[THE GITS]

Now we must examine the centre lamination. If the taper of the lamination was uniform from muzzle to butt then we would be able to simply taper one side. Since in this instance the taper starts forward of the trigger we will have to ensure that the finished form is symmetrical and taper from both surfaces. Firstly the position of the butt was marked with pencil 50mm from the thicker end of the lamination. Then another mark was placed 200mm to mark the start of the taper. Finally a third pencil mark 975mm from the second to denote the furthest point of the muzzle. For the purpose of accuracy marking is always done from one surface, the face or edge. As our lamination at the muzzle is 12mm in thickness we need to remove 4mm from each side of the 20mm lamination. With a marking gauge a 4mm and a 16mm mark was applied to both edges at the muzzle.

Once our lamination is fully marked it can now be planed to shape. Again the bench plane was used to remove carefully the waste timber. Starting at the muzzle and slowly moving our cuts further back along the lamination the taper gradually takes form. We can examine the marks from the gauge to see how close we are getting. In the photograph below we can see how on the far side we are good but still have a little to go on the near face. On my bench I have a sliding end vice which lets me use Lignum Vitae dogs faced with beech to hold timber for tasks such as this.