[Bruce Day]

Joe, in answer to your question, yes it is possible to duplicate a stock without damaging the original stock. There is a stock duplicating machine that roughs out a stock and which runs on a pantograph principle, that is, there is a pointer that tracks the contours of the master pattern stock and mechanically moves cutting heads on a copy stock. This is how stocks used to be made before CNC machining and I've been in old plants that turned out stocks by the thousands for Remington and other major makers. Apart from a stock duplicating machine, a machinist could duplicate a master using a CNC machine. Both the CNC machine and old pantograph stock duplicating machine require set up time and are best used for multiple copies.

I am aware that there are modern stock milling machines for copying and I have seen some locally, as this area used to be the center of stock making. If a person wants different dimensions, a master must be made, usually from the old stock, and putty added and rasped to the desired shape, which ruins the old stock. The duplicating machine then roughs out the new stock and it is finished by hand. I'm sure Francis Morin could tell you lots about pantograph duplicating machines and I trust that he will.