Not sure what the difference is but have you ever seen or done artificial striping on a stock? I've read that it was sometimes done in the past by burning the stock while wraped with twine.
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Fiddleback or tiger stripe?
- Thread starter Liver eatin’ Johnson
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The only way,,too know it is to see it.,,see it, aka;looking and holding.
No web sight/computer generated photo will show you the differance tween tiger and fiddle. ya gotta see one.
Ever look at the neck and head of a male Wood Duck in the sun,?,or a cock Pheasant breast feathers,,?,,tip it back and forth too see the change and depth of color?
Fiddleback does that,,it looks almost 3-D,,changing with just a tip of light or contrast ( it only works in sun light! ). It looks like you could "reach in"
Nobody can take a 1/4 cut piece of maple tree and say:"I'll cut this one into tiger",or,"I'll cut this into fiddleback"!,, it's the luck of the draw! Those in the know can see it and grade it. And we consumers have set the price!
yes, I've seen "faux" tiger done,just last year, and it looks OK from a distance. It is unique, as not many do it any more,,faux tiger was a marketing ploy of the 1820s' when we used up all the "old growth",,well guess what,?, those young trees are old again,,,,,,,
No web sight/computer generated photo will show you the differance tween tiger and fiddle. ya gotta see one.
Ever look at the neck and head of a male Wood Duck in the sun,?,or a cock Pheasant breast feathers,,?,,tip it back and forth too see the change and depth of color?
Fiddleback does that,,it looks almost 3-D,,changing with just a tip of light or contrast ( it only works in sun light! ). It looks like you could "reach in"
Nobody can take a 1/4 cut piece of maple tree and say:"I'll cut this one into tiger",or,"I'll cut this into fiddleback"!,, it's the luck of the draw! Those in the know can see it and grade it. And we consumers have set the price!
yes, I've seen "faux" tiger done,just last year, and it looks OK from a distance. It is unique, as not many do it any more,,faux tiger was a marketing ploy of the 1820s' when we used up all the "old growth",,well guess what,?, those young trees are old again,,,,,,,
IMO, Curly Maple, Tigerstripe Maple and Fiddleback Maple are one in the same. Folks in different places have their own preference, and when they say "Is that (one of the three names given above)?", I just smile and say "Yup, that's what it is all right."
As for the burning string method, I have read about it. There are several different ways written of.
One uses a string soaked in tar and coal oil, one uses what amounts to a string soaked in a supersaturated saltpeter solution (kind of a "fast match").
I tried the "fast match" method and just ended up with a poorly singed and burned piece of wood. By the time I removed the charred wood, leaving the toasted area most of the effects were gone.
I've also read of several ways to paint on the stripes as well.
I recall reading somewhere, either Tryon or Leman offered some plains style rifles with paint striped stocks.
Sumtacks is right though. There is no way man can begin to duplicate the look of the wavy grain which creates the stripes on the real thing. The stripes move and change constantly as the light is reflected off of it at different angles.
As for the burning string method, I have read about it. There are several different ways written of.
One uses a string soaked in tar and coal oil, one uses what amounts to a string soaked in a supersaturated saltpeter solution (kind of a "fast match").
I tried the "fast match" method and just ended up with a poorly singed and burned piece of wood. By the time I removed the charred wood, leaving the toasted area most of the effects were gone.
I've also read of several ways to paint on the stripes as well.
I recall reading somewhere, either Tryon or Leman offered some plains style rifles with paint striped stocks.
Sumtacks is right though. There is no way man can begin to duplicate the look of the wavy grain which creates the stripes on the real thing. The stripes move and change constantly as the light is reflected off of it at different angles.
IMHO, Gunstocks were normally refereed to as Curly maple, tho have same striping as you are referring to. In the last ? 15-20 years you are hearing the term Tiger Stripe in the gunstock world more & more.
Musical instruments with the same stripes have been called Tiger Stripe for many many years, such as on the backs of violins & guitars & etc. The quality of the bookmatching & preciseness of it matching is one of the major things that increases the price of the piece. With todays saws & glues & etc. we are seeing more & more pieces matched & veneers of same in places such as the sides & tops of musical instruments & more now than ever before.
