Bent my Repro...and an original Parker too.

[Chuck Heald]

I finally finished my stock bending fixture last week.

Another member here needed a Parker stock bent up and I needed to bend the Parker Repro 28g/.410 down.

So we got together for a little stock bending party today.

Here's the basic setup. We did the original Parker first. Triggerguard was removed. The gun had 3 1/4" of drop at the heel!



Once the gun was delicately clamped in the fixture, the wrist was wrapped with cotton rags and soaked in oil. It was continuously dowsed in oil at the wrist and foil protected what was not covered by the rags.



The first bend was fully a 1/2" after cooling and released. Very little springback. The gun had 2 3/4" drop at the heel now. We were so thrilled we didn't break the stock. The upper tang did look like it was digging into the stock a bit and we disassembled the gun and cleared the wood a bit to relieve the pressure. We then decided another 1/4" was necessary. So, back in the fixture the gun went and we did another round on it. We also took out any cast and brought it to zero cast. Once cooled and released we were at 2 1/2" exactly. Fully 3/4" of bend in two bends! No cracks.


Next, my Repro was up. It's a straight grip stock.

In the fixture, clamped up.


I bent the stock 1/4" at the heel, down.

A friend had bent it down about 3/8" a year ago, but it came back to about 1/4" bend. It was still too high for me and I had shot it for over a year and still missed high consistantly unless I buried my cheek unnaturally. With the new drop, it feels very much like guns I shoot well. I might shoot it tomorrow to verify.

I'm pretty thrilled to have bent these two guns successfully.

[Big Friend Ten (BFT)]

Great job Chuck!

That's one heck of a bending table you have. I assume that you built it judging from your posts on DoubleGunShop. Very impressive rig!

Mark

[Chuck Heald]

Mark,
Yes, I designed and fabricated it based on what I've seen others do. Not really much to it, at a glance. But each part had to be made and I had access to my friends machine shop only during working hours which was tough for me to do. I put an hour in here and there over a year. If I had done it all at once it would have only taken maybe two 8 hr shifts.

[OH Osthaus]

Chuck

Repeat questions, since I asked the same things on double gun, (others here may be interested)

how long did the bend take on the first stock, and how old is the wood?

Rick

[Chuck Heald]

The heat was on for a total of 50 mins. After 10 mins we tried to move it. We added some pressure/displacement and let it set with the heat on for another 5-10 mins. It seemed to take a set of about half the amount we moved it. We added more pressure/displacement. Let is go 10 mins, checked the pressure by backing off the jacksrew, pushed by hand, set the jackscrew, etc. . Basically, all the amount of displacement was done by hand pressure, then held by the jackscrews, wait 10 mins, do it again. Then let the heat stay on after the last displacment for 10-15 mins, checked to see the springback was minimal, shut off the lamps, leave it wrapped in the oil soaked rags for at least 15 mins more, remove the rags, let it air cool to ambient, then remove clamps.

That first Parker is a damascus GH. I didn't ask the year of mfr, but if I were to guess, I'd say 1900-1910. So basically, 100 yr old stock, with another 50-100 yrs of growth as a tree.

[Dunnigun]

Very impressive. Taking any orders yet?

[Chuck Heald]

Originally Posted by Brian Stucker

Very impressive. Taking any orders yet?

Brian,
If you're local, come by with a six pack or decent bottle of wine and we can bar-b-q your gun. I'm in Torrance.

[Dunnigun]

Hey Chuck,
Will do. I have an appt. in L.A. next Thurs, why don't we meet for lunch. I'll buy. Check your PM and we can go from there. Brian

[M Vollinger]

I would heartily suggest a medium level mask be worn during the process.
Lemon oil and lungs don't mix well.

[B. Dudley]

Chuck,

Just a note on straght grip guns in regards to the guard tang. I have seen other pictures of stock beinding where (when bending for cast), the guard was left on and bent along with the stock.