I've tried it about 5 times. It's not easy keeping the lines in flow with the shape and curve of the wood. It's something you need to practice a bit to get decent results. Sharp diamonds and straight lines. If you can handle fine, tedious carving. It's something to try.
Stippling is a lot easier and with a nice border looks almost as good.
I tried it about 20 years ago. Results were.....not pretty. The stock got replaced. The tools got sold on ebay. I have unlimited respect for the guys who can do it and make it look as good.
Brownells sells a set of checkering tools that's not very expensive. If you've got time and want to learn, that's the way to go. There are power checkering tools, but like most power tools all they buy you is speed. Speed is good if you really know what you're doing, otherwise speed just means you screw the thing up very fast.
I got into carving on stocks when I had a high speed tool. Unfortunately I burned out the turbine. I wanted to get a better model, but a couple of those companies folded up and so the tools remain very expensive. Even had a dentist lined up to get me the bits cheap.
I did a bunch of checkering and carving on an old .22 my uncle gave me. Turned out all right, but I didn't do nearly enough to turn pro.