Curing wood for gun stocks

[HistoryBuff]

I was wondering what the process is for preparing wood for use in making gunstocks. I may have a large Hickory tree or two laing around on the farm. One large one I know of was blown over a few years ago.

Thanks,
HistoryBuff

 

[rich pierce]

Cut the tree and paint the ends of the logs with sealer. Then a year later get it quarter sawn and paint the ends with sealer. Then stack the wood so it won't warp inside for 3 years or so. But hickory is not a good wood for gunstocks and as far as I know has never been used by professional gunmakers.

There's more to being a good gunstock wood than hardness or toughness or ability to not split. Cherry, maple, walnut all have good dimensional stability as well as the other qualities. That is, with hunidity changes they don't swell or shrink so bad that your parts fall off or bind up.

 

[bovey]

I agree that hickory would not make a good gun stock.... but it is excellent ramrod material. I have heard a few builders say that it is becoming difficult to find good hickory splits for ramrods.

 

[HistoryBuff]

Does the wood need to be stored indoors at some particular temp and humidity?

HistoryBuff

 

Hey Buff, It needs to be stored in a relatively dry place. Temp Is not so much an issue as is humidity, So a dry barn, shed or garage would work. You also want an air flow around your rough cut timbers, so you stack them with one by ones seperating each layer of wood. To get more info, try searching GOOGLE under curing or drying wood. Bill

 

[aviator_2]

Along these lines, I just obtained a piece of Cherry wood which was probably kiln dried. It was meant for home use but it looks to be enough for two half stocks for my Seneca. I have never built a rifle from "scratch" before and I noticed the piece of wood is only a few thousands of an inch thicker than the stock I am currently replacing. My question is, how much thicker should the blank be than the origional stock? How much do you allow for sanding, etc? Hank

 

You can do it, you just have to be careful with your centerline, and it will limit the amount of castoff. Also the Seneca being a production gun there is plenty on it that could have been removed but wasn't. Making your own stock does'nt mean you have to follow the original exactly. That's part of the fun of it. :imo: Bill

 

[aviator_2]

Bill: I can't tell yet if the Seneca stock has any cast off built into it or not but I see the blank has a slight bow to it and maybe I can use that to get my cast off. Thanks, Hank

 

[bearbeater]

hey Bill
I have some Mi wallnut curing right now for a few projects. I am going to get a dixie catalog and start buying parts
Bearbeater

 

[SilverBear]

Along these lines, I just obtained a piece of Cherry wood which was probably kiln dried.

Hank, one thing to watch out for with kiln dried cherry, is a lot of it is, for lack of a better word, case hardened, meaning it's dry on the surface and still green in the center. You might not have a problem, but I have know folks that had supposedly kiln dry cherry start warping the day after it was planed. Just keep a watch on it.

FWIW

Tony

 

[Randy]

I agree with Tony,
Kiln Dried wood isn't always dry enough to just start building. For those of us who build several guns on a somewhat regular basis it pays to get some wood put away in a spare room under the bed or in the attic so it can dry on it's own a few years more. I have some walnut that has been sittin around near 50 years and it has made two nice stocks so far. All the warp and twist happened years ago. Even if building just one gun it would pay to buy your blank and leave it set in the shop a few months before you start to cut.

 

Bearbeater, I would check out some others, before Dixie, besides these catalogs are a great resource, and worth the money they cost. I would definately recommend three. 1. Track of the wolf, 2. Muzzleloaders builders Supply, and 3. Log Cabin These catalogs, have a lot of useful info in them aside from parts. Tracks has fullsize images of the parts making it easy to layout locations, and create a full size plan of what yer gonna build, by making some copies, and cutting and pasteing. Or you can use them as templates on your stock. MBS, and Log Cabin have a lot of advice. IMHO, well worth the cost. Check the links page for addresses. By the way, how much ya got of that walnut, I might be in the market for a halfstock. And last but not least, what part of this winter,water wonderland you from. Bill