Stock Reshaping on Marlin 336

[Landlocked Pirate]

I need some information about slightly reshaping the stock on my new Marlin 336W. I love the gun as it is, but I would love it even more if both the the stock and the fore-end were a bit slimmer. I have absolutely no experience in this type of work, but from looking at the wood it seems to me that I could just sand the wood down to the desired thickness and refinish it. I would like for the fore-end to be trimmer and about even with the bottom of the receiver instead of bulging out below it, kind of like it is on Marlin's cowboy rifles, and I want to reduce the circumference of the pistol grip area of the stock a bit for more comfort. I realize that I would be sanding off the checkering but I don't mind that. Mainly, I just don't want to ruin the stock because I'm not that dissatisfied with it as it is.
Does anyone with experience in this sort of thing have any advice or suggestions? Thanks.

 

[JNewell]

What I did to thin out the forearm on a 336 was to pass it through a table saw against a carefully adjusted rip fence. Measure twice, cut once...

 

[Landlocked Pirate]

JNewell,
So from what you said I'm assuming that there's enough extra wood on a Marlin's fat forearm to thin it out some. What about the checkering? Did yours have it, and so did the thinning process remove all of it or just some of it? Thanks.

 

[Rex B]

Balrog, Buy a spare stock set and experiment on that, save the original wood.

 

[Landlocked Pirate]

Rex B,
Probably a good idea.

 

[Landlocked Pirate]

JNewell,
What model 336 did you cut down the stock on? Since I started this thread I was told in an e-mail from a company that does this kind of work called Treebone Carving that they would advise against cutting down a 336W stock because the white birch wood is extremely hard to stain. I have no experience in this so I don't know. I would appreciate any advice that you or anyone else has.

 

[JNewell]

I did this on a walnut uncheckered forend that I got from Numrich. It wasn't very expensive, so if you foul up, the cost shouldn't be too great. (Don't know what they're priced at now, though.)

Among my concerns about sanding would be that you're probably not that likely to finish the project in this decade , and if you do, it's going to be hard to get everything the same on both sides.

I disagree that white birch is any harder to stain than some of the walnut being used these days, but matching new stain to existing stain could well be tough - though you can always go darker.

 

[Landlocked Pirate]

JNewell,
Good advice, I'll check Numrich. Thanks.

 

[JNewell]

You may have to prowl around on their site - I recall that they had lots of wood off in a different section, not linked to the gun-specific parts pages. :banghead:

 

[Landlocked Pirate]

JNewell,
Thanks. I looked on their site but couldn't find what I was looking for in the gun parts section and gave up. I'll try again later. 'Preciate it.

 

[JNewell]

I'll send you a pm or post here if I can find it...