Building The Steven's Favorite

[TomG]

The 12-32UNEF was harder to find than I thought. McMaster Carr let me down and MSC had one for $45, so tonight instead of starting on the breech block, I got to make a tap. Per Machinery's Handbook, I added a couple thou to the major diameter and cut a 32 pitch thread with a pitch diameter just over the max limit on a piece of O1. Then I milled four flutes with an end mill on the center line of the tap and a little deeper than the thread, hardened it and hand ground a taper starting angle on the ends of the flutes. I test fired it in a piece of aluminum and the screws fit well so I went ahead and tapped the two 12-32 holes in the receiver and called it a day.

I intended to get started on the breech block tonight but the piece of O1 I had in mind for it turned out not to be O1 so I had to order a piece and play the waiting game. A guy I work with gave me a large chunk of black walnut the other day so I decided to make another incredible mess in the shop and get started on the stock (I'm still cleaning out wood dust from the last woodworking project). I didn't care for the orientation of the grain in the board but it was thick enough that I could cut the blank for the stock on an angle to make it more quartersawn. I also discovered a check in the wood which required even more creative layout to avoid. I left it slab sided for now because the next task will be to throw it in the mill and inlet it for the receiver. Looks kind of boring now but it's a start.

I’m still making sawdust, although not near as much. I got the receiver inletted into the stock using the mill and it ended up a nice tight fit. Then I did some rough shaping with a wood plane and blended it all together on the belt sander. The notch on the top of the stock just behind the tang was roughed out with a die grinder and sanding roll. It still needs some final finishing. The stock also needs some final fitting around the tangs. The bottom is getting close but the top still has a bit to go. I dug around in my supplies a bit more and found a chunk of Stentor which is Carpenter Steel's brand name for O1, so as soon as I get finished making wood dust I'll get back to making chips and make the breech block.

The stock is finished. Getting the wood to metal fit was challenging. There are a lot of different surfaces that mate and getting them all to come together at the same time was a real pain. I ended up bumping the slots for the tangs back several times before I got everything just right. There is still the forend to do but that won't happen until the barrel is made. There may also be checkering to do (I haven't decided) but that will be the last task on the list, and a butt plate. The original butt plate was hard rubber and I was thinking of tooling one for mine out of leather. That's a rainy day project though, there are metal chips to be made.