The checkering is one of the last things done when building a rifle. I usually do not do the checkering untill I feel the stock is finished and will only need two more light wipe on coats of finish. These last two coats will seal the checkering but are not enough to fill the checkering.
All our checkering is done by hand and no electric tools are used. The reason for this is that with the electric checkering tools one is cutting deep enough on the first pass to really create a problem if there is a mistake. In addition to this the electric tools leave the checkering fuzzy and can not get out to the edges of the pattern. This means that you have to remove the fuz and clean up the edges and borders by hand any way. Good checkering will not hide the grain of the wood if it is clean cut. It might tone it down a bit but you will still see the figure clearly.
All checkering patterns weather fill in or point pattern are based on two scribed lines forming an X and the angles of the diamonds to be cut. Over here diamonds 3.5 times as long as they are wide is the most popular. Over seas longer slimmer diamonds seem to be more the style.
The two lines that form this X are called the master lines and create the diamonds of the pattern. You lay one edge of your spacing tool, which has two sets of teeth in the master line and very lightly mark out the next line. Then the cutter is moved over so that the teeth that were in the master line is now in the line you just cut. This process is repeated until the pattern is filled in in one direction. Then the other angle is cut thus forming thi diamonds. This initial lay out should barely cut through the finish and it will take many passes in order to finish a pattern. Cutting checkering right takes time, a good clean simple pattern around 20 to 30 hours if done right.