If you're after a painted finish then copy more or less what that guy did in the thread in the link above. If you're keen on a nice wood stock that looks like wood then you're in for a rough ride as only the best work will be sufficient. For example I cringed when I saw the wood screws and filler on that other project. The camo painting saved the day. I've done woodworking for years now and when I did a bit of stock work a while back it took pretty much every tool I had at some point. At the very least you're going to need the following AND the skills to use them correctly. The tools you can buy, the skill comes a lot harder. It's not rocket science but there's lessons to be learned that come with time and practice.
-A band saw or at least a decent jigsaw to cut out the initial shape.
-A router and ball or "cove" bits to do the initial inletting. And a router table to go with it will make for an easier time. This will be used for the rough inletting.
-A large, medium and smaller size half round coarse file. These must be new and only used for wood. Use them on steel even once and they'll be too dull for wood from that time on.
-A drill press and some forstner bits for roughing in the mortise for the action and trigger. You may think that a hand drill will do. But it's hellishly hard to drill all the stuff you need to do with the degree of control needed to do a nice job. A drill press makes this sort of thing practical.
-A few chisels for cleaning up the mortise and other small details. 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 is a good starter set.
-Sandpaper. Most of the roughing work will be done with the files but you'll still want some 80, 120 and 240 grit paper.
Now this may seem like a lot of tools but remember that in your case you're needing to replace at least some skills with technology. Yes a master woodworker could do the whole thing with maybe 7 or 8 handtools. But he has the experience to do this and the knowledge on how to save himself much work while still ensuring accuracy. You don't have that knowledge yet. If you did you wouldn't be asking the question you did.
Chisels- Don't skimp here. Get good quality stuff so it lasts and holds a good edge. And you'll need sharpenng stones for them since they do not come properly sharpened. If you think they are good as they come from the packages then you've clearly got a lot to learn. When I can shave hairs from my forearm cleanly and with no pulling sensation THEN they are sharp enough.
Sandpaper- use the coarser grits with a support block for most of your work. Only use the paper on it's own on fully rounded areas. Otherwise the shapes will suffer. Only with the 240 for the final smoothing can you use it without a support block. And change the paper often. If you're not using the paper on a block then fold it like this for firmness. Here's some sandpaper trick links...
http://www.ronhazelton.com/archives/tips/Tips-SandpaperCutter.shtm
http://www.woodzone.com/tips/folding_sandpaper.htm
With this last trick on folding I suggest cutting the paper into 1/4's and then doing the fold and tear then fold trick shown with the 1/4 sheet. A full sheet folded like that is far too big to use properley on a project such as a gunstock.
I'd suggest go for a slightly loose fit and glass or epoxy bed it. This is far easier than trying to do a precision inletting job. Especially for a newbie.
And last but definetly not least. Do a practice stock using some cheap lumberyard wood first. If you don't have success the first time then it's no biggie. You just ruined maybe a couple of bucks of wood. So try again. When you can do one in the cheap wood successfully then go buy the more expensive hardwood of your choice. For someone that's never done this sort of thing before this trial run on the cheap stuff method is the only way that makes sense. Otherwise you're going to ruin a nice bit of whatever that's going to cost anywhere from $40 to $400 depending on what wood and class of figure it has that you get.
Those 90% finished stocks are sounding a LOT better at this point I'll bet....
From a money standpoint it makes zero sense for you to make your own stock. It's going to cost big bucks to get teh stuff to let you make one. But if you're looking for a way to get into wood working then that's different. You're still taking an overly big bite to my thinking though.
