Gun stock wood

[Old-gun]

i have always wanted to know why walnut is the thing for gun stocks .
and then beech ,,
there are so many hard woods on the market , so why just them two ..
as the main stay ..
why not oak, mahogany .and god knows what else ..
but it seems walnut won the day but i cant see why
rosewood is nice and cocoboa ..box wood ...shall i go on ..
anyone know why walnut ?

many thanks to you all


cliff

[Skimmer]

No expert - but Walnut is considerably lighter than Oak or Mahogany, and is quite workable for both shaping and repair.

Beech offers lightness and strength too - but has inferior grain patterns normally and I think I am right in saying it is harder to repair knocks and dents.

Otherwise - dunno.

Would like to know where the hell you can buy some Walnut though!

[Old-gun]

Would like to know where the hell you can buy some Walnut though![/QUOTE]



go to a wood yard and ask for some ,i did this some years ago and they came up with some ..cant remember the price ,,as was back in the 80'S but they had some in ,,

cliff

[Skimmer]

Do you know - I never tried that! I thought it was "restricted sale" these days, so didnt expect to find any!!
Thanks

[LESS THAN FORTUITOUS KENNETH]

Would like to know where the hell you can buy some Walnut though!

go to a wood yard and ask for some ,i did this some years ago and they came up with some ..cant remember the price ,,as was back in the 80'S but they had some in ,,

cliff [/QUOTE]

I know it's a long way off, but there used to be a timber supplier at Boroughbridge who supplied "blank" stocks in any wood you desired. Can't remember the name though.

[MacOne]

Would like to know where the hell you can buy some Walnut though![/QUOTE]


Ok, can't help really with the use of wood in guns as have nothing to do with making them. I am pretty sure has to do with hardwood durability and lightness for the walnut species. However, have found out how you maybe able to get hold of some.

WWW.TTF.CO.UK - Timber Trade Federation.

This lists all the members of the organisation and what they stock. did a quick serch and got 123 memebrs that sell it (Did you know you can get American, European AND African..learnt something today).They also give website/email details.

To save yourself a huge phone bill do an email with what you want and then group email it to the lot of them and see who comes back to you.

[AndrewB]

It is a combination of four factors.

Weight (density), machinability, appearance, and durability.

You will find if you google hard enough walnut shotgun stock BLANKS for sale for $000's, due to their almost incredible figuring and patterning.

Other woods commonly used are beech (as we know, most chairs are made from this), maple, and cherry wood. Ebony for end-caps etc.

That is not to say you could not make a perfectly good (and beautiful) stock from Oak (no patterns and too dense), sycamore (I had a great kitchen worktop in solid sycamore before the witch got the house in the divorce), Ash, any other fruit wood, or even dare I say it, pine (American or scotch).

But you won't ever find the same combination of the factors mentioned above.

Try laminates / block. I've just had off a mate about 20 ft of 2 1/2" thick solid maple worktop from his old kitchen. Now there's a project or two.

Good luck

AndyB

[Ray J]

I know it's a long way off, but there used to be a timber supplier at Boroughbridge who supplied "blank" stocks in any wood you desired. Can't remember the name though.[/QUOTE]

This the people?

John Boddy's
FINE WOODS & TOOL STORE LTd
Riverside Sawmills
Boroughbridge
North Yorkshire YO51 9LJ

Tel' 01423 322370.

They also do all sorts of courses in woodworking. Give em a bell, get the brochure.

Ray

[LESS THAN FORTUITOUS KENNETH]

Yup, I think thats the one Ray. There is also another fine wood supplier at Millers Dale, just east of Buxton. Mainly does stuff for wood turning, but I'll bet he can rummage and find summat interesting.

[Ray J]

I believe English Wallnut is very expensive, even for a stock size piece

I've just spotted a Circassion Exhibition Wallnut blank on starting at £495 this is a shotgun butt only

Ray

[EddieP]

Have a look here

http://www.gobywalnut.com/

I've bought some excellent stuff from this man in the past, and thoroughly recommend him.

There are lots of woods which can be, and are, used for gunstocks, but the choice of walnut, historically, in the UK is due to its lightness, figure, workability etc, as someone else said above, and also to the fact that it is particularly resistant to splitting and can therefore withstand recoil well.

I also reckon that there is a certain snob value to it - it's by far the rarest and most expensive British timber, especially the stuff they use for the best stocks, which is taken from the rootstock of the tree and needs to be dug out of the ground. Rare, beautiful and hard to get hold of, so the ideal choice of material if you're making a Purdey or Holland & Holland, which sells for the price of a house.

[fanjules]

Look on yell.co.uk for timber merchants or similar. Doesn't list everybody though, and I suspect many are not specialists but simply dealing with bulk stuff for the building trade, etc.

[Bugs]

So, what's the best way to acertian what wood a particular stock is made from ? (if the seller doesn't know or unsure ) How can you check that the "walnut" stock gun is infact so and not cheaper wood ? Are there any tale tell signs to look out for to identify various woods?

[gnipper]

Juglans regia is walnut and if you plant some nice trees to make stocks out of you'll be doing the environment a favour.
I work in the tree industry and if i had the ability to make stocks i can get oak, beech, sycamore, ash etc which normally get burned if they aren't saleable. Is there anywhere you can get like basic plans for stock building???
Cheers gnipper

[RichardH]

Call me old fashined bbt down here trees are often considered a more reliable source of wod than the internet.

Richard