Brownells BRN-180 Build part 8: Wood handguard cover

 

In todays post I outline the process in which I went about turning my big block of walnut into a blank which actually is starting to resemble the finished handguard cover.  I entered this part of the build thinking it would go smoothly, and a bit of foreshadowing reveals it does not.  Well in the end it does go pretty smoothly after a few silly mistakes.  

Now that I had my handguard prototype (3d printed part) totally done, I used it as a template to draw a line of where I need to cut the blank out of my big chunk of walnut. 

I started by using my table saw to trim the raw edge so I would have a a nice square edge to work off of. 

Once I had my clean edge, I set my table saw fence to cut the walnut to the proper width. 

And because the handguard cover is taller than it is wide, I was able to keep the fence in the same position and trim all the sides until I had a very nice square block. 

I then utilized my prototype to measure the finished width and adjusted the table saw fence to the proper width after added a 1/4" or so for sanding. 

I moved over to my shop saw and after cutting one end square, I measured the appropriate length and cut the opposite side. And this is about the point where I made two major stupid mistakes. I knew I needed to remove the wood around the portion which would eventually become the hand stop. And initially I thought the best way to accomplish this was to set the depth stop on the chop saw and cut the block crosswise.  Now ordinarily this would have been a fine way to make those two cuts, but that is only if I had cut it on the correct side (Insert facepalm emoji here).  I was distracted and wasn't paying attention to the orientation and made the two cross cuts on the wrong side of the block.  So, I started over and cut a brand new blank. 

After getting back to the same place I had been before my first epic mistake, I endeavored to use the table saw to cut the blank lengthwise to trim off the excess wood in front of the hand stop. And this is when I made my second epic mistake; 

I was once again not thinking and forgot to take the blade depth into account and ended up cutting half way through the hand stop (insert second facepalm emoji here). 

So I guess the third time was the charm as I went about cutting a third blank. 

After two epic failures, I went back to the drawing board and decided to utilize a different approach.  I adjusted the blade depth on the table saw and cut the block lengthwise living a chunk of wood in the center where the hand stop would eventually be cut out. 

Using the same blade depth, I adjusted the table saw fence and made the cross cuts.

This method worked very well and all that was left was to remove the wood from around the hand stop blank.  

This time I was extra careful of my blade radius depth and stopped when I got right to where the hand stop blank started. 

I used this same method to cut the rest of the wood away from around the hand stop blank.

After getting the blank completely cut from around the hand stop, the next step was to cut the 45 degree angles on the sides of the blank.

I utilized my 3d printed prototype to adjust the table saw fence and blade depth, making sure I wouldn't lop off the hand stop block. 

After cutting one side I just turned the blank around and cut the other side and this method worked splendidly.  

After cutting off the edges at a 45, I noticed the bottom of the blank was too tall.

I used the table saw to trim the top of the blank, and it worked perfectly.

So the third time was the charm! This portion of the blank cutting turned out great! unfortunately, my two mistakes left me with no other pieces of walnut which would be large enough for a fourth blank; which means I can't screw this one up during the rest of the project! This has been such a fun project and I hope you have enjoyed following along.  Stay tuned because I already have started the next stage of this handguard cover! 

Remember, Faith Kills Fear!

If you want to watch the YouTube video of this portion of the project you can check it out at the following link;

YouTube/Faithkillsfear

You can find the BRN-180 lower receiver at the link to Brownells below; Brownells/BRN-180 You can find the upper receiver at the link to Brownells below; Brownells/BRN-180 You can find me at instagram at the link below; https://www.instagram.com/faithkillsfear/ You can find me on Facebook at the link below; https://www.facebook.com/Faithkillsfear/ If you have need of a quality Kydex holster you can find one at the link below and “Faithkillsfear10” will save you 10%; https://legacyfirearmsco.com