Question on this odd/interesting stock

...a decent piece of wood turned into a really frugly stock!
No wonder "reserve price not met, acution ended". Yeeeech!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess.
I've refinished a number of wood stocks in my day using Tru Oil, Tung Oil, and it does take time and patience to get the grain filled right and that dull sheen that makes the grain come out even in fairly plain walnut.
About the stock on gunbroker. The inlays really are a masterful touch on a wierd shaped stock.
If that gun were a .308 I might have bid on it and had the stock reworked to something I could live with and leave the inlays alone.
 
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Tuff crowd! Speaking for myself, I am pretty tired of matte blue and plastic, as functional as it may be. Can't hardley find a nice gloss finish scope any more.
 
It reminds me of a Picasso or an El Greco, a work of art (in the eye of the beholder) that you can't tell what it is.
It was obviously built by someone that was learning to work wood. They wanted to learn to make inlays, and make sharp lines at the edge of the cheekpiece, so they made a double cheekpiece AND a forearm "pad" and executed them well.
The wood that was used wasn't much, but was good-wood, so the practice was worthwhile. They were learning about cutting and sanding, so the finish wasn't of prime importance. They'd work on trying different finishes, later.
The inlays were well done, obviously not the first time they had done 'em, but the inletting around the bottom-metal lacks. The inlays are overdone, like the were practicing, not trying to increase the value of the rifle.
The front sight...what can I say? it seems to have been put there because something needed to be on the ramp, not to be used. (I think it would have been better just leaving it off. It's a factory barrel, and was built just before they went out of production. Winchester did the same thing when they built the FW .264s. A 22" barrel, on a .264 Magnum??? There's a reason they weren't popular, lol.
The high bid was $600, and the reserve wasn't met, and was higher, prolly a LOT higher! The rifle was prolly used a bit, but was such a bad example of a using rifle that it had to be gotten rid of.
Maybe somebody's son built it as a "labor of love" for an honored dad, but didn't know what a rifle SHOULD be.
A spokeshave wouldn't be enough, ya'd need a rasp, too.
It sure would be an expensive donor, tho' I wish I had an FN with a magnum boltface.
Have fun,
Gene
 
... inletting around the bottom-metal lacks.
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I noticed that. It almost as if the magazine floorplate was changed at some point. It obviously doesn't fit at the front. Which is strange, because the stockmaker was clearly skilled enough to have repaired the wood and re-inlet the stock to fit the new floorplate.

The only other really obvious screwup I saw was that whoever installed the buttpad didn't know what they were doing. It's poorly fit at the top and the toe isn't ground off to match the line of the stock.
 
What a gorgeous piece of woodworking- but yeah- he blew it on the recoil pad by not matching the toe line. Perhaps the pad was replaced by one of the owners at some point that didn't have the expertise (or a jig) to do it correctly.

Don't know much about the Mausers- but looks like the floorplate FN manufactured was slightly different at the front (more "streamlined" than the K98), and this stock may have started out as being inletted for a K98 rather than the FN 98 commercial action.

Too bad it sold- I would have bought it...
 
I've tried my hand at grind to fit buttpads and such - not for the novice. Mine didn't turn out well.
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Actually, it doesn't take much expertise or skill (demeaning myself as a stockmaker ;)), just the "right tools for the job", like anything else.

A recoil pad jig from Miles Gilbert or similar, and a benchtop belt sander to keep it all at 90 degrees. The jig sets the comb and toe angles of the pad to match the stock lines. It's a simple process, for anyone that wants to DIY their recoil pad I recommend getting the jig. For about $50, it will pay for itself in one use as opposed to having a gunsmith fit a new pad.
 
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