In reply to:

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Looks about perfect to me if the off side is as well laid out. The action area is strong. It flows down through the wrist. A DR usually has a bit more wrist drop which would likely make a weak area at the grip point, but most have grip caps which add the strength to counteract this (that and looks are why they are there). The butt is wild as it must be for a man's gun. Plain wood is fer sissies only. (This opinion has nothing to do with me being a stock seller) One must always remember that plain wood gets you the ugliest girls and also causes cancer and socialist leanings. The fiddle in the wrist does not cause weakness like burl or feather does. Really fine blank. Poor grain flow in the wrist can reduce strength up to 95% according to Mark's Engineering Handbook. This is a good one.

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Peterb,
Nice assessment of figured wood, and it's value to society . As for good grain flow, as you so rightly point out, it does not always go hand-in-hand with figure . Since we are evaluating blanks, I have had these four blanks lying around for about 30 years (guess they might be dry enough by now ). These are all pretty much equivalent on the offsides as well, and the lighter areas on the middle two blanks are obviously due to the flash. My thought is that one of them might be suitable for a rifle of reasonable recoil due to grain flow and wood density, but I wonder what your opinion would be.

I would think that a couple of them might be better suited to a straight grip shotgun, and the other might be OK for a rifle of lesser recoil. I really don't have any specific use in mind for them. Any input gentlemen?


500Nitro,
You have a very nice blank there. I would love to see a photo of the completed stock, and the intermediate steps as well. Please keep us updated on the progress.

I apologize for cluttering up your thread with my lesser quality wood.

Jim