Can a recoil pad...

[Romulus]

be "taken down" by hand? I'm kind of scared about taking a power tool to it, afraid of either removing too much material from the pad or harming the wood...Can I sand it down slowly by hand? Can the sanding marks be smoothed out somehow?

Tanks in advance...

[George Stringer]

Yes it can but it will take you quite some time. Here's what I'd do. Attach the new pad to the buttstock and scribe a line on the back of the pad outlining the stock. Remove the pad and use your power tool to get close to the scribed line. Reattach the pad, wrap the stock with 2 layers of masking tape. Use a fine rasp or file to take the pad on down until you rough the tape. Remove one layer and repeat. The pad will usually be smooth when you're done. George

[Romulus]

Thanks, George...which direction do I file/rasp the pad? Up and down the sides of the pad, or across it?

What kind of file would work best (I plan on buying a "sorbothane" kick-eeze pad) in removing the rubber? Is there a way to "polish" the rubber afterwards?

Thanks again

[Khornet]

to a belt sander or disc sander, both types table-mounted so that you have a level surface square to the sander, then Brownells sells a neat jig for doing recoil pads. Even a manually-challenged guy like me can make a new pad fit the rifle exactly on the first try. Jig cost about $30 if I recall.

[George Stringer]

Romulus, I file them lengthwise following the contour of the buttstock. I think you'll see that it's not really necessary to 'polish' when you're through but you can use either a buffing wheel with jeweler's rouge or strips of emery cloth. George

[Romulus]

Much obliged, George, that's how I imagined the process. Khornet thanks for the info, I'll look in the Brownell's catalog for said jig...

PS: Is the kick-eez "sorbothane" pad harder to work with? Seems I read or heard that it tends to melt when you sand it...just axin

[BigG]

How would one of those Stanley Surform rasps work on a pad?