The grip cap is now glued to the rest of the butt stock and I can start shaping it to blend in with the butt stock. The first picture gives you an idea of my progress at the time on the fore end.

Butt stock with grip cap and fore end

As always, the first step is rough shaping.

Shaping

Rough shaping done

Rough shaping done

With the grip cap blended to the butt stock, I thought it was still a little too thick and made it a little thinner.

Still too thick

Thinner

With the grip cap now at the desired thickness, I started smoothing all the sharp edges on it. I also polished a little to get some idea of what it will look like once I complete the stock.

Polished

Polished

When I looked at the grip cap, I was not happy with the way the grip cap flowed into the front end of the butt stock. It was not really something I could photograph, but I reshaped the front area a little and though it looked better.

Slight reshape

Slight reshape

In my next post in this series, I will outline the process of fitting a recoil pad to the butt stock.

Time to start fitting the barrel band on the fore end of the stock. I marked a rough outline and started to shape the front end down to the right size. At this time, I had already cut the fore end to the correct size and drilled the hole for the barrel band screw. If you are wondering about the slightly different look in the pictures, I did not have my camera handy and used my cell phone to take the first four pictures in this post.

Shaping the front

Here you can see the marks I used to drill the hole for the barrel band screw.

Hole for the barrel band screw

Once I got the front of the wood to the correct size, I started fitting the barrel band. This is a fairly slow process and it is easy to mess up if you are not careful on making sure the barrel band lines up correctly. I did make a slight mistake but it was during the last stages of fitting but lucky for me, the barrel band hides it.

Fitting the barrel band (left side)

Fitting the barrel band (right side)

Once I finished fitting the barrel band, It was time to start the rough shaping of the fore end. I followed the same principles I used when I shaped the butt stock and tried to make sure I worked in stages and the I was taking of equal amounts of material on every side of the fore end. I made a choice here in shaping the fore end as well. The traditional fore end on the Winchester 94 is straight. The Black Shadow model had a slight bulge in the fore end. After trying both, I decided to do mine with a bulge as well. It made the rifle a little easier to hold and just felt better in my hand.

Shaping the rear

Here you can see some of the detail on the finished barrel band area.

Shaping (front view)

As with the butt stock, the work here progresses from rough shaping using a rasp down to the point where I will start sanding the fore end.

Ready for sanding

Ready for sanding

I will now start sanding the fore end. I sand until I removed all the tool marks from the wood and I then slowly sand down to the stage where I will be sanding with 400 grit paper. Once I am there, I will start applying the finish to the wood. My next post in this series will outline the finishing work on the butt stock.