Traditional Firearms > Flintlock Long Guns

Steaming a stock

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Winter Hawk:
The new-to-me 3rd T-C Pennsylvania Hunter had a problem: I had to lift my head off the stock to line up the sights.  I had thought about putting some type of pad on the comb, but then remembered reading long ago about steaming the stock to alter it.  So, I put on a large pan of water to boil, lay the wrist of the stock over it, covered the stock and pan with aluminum foil to seal the steam in, lay a folded towel over top of that and let it sit on the burner for, IIRC, 30 minutes:

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I then clamped it in my Workmate vice and tightened that down as tight as I could get it:

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and left it overnight.  The next day I reassembled the rifle and it formed the stock enough that I can keep a good cheek weld.

A word of caution: I should have put a block between the vice jaws and the the stock at the tang.  It broke a small piece of wood off the inlet for the tang.  I didn't notice that until I was putting it together again, and by that time the sliver had disappeared in my garage/shop.

Otherwise this worked well for me.

~Kees~

PetahW:
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Not for the faint of heart - nice work !  :toast

Hank in WV:
Did it affect the finish at all? I've steamed raw wood before, but never finished wood.

Winter Hawk:

--- Quote from: Hank in WV on April 02, 2024, 05:42:06 PM ---Did it affect the finish at all? I've steamed raw wood before, but never finished wood.

--- End quote ---
Yes it did. The portion which was over the pot is noticeably darker than the rest, sort of like it got a sun tan with the ends covered.  But it doesn't look bad so I'm leaving it as is.

~Kees~

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