before moving on to next area to work on until the cheek piece was completely saved. I think even Mike was amazed by the complete save Wayne performed?
I wish I had a before picture of the mangled cheek piece to show, but it looked like the Elephant Man's face after being in a room where someone had just farted right next to him. Furthermore, on top of now having a correctly shaped and pleasant to look at cheek piece, I also no longer have the mental disconnect regarding their architecture. The lines and transitions and the methods of achieving them are all much clearer in my mind.
This was a fantastic week 2 of the plank class and I can't wait to come back for week 3. I would highly recommend anyone interested in learning how to build guns take Mike and Wayne's class, the experience will be invaluable and you'll have the time of your life inside and outside of class. There was a couple this time there who came in all the way from California so you really have no excuse not to come!
