Astronomical cost of wood

[wiscoaster]

When I sourced some hardwood for my V.2 pistol loading stand project I was shocked at the price of wood these days. I wanted some nice maple in 1x12x6 but couldn't even find it for sale, and settled for some poplar at $48 for just the one board. Furthermore, "nominal" 12 in width is no longer 11 1/2, it's now 11 1/8. I'm sure you guys sourcing wood supply for your gun stock blanks are encountering the same. What are your thoughts on the price of wood these days? I can't believe it's a shortage of supply. It's like there's nothing but maple trees as far as the eye can see around here, and they get cut down when they're too big and endangering someone's roof in a storm. Plenty of supply, it seems to me. No shortage of trees.

 

[Sam squanch]

Go down to where all the old farmers have breakfast and tell them what you are looking for. When I need stock wood that’s what I do, got some planks of walnut pretty reasonably priced. You might even get a few reasonable priced old guns too..

 

[oldwood]

Buying wood at gun shows , and dryed boards has always been expensive. If you have any small sawmills in your area , many will have some stashed away waiting for a buyer to ask. Go to the source.

 

[Sean E Bug]

dunlap woodcrafts, tiger hunt, and River valley gunstocks are my go to.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Not all maple trees are equal, sliver maple is the common tree in town and considered to be too soft for stocks. Walnut varies as well, then the grain lay out should be considered. Dryness and how it was done is important too. Good wood is hard to find as years go by and it’s probably just me but I’m to lazy to do all that work on a OK piece.

 

[billraby]

I paid $2000 for a Turkish walnut half stock blank. 36 inches long. Its really nice. I have seen wood that is a lot nicer and a lot more expensive. The really high end fancy stuff is actually in very short supply and can be fairly difficult to find. Same for maple. There is a lot of nice maple out there. But if you are looking for something that will be truly unique and stand out from even the really good stuff, it will be hard to find even if you don't care how much it costs.

 

[rusticbob]

Welcome to Joe Bidens America!

 

[Col. Batguano]

You just need several relatively small solid pieces of wood for what is essentially a tool, rather than a nice stock or a single board, so your task is somewhat simpler. Look at your plans and figure out how big each of the pieces are and go from there. You might try the cabinet making shops in your area and ask them what sort of scrap they might have laying around. They buy their wood a LOT cheaper than you would have to at a hardwood dealer, so chances are, they'd sell it to you at a very cheap price. If you need wider pieces than what they have, consider edge glueing up several pieces to make a wider board.

Gun stocks are a different matter all together. Curled hard maple suitable for gun stocks is only about 2% of the wood that is cut, and priced accordingly. Highly figured English walnut is very similar. You just have to bite the bullet on that one, unless you want to travel to Turkey and source it there directly, but you'll be competing directly with the high end London shops then, that buy 100+ stocks at a time.

 

[James Kibler]

Based on my experience I'd wager that curly maple suitable for stock wood is well less than 1/2 percent of the maple that is cut.

 

[yellowhammer]

Based on my experience I'd wager that curly maple suitable for stock wood is well less than 1/2 percent of the maple that is cut.

Wow. You have to sort through 200 logs before you find 1 good curly one? No offense, just asking how that works logistically.

 

[64Springer]

Buying generic cuts down on the cost of wood considerably.

 

[Coot]

My understanding is that the best wood for longrifle stocks comes from the bottom 5-6 feet of the tree trunk, cutting flush with the ground, which is not a common logging practice. Furniture makers want straight grain as do plywood peelers, but the best rifle stocks have the grain running in a curve thru the wrist of the gun, making it much stronger than a straight grain which runs out in the wrist (think ramrods with run out grain = trouble). This curve in the grain of the wood naturally occurs at ground level when the trunk of the tree is at its largest diameter vs a few feet up when the trunk is smaller and starts a slight taper & straighter grain. Then, to add to the expense, the log if radial cut ("wasting sawing time & wood") will be much more stable & warp resistant than the standard "slab cut" wood. Thus the best gunstock blanks command premium prices. Curl & burl add another layer of cost, thus "presentation grade" vs "standard grade" stocks & their prices,

PS - if it makes anyone feel better about wood prices, I recently paid $42 a sheet for 9 sheets of 4'x8'x1/2" cdx plywood to build a new horse shelter.

 

[Col. Batguano]

And adding to that, it's the outer sap wood of maple that yields the creamy color we all want. In a stump cross section, that's usually 1/3-1/3-1/3 ( sap wood - heart wood - sap wood) or some number close to that. Curl comes from tangent to the grain wood rather than radial. Given that we need between 10"-14" of drop, (meaning a board that wide) and about 2 1/2" of thickness, that all adds up to needing a really big tree to get a suitable gun stock out of it. If you want it quarter sawn, that would mean a tree close to 40" in diameter! I'm not sure there are that many trees out there that big any more!

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Buying generic cuts down on the cost of wood considerably.

Partical board?

 

[Conquerordie]

Partical board?

Hey as long as the grain is right in the wrist.

 

[44-henry]

I think it really depends where you are located. Here in PA I have lot's of good sources and can find material relatively cheap, the catch is I am willing an able to but large quantities and can negotiate good prices because of that.

The photo below shows a stack of 12/4 (3" thick) seasoned figured maple I bought this past summer. The photo below is what a sample looked like after planing. Think I paid $400 for the pile.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

When I sourced some hardwood for my V.2 pistol loading stand project I was shocked at the price of wood these days. I wanted some nice maple in 1x12x6 but couldn't even find it for sale, and settled for some poplar at $48 for just the one board. Furthermore, "nominal" 12 in width is no longer 11 1/2, it's now 11 1/8. I'm sure you guys sourcing wood supply for your gun stock blanks are encountering the same. What are your thoughts on the price of wood these days? I can't believe it's a shortage of supply. It's like there's nothing but maple trees as far as the eye can see around here, and they get cut down when they're too big and endangering someone's roof in a storm. Plenty of supply, it seems to me. No shortage of trees.

Man I sourced some plain Jane hardwood to make some folding camp stools... it's almost cheaper to find a banged up antique, and modify that.... CRAZY

LD

 

[44-henry]

Tips I would suggest is to find a local woodworking person in your area and ask where they are purchasing from. In our area there are plenty of small sawmills that sell wood, the smaller ones are often the cheaper places to buy. We have some big hardwoods dealers, but they get pretty expensive, but than again they have a good inventory and you can get what you need when you need it.

Facebook is another place I frequently look, lots of wood gets listed and sold in our area through Marketplace. A good portion of what I buy comes from a local dealer who purchases large quantities of wood from industrial operations, or sources reclaimed lumber. I can oftentimes get great deals on material there, and have bought walnut, maple, and cherry for as little as 50 cents a board foot at times. Some of the material shown below I have already cut into longrifle and half stock blanks, excluding my labor the price per blank has been very reasonable with some of the bigger pieces yielding three or more and price per longrifle blanks going down to $20.00 or less with lots of good scrap pieces left over.

That's what I do and it works in my area. I also spend a lot of time looking for deals as I am a university professor who teaches several wood processing classes, finding inexpensive materials keeps my students from paying too much for their projects. That being said likely the same things I do will work in other areas as well.

 

[Sam squanch]

Get out and talk to the old guys, they know where all the good stuff is at.

 

[LonestarShootR]

People with maple oughta to feel blessed. I am in South Texas with my personal mill and only have mesquite, oak, pecan, sycamore, pecan, hackberry and a few others to chose from. Would love to get maple or walnut some day.