Stock bending experience?

[Silvers]

I'm experimenting with something new to bend a Fox stock without damaging the finish. I've got a junker parts Sterly in process right now and have raised the drop at heel by 12/16". I can probably go another 16th or so. One consideration is the so-called "springback" = stocks that will partially revert to original drop in weeks or months after they've been bent. So ..... long story short, I ask if any of you have had a stock(s) bent and how they acted afterwards? What was the drop at heel when returned from the bender gent, and what do they measure now? Thanks for any inputs. frank

[bbman3]

Frank once i bent an early A grade 16 1/4 inch up and it stayed. Bobby

[spyder]

A friend had a 1929 A 16 bent from cast off to cast on, and it popped back in a few weeks. Sorry I don't have more particulars.

[vaturkey]

Frank,

You might want to give Dan Rossiter a buzz. He bends a bunch of different stocks for folks including Foxes. He said some bend like a noodle and some don't bend a lick. I think as a rule european walnut bends much easier/better then american walnut. I know when I was up at the NE SXS he bent two different guns for clients overnight and returned them the next day. I believe that true quartersawn walnut bends much better then slab sawn.

PS. For what its worth he said Sterlingsworth as a rule don't bend very well as I tried to go that route one time and he said it most likely wouldn't work out for me.

[Silvers]

Thanks all for your inputs. I decided to play it safe this first time, that the 12/16" reduction in drop at heel was plenty for black walnut. After I finished up it sprung back to 7/16" reduction. Drop at heel was 2-15/16" and now it's 2-1/2". This is a junker parts Sterly and it's missing some of the firing parts so I'll just put it aside and see what happens over a few months.

[Don Hansen]

There was a time I would have felt I could tell you all about stock bending with great authority. I've been bending stocks for about 30 years and have probably done about 250. Today I can give you a list of generalities, but would finish by stating "I'll tell you all about this stock just as soon as I'm done". In other words, when dealing with wood there are many variables involved and there is not a one size fits all answer. But here goes in no particular order.

The process I use has evolved to using heat lamps, wrapping the grip area with discarded towels cut in 2" strips length wise, soaked in cooking oil, then wrung out. The gun is placed in a jig but I do not use mechanical force to bend the stock. I feel this is very important as I must "feel" the resistance of the bending to avoid breaking the stock. I heat the stock on both sides of the grip from 22-28 minutes depending on the thickness of the grip area. I do this twice moving the lamps about 1/2" to more evenly heat the grip area. I then put pressure slowly and evenly on the butt and push in the direction I want it to bend. If I'm trying to put in a 1/2" more drop I'll bend it to about 3/4" to allow for set back. After getting the bend I tighten the straps to hold the stock in that position and leave it a minimum of 12 hours. You will find that some stocks bend with ease and some just won't bend. If I don't get as much as I want I'll try it again and sometimes it will bend a bit more the second time. At no time do I use a great deal of pressure to force a bend. The stock will tell you how much it wants to bend.

Now for some cautions and generalities. Carefully inspect the stock before attempting to bend. The grain must be laid out straight through the grip area. The stock must not have been repaired as the heat from the lamps will soften most glues. You will need to adjust the distance of the lights from the stock to get them to heat up but not burn. And yes, they can and will burn. One can also destroy the finish, so be careful and practice on a junk gun until you have things set properly. Go slow. You can always heat it up again but is hard to "deheat" it after burning the stock and melting the finish.

My experience doesn't seem to mirror others as I have found that figured American walnut seems to bend the easiest, followed by figured English. Next would be straight grained American with straight grained English being the most resistant to a bend. Obviously it is much easier to bend an English straight grip stock than a Perazzi with a heavy pistol grip stock with a palm swell.

Some stocks will spring back after bending. Some in hours and some over a period of time. I've found some of those will respond to a second attempt. I've never been successful with a third attempt. Another caution concerns through bolt stocks. I have no idea why, but sometimes the bolt becomes loose after bending, so be sure and pull the butt plate or pad and check this after bending or you could wind up with a cracked stock after shooting.

In closing I hope you can appreciate this is not an exact science and it takes a great deal of experience to do this and avoid breaking a stock. I have been lucky so far, but I'm very careful and let the stock tell me what it will do and not the customer. We also have a talk before bending that I will not promise the stock won't break as I can not see if there are defects inside the stock that are not visible on the outside. In short, this isn't a job for the average guy to decide to do. It's much less risky to have a person with the required experience perform the job for you. I'm also hoping this will help you understand the limitations of stock bending and why it costs what it does. Your gun will thank you for it! All the best, Don Hansen.

[Stan Hillis]

Don, thank you for taking the time to write that. There is some very good info there for the hobbyist, or for the man who hires it out. IMO, bending 250 stocks without breaking one gives you the right, and the ability , to express opinions that are worth listening to. I appreciate it much.

Best, SRH

[bbman3]

Don thanks.Bobby

[Mike of the Mountain]

Well written Don. Thanks.

[rWt]

Thank you.

I had asked about bending a Sterlingworth stock 1/4" for drop and 1/4" for cast and was told by an experienced dealer of Fox's that there was a very high chance it would not work out given the straight grain American walnut used for those stocks. I was further informed that early graded guns faired better due to the use of English/European walnut.

[MARSHFELLOW]

Thank you Don. I will never try it but it's nice to have a slight mental image/understanding of the procedure.
tjw

[Brian Dudley]

As many know, stock bending can be a complete gamble. Results can vary greatly. I have always been leary of it for this reason. Recently I had a gun of mine that was a good candidate for bending given what I wanted to do with it. I took the chance and decided to give it a try.

The results were simply a complete waste of money.

It will take a lot for me to ever consider having it done again.

[vaturkey]

I've had one stock bent twice. Both times over time it drifted back over time. I'm thinking if I get it bent again I'll see if it can be bent a tad more and then perhaps the spring back won't be to the original stock position. PS. This was pretty high figured Turkish FWIW.