Bob58 Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 I'm interested in others' experiences and preferences (and why?) regarding checkering finished vs. unfinished wood. I've tried both and prefer checkering the unfinished stock. Not sure whyit happens, but I just seem to get better results. It might have to do with hardness. But I can't say I even notice a difference in cutting ease. However, I do take the finish down to the wood. Unfortunately after finishing with several coats of oil the checkering may need to be recut prior to the last coat since the checkering may partially fill. However, that's not real difficult or time consuming. Checkering prior to finishing is pretty much required for stocks which you plan to stain (but is that really a stock worth checkering?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron J Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 Bob, I've tried both and there are ups and downs to both. I re-checkered a Ruger #1 after stripping, but before finishing. It came out great. The 1st step of the finish was oil that had alkanet root in it so it popped the grain in the checkering well and the red it brings was even. I kept taking the oil out with a little brush so there was no build-up. Also the factory checkering had high and low planes so I sanded the checkering in places and blended into the stock. I think fixing checkering is easier before finishing. Fresh checkering after finishing I believe gives better lines to see. The 1st level of depth isn't much into the wood so seeing is easy and so is following what you have done. If you fill the grain with a silica type pore filler it eats checkering tools pretty fast. I'm no expert having done little and screwed up a bunch of it, but that's what I've learned so far. I don't stain - dye is much nicer to work with. You will as you say take the color out when you checker later. Then you color some oil and brush it in. Most finishes after curing harden the wood somewhat and make cleaner diamonds I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken98k Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 I've always been led to believe that checkering was the final touch to a gunstock, that is, after finishing. That said, I've never done it either way myself. I've been hoping someone here would do a tutorial on that subject. Kenny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradD Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 Bob, For me it always worked best to run the finishing up to near complete and then checker. The wood always seemed more stable and I didn't get all those little fibers - an absolute nightmare on, say, maple. But you can't have surface finish on it as you will be gummed up all the time, I rubbed the finish in the areas to be checkered down to the wood with 000 or 0000 steel wool, then checkered. In my gracefully advancing years my eyes can't keep up with it, I'm too shakey, and too damn crabby to do it anymore. That's why we have Sherry Abrams, et al. Brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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