Years ago you would see a few Lemans rifles with faux striping & it is obvious to spot unless you are 40' away. I saw one last year at Frienship, and recently saw a longrifle a feller did. Tho it was a very nice looking rifle & he did a excellent job of striping it, anyone knowing what they are looking at will spot it off right away.
However, just a personal thing, fake is fake & the wood is what the wood is. I don't care to try & fool anyone, it is what it is.....
IMHO, You simply cannot duplicate the true depth & beauty of a beautiful piece of wood....
Custom Muzzleloaders & Custom Skinning Knives
Musical instruments with the same stripes have been called Tiger Stripe for many many years, such as on the backs of violins & guitars & etc. The quality of the bookmatching & preciseness of it matching is one of the major things that increases the price of the piece. With todays saws & glues & etc. we are seeing more & more pieces matched & veneers of same in places such as the sides & tops of musical instruments & more now than ever before.
Years ago you would see a few Lemans rifles with faux striping & it is obvious to spot unless you are 40' away. I saw one last year at Frienship, and recently saw a longrifle a feller did. Tho it was a very nice looking rifle & he did a excellent job of striping it, anyone knowing what they are looking at will spot it off right away.
However, just a personal thing, fake is fake & the wood is what the wood is. I don't care to try & fool anyone, it is what it is.....
IMHO, You simply cannot duplicate the true depth & beauty of a beautiful piece of wood....
Custom Muzzleloaders & Custom Skinning Knives
My father-in-law and brother-in-law were/are cabinetmakers. When I worked with them it was referred to as "quartersawn" or "resawn" maple (or any hardwood). "Curly Maple" was a type of maple (also called "Hard Rock Maple"), but "fiddleback" was the pattern it sometimes had in it. Ripping it across the growth rings brings out the pattern. We never did gunstocks (rats), but in making tabletops and chairseats it was something of a manure-shoot in finding the pattern you wanted or desired.
I'm restoring some oak flooring in our 75 year old house, and darned if a few pieces of the oak don't have swirls and tigerstripe. Not much, and not even where it does occur, but it is there.
http://www.figuredhardwood.com/
THE MYSTERY OF FIDDLEBACK MAPLE
Demonstrating a rare depth and dimensionality, Fiddleback Maple is one of the world's most-prized hardwoods. The Fiddleback Maple figuring is occasionally found in other hardwoods, including walnut, koa, ash and, rarely, other domestic and imported hardwoods.
Fiddleback Maple is also known as 'Flame Maple', 'Tiger Maple', 'Curly Maple', or 'Tigerstripe Maple'. Fiddleback Maple exhibits a dramatic change in the individual stripes or lines. As the incident angle of the light is slightly altered, the dark stripe becomes a light stripe, and the light stripe becomes dark. This visual phenomenon is known as 'chatoyancy' in the gemstone world, and its most dramatic form is seen in catseye chrysoberyl.
True Fiddleback figuring is not to be confused with "compression grain" or "stress grain" found where roots merge into the bole and also on the underside of large limbs. Some differentiate between Curly and Fiddleback figuring. For instance, curly cherry and curly birch can exhibit much swirls, waves and curls, though they are far more irregular and large, often appearing as flattened arches stacked one on top of another over the length of the board. Fiddleback Maple (Flame Maple, Tiger Maple) grain is generally considered to be more pronounced with tighter striping, sometimes measured as tight as several stripes per inch. Unlike many forms of curly grain, Fiddleback describes a series of tight, parallel (or nearly parallel) stripes running perpendicular to the length of the board.
In the United States, most use the terms Fiddleback Maple and Curly Maple synonymously. Fiddleback Maple boasts a three-dimensional series of alternately bright and dark stripes that shade into one another as the wood is slightly moved, thus producing an illusion of actual waves. Changes in brightness result from differential light reflection. Relatively high absorption by exposed fiber ends produces dark bands; reflection and diffraction from fiber walls cause bright bands. Because the fiber walls are curved sharply and act as concave or convex reflecting surfaces, any change in angle of view or incident light makes the apparent waves seem to shift. Again, the same light stripe becomes a dark stripe and vice-versa.
