Checkering repair

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So recently my dad bought me a brand new Winchester model 70 Super Grade Maple in 264. This thing is beautiful, so beautiful in fact that I didn't want to hunt with it but he insisted that I do. It's been pretty good to me so far. 3 times hunting, 2 shots and 2 deer down.

Now the problem. While dragging the latter of these deer off the hill yesterday I lost my balance, got tangled in a limb and fell. 25 years carrying a gun in the woods and I've never fallen on one like that.

Now the checkering on the forend is smashed in a couple places about the size of a dime.

So my question is if anyone here knows of a place I can have this fixed and if so about what would the cost be?

Sorry for the long post just mad at myself and venting a little.
 
Can’t respond in a positive way to your post but
Virginia Jim’s advise is good. If your concern is a pristine rifle stock swap out to a synthetic before the hunting season. I did that with a more mundane Ruger Mini Thirty many years ago. Today the Rugers original stock is factory new, of course the receiver and barrel show the 5 years of woods carry. :)
 
I agree with those above. If the damage is bad enough, a gunsmith is likely going to replace the stock anyway. Hogue has some nice synthetic overmold stock options you might want to look at.
 
You could go over the area with a 90 degree single line cutter from brownells, and use a toothbrush to brush in a couple coats of tru-oil. Dont be afraid of trying, its really not that hard. You might spend $20 on tools. Once a pattern or line is established,(like on a finished rifle,) the cutter follows the line very easily.
 
The wood is smashed and I don't see a fix that would not stand out just as much, if not more, than the present damage. The most experienced person I know at checkering is a lady that works at Ahlman's Gun Shop in Morristown , MN . You should be able to find their web site . See what she thinks. I am sure there are many others who do the checkering of guns.
 
A picture would help to see if it’s viable. I recently got a set of checkering tools for a custom Mauser stock I’m making. I started by recutting checkering on some other rifle stocks for practice. It’s really quite easy if you want to go down that route. Simply recut and seal.

If it’s a collectible, I would not recut however
 
If you dont want to order a checkering tool for such a small touch up, you can make one out of a needle file. Heat it up red hot on the stove and put nice bend in the end.
 
If you dont want to order a checkering tool for such a small touch up, you can make one out of a needle file. Heat it up red hot on the stove and put nice bend in the end.

I don’t know anything about that kind of work but would be willing to try. Would it really be so simple as to just go over that with a checkering tool to fix it?
 
From what it looks like to me. I would go for it. You could try steaming it first to raise up any crushed grain. Put a wet cloth on the spot and let it soak for a bit, then put a hot clothes iron on the cloth for a few seconds. Ive never tried that, but I know its a common practice, though you might research it more, mine is second hand knowledge. I think just checkering alone would fix her up pretty nice and would take minimal effort. When you go to re-seal the finished project, brush the excess out of the checkering with an old toothbrush or youll have a bunch of gummed up checkering when your product dries. Good luck, keep us posted.
 
Heres a picture of a tool made from a file, if you decide to go that route.
 

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Hopefully you can see that. Turns out the spots aren't as big as I I usually thought.
A 3 cornered Riffler File will be ideal for fixing this
Here's some, like a needle handle file Already Bent/Curved:
https://www.bing.com/search?q=riffl...s=n&sk=&cvid=6B90F5878E9446C5B8D8E3E118677218
or
https://www.bing.com/search?q=riffler+files+for+wood&FORM=R5FD
I'd buy a cheap set, it would more than adequate for wood, and I'm sure you'll find other uses for them.
:D
 
I don’t know anything about that kind of work but would be willing to try. Would it really be so simple as to just go over that with a checkering tool to fix it?

Yes. Then some refinishing to darken/stain/oil the newly carded area.

Any quality Smith would NOT replace the stock to repair that checkering. They’d spend 20min steaming first, then hit it with a single line chaser to raise out the peened peaks, then finish quickly by blending the surrounding area with a multi line checkering cutter, and restain/reoil the newly cut area over about a day and a half to ensure the color takes deeply enough. At which point, you’d never be able to tell the difference, as if it were never there, and they’d likely charge $75-100 for a half hour of total work, rightfully so.

Making cut checkering look right on a stock which originally had factory pressed checkering can take some extra doing, but not terribly so. 30min instead of 20, and more careful blending, and a little more time focusing on the color matching.

I’m sure a lot of new smiths aren’t doing checkering work at all, and might either refuse it or simply slap some oil down and hope it blends in, but a properly trained smith would smile at easy money in seeing that “repair.”
 
Well I'll check out some videos online and see if it looks like something I can do. It will probably take me a while to get to it but I'll update on progress. Any recommendations on a specific tool I should use?
 
What ever you decide, your going to be apprehensive on every hunt you do with that rifle. With that kind of concern on the rifles appearance, even if you go with the repair I’d replace the stock with a synthetic one or at the very least order a new one from Winchester and use the damaged one for field work. As for future collectability are the stocks even serial numbered?
 
What ever you decide, your going to be apprehensive on every hunt you do with that rifle. With that kind of concern on the rifles appearance, even if you go with the repair I’d replace the stock with a synthetic one or at the very least order a new one from Winchester and use the damaged one for field work. As for future collectability are the stocks even serial numbered?
I'm not sure if the stock has a serial number. I'm OK with normal wear on the stock, just don't like excessive damage. I've got a Remington 700 bdl that I've had since I was twelve that's still in pretty good shape and I wasn't real careful with it in my younger days.

I appreciate all the advice on different stocks but dad bought it for me and he wants me to hunt with it.
 
Guys I’d like to thank you for your help on this. I picked up an iron and used it on the stock tonight. It worked better than I thought it would, I was actually pretty impressed. It’s not perfect but it’s a lot better than it was. It’ll be even better after I oil it. Anybody got any suggestions on what to use for that?

F5DA4D7A-2FB5-43A0-9A08-17CBA3ABE55E.jpeg CD53DB7D-128D-4BDC-A2CA-91CC4EE7CF3C.jpeg
 
The wood in the checkering seems like it’s a darker color than the rest of the stock. Is it possible they might have used a walnut type stain on the checkering or does it just need touched up with some tru oil?
 
I'd hit it with a wet sponge to raise the wood and then recut the checquering.
 
I don’t know anything about that kind of work but would be willing to try. Would it really be so simple as to just go over that with a checkering tool to fix it?

Yes, but you need to go at it with patience. From this chair, the tops of the diamonds are starting to flatten and those flatter areas would not be that hard to point back up. I would recommend that you purchase a "GunLine" holder with a 90° single line cutter. The teeth on these cutters are more open and will shed wood dust much better than the Dembart tools. I wouldn't recommend a file as the cutting teeth are too shallow and when those clog up with dust, the file will jump lines and mess things up.
Move the cutter slowly with a stiff wrist, sorta like holding a pool cue when shooting pool. Don't cut to full depth right away, you don't want to obliterate the cross-over lines. Just a little to depth and then the cross over lines. You will get there.
Once you have all your diamonds pointed up, brush a finish like Tru-Oil in the checkering. Let the finish sit for 20 minutes or so and then brush what's left in the checkering out with an old tooth brush. Next day, do the same thing, and again on the third day. This will harden up the diamonds very well and prevent much of the "rub away" from handling. I've done some checkering over the years and have long ago found it's not a job to rush through:

bF1owQH.jpg
 

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