Customer Reviews

Checkering & Carving of Gunstocks

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I like this book, but it does not do exactly what I had hoped for. The initial part of the book is written by Monty Kennedy in a down home style which is interesting and easy to read. Monty gives great and detailed descriptions on how to make checkering tools, which frankly can now be purchased quite inexpensiverly. Unfortunately he gives very sparse instruction on how to actually use the tools. His checkering instruction is very generalized. I had hoped for more detailed "how to" information for the novice. The rest of the book contains checkering/carving patterns by other artists, along with some tips and a few techniques. I would recommend this book as a general reference and resource for the serious checker or hobbyist, but I would not recommend this book if you are looking for information on the technique itself.

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I found the writing style, with its poor grammar, distracting. On the other hand I liked Monty Kennedy's sense of humor.

My advice for those who are interested in learning how to checker is this:

First, choose hard, fine grain wood to practice on.

Second, ensure the wood is as smooth as possible and all grain is filled with varnish--this makes the checkering process less error prone. Uneven material surface and grain is likely to cause your tools to deviate from the your chosen path.

Third, don't use too fine a checker or the diamonds will break off.

Fourth, purchasing a decent set of tools.

Fifth, scribe your reference lines and trace your outline pattern and go at it.

Sixth, your best bet is to skip the book and practice on smoothly prepared sample material.

Seventh, don't get discouraged if your intitial results are not perfect, keep practicing, making smaller items like pistol or knife grips before tackling bigger projects. Be sure the grips are entirely shaped, smoothed, and finished, with holes drilled before you start checkering.

The book is good for some sample pictures, but these can easily be duplicated by a visit to your local gun shops to study finely checkered stocks. In fact you will get a better idea of what you like by studying many gun stocks.

The book is good for it's dry humor, which is sure to give you a few chuckles. I liked the book but did not feel it was worth the price. Invest your money in a set of tools.

Conrad B. Senior

Most of the book consists of patterns for various types of checkering. This is very nice and lets the experienced checkerer employ a variety of unusual designs.
However, the book is useless if you don't already know how to checker. The photographs don't show the process in sufficient close detail to enable one to discern what's going on; the pictures of the tools are not detailed enough in general and the text is near-worthless.
The text is some kind of folksy patois that is annoying and non-informative. The authors of the various sections cannot distinguish between irrelevant detail and the main points. Everything is weighted equally and nothing is well-described. I am trying to learn how to checker and after reading this book I still have no idea what the tools look like, which ones do what and how to use them.
If you think you might like to checker or work on gunstocks, don't buy this book.

I've owned this book for about 20 years after I found a musty one in a used book store. I thought it was the find of the decade for me, and I was very happy a few years ago when I saw this book is now in print again. I have not picked up a copy to replace the delicate musty one I have, but I probably will one day.

Monty does a great job of explaining what makes a good checkering pattern versus an ugly, too fancy, or problematic to checker design, encouraging and ensuring beginners they can do it, plans for a great checkering cradle, how to make checkering tools because they weren't even available to buy for most of his career (which is still useful info even if you buy most or all of your tools), what tools you need, how to make the diamond template and how to use it, where to put layout lines on tricky checkering patterns, and on and on. Anyone who thinks this book is not THE checkering book needs to read it again, or they already knew too much about the subject that they learned from someone else before they bought the book that it didn't seem like they learned anything.

If this isn't THE book, which one is? I haven't found a better one, and the checkering video I bought from Brownell's was FAR less decriptive than this book is. I sent the video back after one viewing because I didn't learn A THING from the video the book didn't already teach me.

The bottom line is, give two different guys the same tools and instructions, and they will NOT use the tools exactly the same anyway. YOU need to figure out how YOU use the tools to get the job done. I told my dad what I had learned about the subject while I was showing him one of my practice pieces and tools, and the first thing he did was grab the tool and use it in a manner almost totally opposite of what I had described, and got good results. Who the heck am I to argue?! The proof is right there on the wood!

Checkering is an art as much as it is a mechanical process. Once you read this information, you need to figure out how YOU can best apply it. What do you want for $30, for Monty to come back from the dead and hold your hand?! In the end, no matter what you read or view about the process of checkering, YOU need to decide how to get started, and then control the tools until the job is done. Some people are brilliant enough to need no instruction at all. For those who do need some, I can't think of a better resource than this book. If you still can't figure out how to checker something after reading this book, then pay someone else to checker your work.

If $30 is too much, rent it from a library. If the local library (or another one your local library can request books from) doesn't have it, ask the nice lady at the adult reference desk to buy one so you can borrow it. They usually agree, and get it in a couple weeks. Painless.

Being reunited with Monty Kennedy's "Chequering & Carving of Gunstocks" was like meeting an old girlfriend who hadn't aged in the intervening 40 years. Good to take to bed on a cold winter's night!!!

One of the best books I've seen on the art of checkering. If you have a lot of patience and a steady hand it is a great book to get started with the art of checkering. It has tips and information of the great artists in wood.

The book arrived on time and is as described. The information is very useful and written in a vintage style. I find it enjoyable and nostalgic.