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Shooting & Reloading - Mausers, Big Bores and others >> Rifles
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GABE93
.275 member


Reged: 01/03/17
Posts: 73
Loc: FNQ, AUSTRALIA
WARPED STOCK BLANK
      #299333 - 20/04/17 03:38 PM

This is the warped blank, from which the fancy offcut came from, I mentioned in the linseed post.

Sorry my images don't seem to have captured the real colour of the blank, at least on my lap top screen they don't look very good. The actual colour is the same nice goldy colour you see in the better images of the offcut in the linseed thread.

The offcut is thinner as I have sanded it a few times over the years, trying different finish's on it.

The wood is English walnut from the high north west coast of USA. I acquired it mid 1996, at that time it had been curing only about 1.5 years. It had some bend when I got it. I didn't try to keep it straight, better to let the wood go if it wants to bend I think.

I will try to use it for a personal project one day. It's too fancy for some types of stocks. It should be good on a single shot rifle using a Hagn action perhaps, and with an extra barrel or 2 as there is enough wood for at least 2 forends. The forends would be perfectly matched to the grip area of the butt, the colour and figure flows really well, and matched to each other.

The wood is quarter sawn through the forends and the grip then it goes wild in the butt.

If I move the layout further forward I could get a bolt action stock out of it but it has a large flaw from top to bottom, indicated by the black felt pen line half way along, that would be very difficult to cut out.


[image][/image] [image][/image] [image][/image] [image][/image] [image][/image]

Edited by GABE93 (20/04/17 05:27 PM)

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gryphon
.450 member


Reged: 01/01/03
Posts: 5487
Loc: Sambar ground/Victoria/Austral...
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: GABE93]
      #299334 - 20/04/17 04:14 PM

Shit! I can see why it hasnt got my name on it ha ha.

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GABE93
.275 member


Reged: 01/03/17
Posts: 73
Loc: FNQ, AUSTRALIA
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: gryphon]
      #299335 - 20/04/17 04:23 PM

Quote:

Shit! I can see why it hasnt got my name on it ha ha.



Do you mean it's rubbish or do you mean you can see why I want to keep it?

Some stockmakers might not want to touch it due to the bend. I will be able to turn it into a pretty good single shot project.

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Claydog
.375 member


Reged: 17/08/12
Posts: 937
Loc: Katherine, Northern Territory ...
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: GABE93]
      #299336 - 20/04/17 04:31 PM

Gryph it has if your name is "warped"

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Juglansregia
.275 member


Reged: 20/04/08
Posts: 51
Loc: Tasmania
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: GABE93]
      #299340 - 20/04/17 06:40 PM

I don't see anything that's not to like. Glad you are going to keep it and use it Gabe.

To my way of thinking, so what about the warp, provided it yields the job, or at least can be put to use? Not real pretty to some, but evidently the blank was cut when the wood was fairly wet/damp and allowed to take it's natural "set". If the storage has allowed strong seasonal changes in relative humidity and temperatures, the stress left in the wood is almost certainly much less than if it had been forced. At least you can know what you are working with here.

I love the smell of good walnut. In the raw. Especially when the weather is a bit damp, or a blank or three has been wet down. It's intoxicating, to me at least. Gabe, have you noticed how the air dried walnut from individual areas can have a distinct smell to it? Not always, but some areas produce walnut with a real individual aroma. I am talking J. regia only. The others have their own pong too of course.

Who needs drugs when there is nice walnut.

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GABE93
.275 member


Reged: 01/03/17
Posts: 73
Loc: FNQ, AUSTRALIA
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: Juglansregia]
      #299342 - 20/04/17 10:15 PM

Hi Jug’s,

Yes the blank isn’t perfect but it was too good to bypass. It is the only blank I have had that has warped like this. I very much believe in selecting wood very carefully for particular types of guns and it was always in my mind that it would be best for a single shot rifle and also with extra barrels as the extra forend wood is so well matched. The grain flow I think makes it likely it would warp that way. The butt section looks like it is from the root bole and the grip forwards from the trunk above the bole. It will also take very good work, checkering etc as I checked it years ago with some tools.

I got other blanks from the same area and they are all good to work. I don’t know how the larger slabs were handled but I’m confident the blanks were purely air dried. Some 2 piece blanks cut from the same tree were only about 6 months curing when I got them. They were all shipped surface mail and the sides of the blanks went mouldy, black, in the box’s, with the box’s also damp. Luckily they were thick, I was able to mill the sides down to remove the mould and still have thick enough blanks.

I actually have 2 other blanks with extra wood that I regard as better than this one. Both are single sticks of wood but only suitable for 2 piece stocks. One is Turkish walnut with 2 small perfectly matched forends. Another block, English walnut from USA, is large enough to yield 4-5 forends, all perfectly matched to the butt.

Regarding storage here, I think it’s been good enough. I left them as raw wood all around for a few years and then applied some finish to the sides only. They have been through the seasons here for many years, stored upstairs leaning against a wall on my mezzanine floor where I have various bench’s for hand work. I have suffered with them as I have no air conditioning here, just big fans making airflow.

