Evan Koch calls himself a “wood butcher” on Instagram, but he wields chisels with world-class skill to craft, carve and checker gunstocks for high-end rifles and shotguns.
Checkering, of course, is functional, yet decorative carvings in which fine lines intersect in diamond-shaped patterns on gunstocks to ensure a solid grip and eye-pleasing patterns. Koch, 35, gets all the checkering work he can handle through his social-media posts, and word-of-mouth referrals from mentors and satisfied customers nationwide.
But you wouldn’t know Koch is so highly regarded when stepping into his spartan workshop. He wedged the 12-by-20-foot shop into what was the third stall of his home’s three-car garage north of Minneapolis. The shop has all the amenities of a Minnesota ice-fishing shanty, including the propane-fueled Mr. Buddy heater that warms it.
And that’s just how Koch likes it. He has no website; only a yet-to-be activated domain name and URL he bought awhile back. But he’s no recluse. He’s on Instagram at “etkhandmade,” and at @evankoch4711 on YouTube. Winter visitors usually find him standing at his workbench, chisel in hand, hovering over his latest art piece while dressed in flannel, heavy fleece, warm boots and a down-filled vest.
Evan Koch carefully hand-checkers the forend of a shotgun at his workshop north of Minneapolis. — Patrick Durkin photo
The peg board above his bench holds over 100 wood-checkering tools, none of them duplicates. Each has a purpose. Test him, if you doubt it. Koch estimates he made 10% to 15% of those tools himself, using a propane torch as his forge and a “big hammer and little anvil” to pound custom files and chisels from hardened steel.
Despite his reputation, Koch didn’t leave his hometown of North Mankato in 2007 to become a prestigious gunstock maker and checkering artist. No, he enrolled at the University of Minnesota, and graduated in 2011 with a degree in marketing and entrepreneurial management. He worked in sales and marketing for a healthcare business about six years, and then part-time at a gun shop another three years before the COVID-19 pandemic helped push him into self-employment “butchering wood.”
Koch’s ascent began a year or two after college when realizing he couldn’t afford a custom-built, hand-checkered firearm unless he made it himself. He grew up hunting squirrels with a .22 rifle, and knew nothing of a world where people make four-, five- and six-figure investments in custom guns and gunstocks.
But he had artistic talents and interests. He even worked part-time in college as a security guard for an art museum, where he noticed art’s depth and diversity. After graduating and starting a business career, he spent free time studying the checkering on high-end guns and rifles. He read books about the craft, and learned its tools, techniques and practitioners. He finally put chisel to wood when he was about 23, “surreptitiously” hand-checkering gunstocks.
Koch said those early results were terrible, but he liked the work and wanted to improve. He kept reading, practicing, and seeking help through online mentors like Jesse Kaufman, then a hand-checkerer and stock-maker at Dakota Arms, and now a master engraver at Black Hills Gun Stocks and Engraving in Sturgis, South Dakota.
“I had the mindset to get over the hump,” Koch said. “I wouldn’t quit. Eventually, I wasn't bad at it, but I kept working to improve. I wasn’t afraid to contact experts and ask questions.”
He took an important step in 2014 by attending a weeklong hand-checkering seminar taught by Steven Dodd Hughes, a custom gunmaker in Montana. Koch brought two projects for “show and tell,” and started pointing out their flaws. Hughes stopped him and said: “Evan, we don't want to know what you did wrong. Tell us what you did right.”
Koch kept honing his talents and building a reputation. His first big break came in winter 2017 when famous rifle-maker D'Arcy Echols of Utah flew him to Las Vegas to attend the Safari Club International’s annual convention.
“He knew my background, and that I had never met people who owned five- and six-figure guns,” Koch said. “These people sell safaris and book safaris, and use nothing but high-end guns. It was an unbelievable experience. I met some of my real-life heroes; guys whose work I had studied the past five years. One guy said hi to me, and said he recognized me from photos of my work. It was James Tucker, a custom stock-maker from Oregon. That was a real honor.”
That experience made Koch work and study his craft even more. When he left his full-time job for part-time work at a gun shop in 2017, he spent even more time checkering gunstocks.
“My wife, Alison, was the one who suggested I take it more seriously as a profession,” Koch said. “I was working part-time to make sure I paid some bills, but knew I could probably take in more work. At the same time, COVID was making the world crazy. So, when our son (James) was born in December 2020, I left the gun shop and went out on my own.”
And his business grew. More gun-owners and custom gunmakers sent him gunstocks to hand-checker, including work from Biesen Custom Guns in Spokane, Washington. In 2022, another gunmaker saw examples of Koch’ work on Instagram, and called to ask if he could checker their gunstocks.
“Nearly everything here in the shop is waiting to be checkered,” Koch said. “I’m still learning and improving. The last couple of years I’ve cut way down on mistakes. Things go smoothly now. Checkering jobs come in and go back out without an error; without issues.”
Koch has also learned much the past decade about gunstock wood — most of it prime walnut from Turkey, Armenia, Australia and California — and how each wood’s pores, grain and hardness affect his chisel work.
He also keeps learning how he best functions with each chisel. He’s blessed with off-the-charts hand strength, which helps him cut 20 laser-straight lines per inch. And he knows when to step outside to rest his eyes. Well-timed breaks ensure the consistent checkering that makes gunstocks beautiful and functional.
What are his secrets for turning such precise work into a satisfying career?
“I drink enough coffee to kill a pony,” Koch said. “And you'd be shocked at how much checkering I do while listening to Britney Spears. I work alone, so no one is here to judge me. I like a variety of music, from classical to heavy metal. I can’t listen to podcasts while I work. Checkering requires too much concentration.”
Recently completed gunstock checkering by Evan Koch. — Evan Koch photos
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