The illusion of undulations results from regular and repeated, parallel, wavy lines that produce an interference pattern on the exposed plane. Modern botany and science still cannot adequately account for what exactly causes the visually-stunning figuring in Fiddleback Maple (also known as Flame Maple, Curly Maple, Tiger Maple, Tigerstripe Maple). In conclusion, then, the cause(s) of the rare figuring seen in Fiddleback Maple is yet unknown. The mystery of Fiddleback Maple, in spite of electron microscopes and huge advances in the fields of wood technology, plant genetics, etc., for now remains unrevealed.
While the precise cause of the Mystery of Fiddleback Maple must remain, at present, unknown, the result is well-known, greatly esteemed, and eagerly sought by wood aficionados as Fiddleback Maple- one of the world's most transfixingly beautiful exotic hardwoods.
I'm restoring some oak flooring in our 75 year old house, and darned if a few pieces of the oak don't have swirls and tigerstripe. Not much, and not even where it does occur, but it is there.
http://www.figuredhardwood.com/
THE MYSTERY OF FIDDLEBACK MAPLE
Demonstrating a rare depth and dimensionality, Fiddleback Maple is one of the world's most-prized hardwoods. The Fiddleback Maple figuring is occasionally found in other hardwoods, including walnut, koa, ash and, rarely, other domestic and imported hardwoods.
Fiddleback Maple is also known as 'Flame Maple', 'Tiger Maple', 'Curly Maple', or 'Tigerstripe Maple'. Fiddleback Maple exhibits a dramatic change in the individual stripes or lines. As the incident angle of the light is slightly altered, the dark stripe becomes a light stripe, and the light stripe becomes dark. This visual phenomenon is known as 'chatoyancy' in the gemstone world, and its most dramatic form is seen in catseye chrysoberyl.
True Fiddleback figuring is not to be confused with "compression grain" or "stress grain" found where roots merge into the bole and also on the underside of large limbs. Some differentiate between Curly and Fiddleback figuring. For instance, curly cherry and curly birch can exhibit much swirls, waves and curls, though they are far more irregular and large, often appearing as flattened arches stacked one on top of another over the length of the board. Fiddleback Maple (Flame Maple, Tiger Maple) grain is generally considered to be more pronounced with tighter striping, sometimes measured as tight as several stripes per inch. Unlike many forms of curly grain, Fiddleback describes a series of tight, parallel (or nearly parallel) stripes running perpendicular to the length of the board.
In the United States, most use the terms Fiddleback Maple and Curly Maple synonymously. Fiddleback Maple boasts a three-dimensional series of alternately bright and dark stripes that shade into one another as the wood is slightly moved, thus producing an illusion of actual waves. Changes in brightness result from differential light reflection. Relatively high absorption by exposed fiber ends produces dark bands; reflection and diffraction from fiber walls cause bright bands. Because the fiber walls are curved sharply and act as concave or convex reflecting surfaces, any change in angle of view or incident light makes the apparent waves seem to shift. Again, the same light stripe becomes a dark stripe and vice-versa.
The illusion of undulations results from regular and repeated, parallel, wavy lines that produce an interference pattern on the exposed plane. Modern botany and science still cannot adequately account for what exactly causes the visually-stunning figuring in Fiddleback Maple (also known as Flame Maple, Curly Maple, Tiger Maple, Tigerstripe Maple). In conclusion, then, the cause(s) of the rare figuring seen in Fiddleback Maple is yet unknown. The mystery of Fiddleback Maple, in spite of electron microscopes and huge advances in the fields of wood technology, plant genetics, etc., for now remains unrevealed.
While the precise cause of the Mystery of Fiddleback Maple must remain, at present, unknown, the result is well-known, greatly esteemed, and eagerly sought by wood aficionados as Fiddleback Maple- one of the world's most transfixingly beautiful exotic hardwoods.
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Hey birddog, in the case of Lemans, faking it is the PC way to go.