Yes I enjoy the walnut aroma when I work it. I have never tried burning it but it might make good incense. Yes the smell varies a lot. I have had blanks from 6 different countries, different areas in Oz and USA. I remember years ago pretending to various clients that I could remember which country the wood was from by the smell. I suppose the texture and cutting qualities can also be relative to different countries & areas.

Regards,
Gabe

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gryphon
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Reged: 01/01/03
Posts: 5487
Loc: Sambar ground/Victoria/Austral...
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: GABE93]
      #299368 - 21/04/17 05:40 AM

Just the warp Gabe I do like the wood.

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Juglansregia
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Reged: 20/04/08
Posts: 51
Loc: Tasmania
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: GABE93]
      #299386 - 21/04/17 09:32 AM

Gabe,

Mould on wet slabs I control with nothing more than a mild copper sulphate solution. Best to spray all fresh slabs with it and not risk it happening in the first place. Kills it dead, and it can be washed off later, or gets left behind in the chips after the blanks are dressed. It's a wise precaution to take, because some mould will get in and kill the colour right through the slab. Some won't. I can also say from experience, the mould is not good for your chest and general health!

With the aroma, it's not universal, but for example the walnut I have cut from one area in VIC is like nothing else I have ever smelt. Pungent, every tree, every blank. Ditto one area from TAS. One area in EU I have had around 70 blanks from seems the same. Other areas, most areas, it just smells like Euro walnut.

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GABE93
.275 member


Reged: 01/03/17
Posts: 73
Loc: FNQ, AUSTRALIA
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: Juglansregia]
      #299402 - 21/04/17 12:05 PM

Juglans, Thanks very much for the copper sulphate tip.

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gryphon
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Reged: 01/01/03
Posts: 5487
Loc: Sambar ground/Victoria/Austral...
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: GABE93]
      #299404 - 21/04/17 12:30 PM

kills moss in the artificial tennis courts too..bad for fish in run off.

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Get off the chair away from the desk and get out in the bush and enjoy life.

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Homer
.416 member


Reged: 07/04/09
Posts: 3081
Loc: Canberra, Australia
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: gryphon]
      #299471 - 22/04/17 08:29 AM

G'day Fella's,

Wow, a naturally increasing, Drop at Heal stock!

Thats quite extreme distortion.

Doh!
Homer

--------------------
"Beware the Lolly Pop of Mediocrity,
Lick it Once and You Will Suck Forever"

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93x64mm
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Reged: 07/12/11
Posts: 4204
Loc: Nth QLD Australia
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: Homer]
      #299473 - 22/04/17 08:40 AM

I guess you could also use it for a 'Kentucky' or similar style rifle as long as the stock was OK to do so (all imperfections along the way been able to be sanded out)- they seem to have a large drop at the heel normally.

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GABE93
.275 member


Reged: 01/03/17
Posts: 73
Loc: FNQ, AUSTRALIA
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: 93x64mm]
      #299480 - 22/04/17 11:04 AM

Homer and 93x64,

Friends, you are getting your drops and cast off mixed up. Have another look and you will see the wood has bent to the right, it has not bent down. The images showing the bend are the top view, looking down at the top edge of the blank.

So you could say it has natural cast off, but of course if I ever use it I would not be cutting the stock out at the very rear end of this blank. You can see a stock outline drawn on the sides but if I work on it I would most likely cut the butt out a bit further forward on the blank.

There are various build procedures I would use on this blank to get the stock I want out of it, which most likely would be a single shot rifle with extra barrels, the extra barrels to allow me to use the extra perfectly matched wood available for extra forends, to make the rifle a very nice showpiece project.

It has a large flaw in the middle of the blank, indicated by the thick black lines on the sides, so it won’t be used for a long one piece stock.

The bend is typical for the grain flow you see in the butt of this blank. I had a general idea of it but another member here with a lot of wood cutting experience very kindly sent me a much better evaluation of it yesterday.

The bend doesn’t concern me at all. I’m lucky the wood cutter didn’t try clamping down this blank or the slab it came from, to keep it straight while it initially cured. That would have resulted in too much stress getting locked up in the blank, and it would have released when the blank was shaped into a stock. Instead the wood has bent naturally, and has been curing a long time, since approximately early 1995, so I don’t expect any trouble with it when use it.

Regards,
Gabe

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Homer
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Reged: 07/04/09
Posts: 3081
Loc: Canberra, Australia
Re: WARPED STOCK BLANK [Re: GABE93]
      #299503 - 23/04/17 07:41 AM

G'Day Fella's,

Thanks for the correction and explanation Gabe93 and now that I look, I can see my mistake.

Gabe, that is a massive amount of distortion/settling, in what looks to be a reasonably stable stick of wood.

Doh!
Homer

--------------------
"Beware the Lolly Pop of Mediocrity,
Lick it Once and You Will Suck Forever"

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