I love checkering. It doesn't matter if the pattern is plain vanilla or if it's complex with lots of curves and advanced design elements. It makes no difference if it's cut 16 or 30 lines to the inch or if it has a border or is borderless. Well-executed checkering is something that can make me forget about any other part of the rifle or shotgun. Yep, that's pretty extreme, but it's true.

Attractive, professional-looking wood stippling can be done with nothing more sophisticated than a hammer and a common nail.

Although I love great checkering, I have to admit that my own checkering is, shall we say, functional at best. It's darn hard for me to always have all the lines of my checkering stay perfectly parallel and evenly spaced no matter how long I work at it or how hard I try. There is very little likelihood that I will be asked to join the Custom Gun Makers Guild based on my checkering.

Over the years I've talked to a lot of folks about checkering. Some have tried it and have done quite well. Others have had problems. It seems that no matter what they do, their attempts at checkering just don't work out well. That's unfortunate, but that doesn't mean they are condemned to plain stocks for the rest of their lives. There are alternatives for those of us who are "checkering impaired." In fact, even folks who can do beautiful, flawless checkering might find an alternative useful from time to time.

The Tools
One of the simplest alternatives to checkering is stippling. Stippling generally refers to a coarse, textured surface treatment of the wood. In a pinch, it can be done with nothing more than a couple of slightly modified common nails and a hammer! Stippling is basically closely spaced, random indentations in the surface of the wood. It can be used on rifles, shotguns, or handguns to enhance the gripping surface. For many years some high-dollar European competitive small-bore rifles and air guns used stippling in place of checkering. It's fast and easy, and it's just about impossible to make a mistake when applying it.

Reid modifies the points of the stippling nails to add variety to the stippling pattern. He uses the shallow tapered point for the bulk of his wood stippling.

With this in mind, let's take a closer look at the tools you need and the basic procedure. Keep in mind that it is best to always practice on a scrap piece of wood before undertaking any work on your favorite rifle or shotgun.

The nail is held so that the fingers act as a spring to allow it to bounce back after each strike with the hammer.

The most basic tool for wood stippling is a common, run-of-the-mill 4-inch nail. It can be used as is, but I like to modify mine a bit. I usually have about four nails with different shaped points, including a diamond, a chisel, a shallow blunt point, and a sharper, thinner point. This variety of points allows me to vary the texture and look of my stippling, though I tend most often to use the shallow blunt point. Any of these shapes are easily ground on a standard bench grinder or belt or disk sander. There is no need to harden the stippling tools as they will only be used on wood.

The other essential tool is a small, light hammer. I use a 4-ounce ball-peen hammer and occasionally an even lighter, smaller brass hammer. You don't need much of a hammer because all you want to do is make a fairly shallow impression into the wood. In fact, a heavier hammer is a liability because the added weight can drive the stippling tool too deep into the wood.