Musketman,
If it was caused by the saw blade removing wood sporadically that would be whittleback - ::
If it was caused by the saw blade removing wood sporadically that would be whittleback - ::
Nope. The pattern is not due to the saw teeth.
The way it's sawed does effect how well the stripes show up.
"Quarter sawn" wood is the best method to show off the stripes. Quarter sawn wood is usually more expensive because the process requires the log be cut along its axis thru its center into 4 equal chunks (kinda like cutting a pie into 4 equal pieces). These newly cut surfaces are then turned 45 degrees to the saw blade so it can slab off the boards.
This basically makes the cuts perpendicular to the grain.
If you split a piece of Curly Maple lengthwise, the resulting surface of the split wood is not straight. It looks like a bunch of little waves, one right after the other.
When you cut, sand or plane the wood lengthwise, into a flat surface, you cut thru these waves. The result is some of the grains waves are coming out of the surface while some are running parallel with the surface and others are going into the surface.
Without staining, the difference in appearance is there but not real pronounced, just like in Musketmans picture.
If you stain the surface, the grain fibers that are going into or out of the woods surface act like "endgrain" so they absorb a lot of stain and finish. Those running parallel with the surface take the stain and finish like regular wood.
The net effect is a very noticable contrast between the "stripes". This shows well in Musketmans picture.
As for Flame Grained Maple, I have no idea what its grain wave pattern is doing, but a friend has a Sako restocked with it. The builder left it blond with a deep gloss finish.
It is absolutely beautiful!! Everywhere you look the pattern is different, forming the most bazaar shapes of swirls, spikes, streaks and bands. Like regular Curly Maple, the pattern changes as the light shifts on the surface.
The way it's sawed does effect how well the stripes show up.
"Quarter sawn" wood is the best method to show off the stripes. Quarter sawn wood is usually more expensive because the process requires the log be cut along its axis thru its center into 4 equal chunks (kinda like cutting a pie into 4 equal pieces). These newly cut surfaces are then turned 45 degrees to the saw blade so it can slab off the boards.
This basically makes the cuts perpendicular to the grain.
If you split a piece of Curly Maple lengthwise, the resulting surface of the split wood is not straight. It looks like a bunch of little waves, one right after the other.
When you cut, sand or plane the wood lengthwise, into a flat surface, you cut thru these waves. The result is some of the grains waves are coming out of the surface while some are running parallel with the surface and others are going into the surface.
Without staining, the difference in appearance is there but not real pronounced, just like in Musketmans picture.
If you stain the surface, the grain fibers that are going into or out of the woods surface act like "endgrain" so they absorb a lot of stain and finish. Those running parallel with the surface take the stain and finish like regular wood.
The net effect is a very noticable contrast between the "stripes". This shows well in Musketmans picture.
As for Flame Grained Maple, I have no idea what its grain wave pattern is doing, but a friend has a Sako restocked with it. The builder left it blond with a deep gloss finish.
It is absolutely beautiful!! Everywhere you look the pattern is different, forming the most bazaar shapes of swirls, spikes, streaks and bands. Like regular Curly Maple, the pattern changes as the light shifts on the surface.
If you buy a stock that is rough sawn, you are most likely NOT going to get what you think you might. Saw teeth leave a pattern & they are stripes but they are saw marks. Any time I look at stocks they must be planed on Both sides or I will not even consider it, unless it is a walnut stock & I see it cut green from the log & can see the grain. I have known allot of people to buy stocks in the rough that was stated as as Heavily Striped and they were really disapointed when they got into the wood.
Same way with a stock that is preinlet & really rough from the duplicator machine. I want it sanded so I can see the Real wood, not the chatter marks from the bit on the duplicator as they are very misleading & especially in maple..
Same way with a stock that is preinlet & really rough from the duplicator machine. I want it sanded so I can see the Real wood, not the chatter marks from the bit on the duplicator as they are very misleading & especially in maple..
If the pattern is caused by the saw teeth, and not ingrained into the wood, then the next time you build a rifle you should not sand the stock at all, because that would remove the pattern. When you see a really pretty stock that's really smooth, you have to assume the guy used a LOT of filler.
