A customer asked me to make a whistle from what remained of the broken stock from his grandfather's Remington shotgun. A very sentimental thing to him. I agreed, and told him I'd do my best but offered the disclaimer that there's always the chance something could go wrong. He sent the stock and it quickly became very apparent that there was no room for a screw up, as this stock was only going to yield one whistle blank. The darn recoil spring hole was something I hadn't considered when considering what the buttstock would yield.
Terrified, I put it on the bansaw and got one blank out of it. Mounted it on the lathe....
The darn screw hole for the buttplate/recoil pad barely turned away. I removed the last of it when I was sanding the whistle. Close call. (I xxxxx'd out the customer's name on the blank)
Here's how it came out. I need a stiff drink after this one!
