The Art Of Chequering

This month, the Botley boys focus on the fine art of chequering, providing a ‘how-to’ guide and discussing the merits of lasers versus good old-fashioned hand-cutting

Try as I might, I cannot find any confirmation of the spelling of a word I use on an almost hourly basis! Checkering, or chequering? As far as I can make out, ‘chequering’ is the correct British spelling, although various sources seem to dispute this in favour of ‘checkering’. I prefer the ‘qu’ spelling; it spells out and reads with a much higher level of satisfaction than the ‘ck’ option.

Despite the spelling, the fact remains the same – chequering is the formation of little square diamonds (or more increasingly, any shape that gives you some grip) on the parts of a gun to which your hands connect.

‘Proper’ chequering

By ‘proper’ I mean the truest type of chequering, which is little diamonds cut into wood by hand. This is an art form in itself, and in its purest, most exquisite format can make a gun truly spectacular.

The concept is simple:

1. Buy or make chequering tools. There is limited availability of off-the-shelf tools, with only one or two manufacturers on hand. The tools are actually of a very good quality, but the ability to obtain the necessary tool for the job from the UK can be difficult. This, along with the occasional need for a tool that simply doesn’t exist off-theshelf, leaves us with the option of making our own tools. This is simply done – as long as the required tools and necessary ability are available. Selecting the required metal and shaping it into a chequering tool can be rather entertaining, and as these tools last a fair while, it is a worthwhile investment to the workshop tool stock. The final option is for a more modern approach, that of the rotary chequering cutter; this is something that I am not familiar with in use, but have witnessed being used. They produce results  extremely fast with a satisfactory, if not a touch coarse, finish.