From tree to stock question

[talkingamoeba]

Hello, I am wondering if any of you have tried getting stock blanks from your own trees? I had one guy tell me that curly maple is wood that has been under more compression than a normal straight tree. I have a bandmill and lots of hard maple trees and plenty of felling experience, but would like to narrow down as to which ones I saw so that I can get a supply of my own stock wood (and thus would be able to build twice as many rifles as I would only have to buy barrels and furniture :grin: ). I have a few that are heavy leaners and wonder if they would be the likely candidates for some nice curl. Also, flat sawn or quarter-sawn to have the curl show? The stock of the rifle I'm building was from a flat sawn piece. Thanks for your time.

 

[Zonie]

I'm no expert on lumber but my reading about the "curly" woods leads me to believe that wind, snow, the angle of the trunk and similar things don't have a thing to do with whether the wood is curly or not. It seems to be a genetic thing inherited from the tree that produced the seed.

A "curly" tree will look just like a uncurly tree growing right next to it.
The only way a wood cutter can know if the trees wood is curly is to chop off a fairly large branch and then examine the wood.

Also I have read that the quarter sawed wood will show the curl better than a flat sawn piece.

 

[Bruce Bogart]

Here's a piece I rescued from a wood stove. A guy at the club knew I look for decent wood, and asked if I wanted it :shocked2:
Just enough for a pistol. The first picture is split like firewood

Second is planed

The guy had burned a whole tree of this

 

[Zonie]

Fantastic piece of wood!
The photo also does an excellent job of showing how the wavy grain of the wood is what gives the finished piece its "curl".

I have had folks who didn't understand what makes the curl ask me if the stock wasn't real weak, "with the grain running up and down like that."

When I explained the grain of the wood is running parallel with the barrel they didn't believe me.

It may just be a rumor but I heard that back East where maple is pretty common some places make fork lift skids out of curly maple.

If true, that is an incredible waste of fine wood.

 

[jsn]

That reminds me why would they used curl or burl wood on a gym floor at a school?

 

[Birddog6]

Call Wayne Dunlap at Dunlap Woodcrafts and ask him. He has been doing it for Years..... Or cal Freddie Harrison in TN.

Keith Lisle

 

[talkingamoeba]

That is a nice piece of wood! I did not realize that the grain could be like that in a whole tree- WOW! Time to start sawing I think :hmm:

 

[rich pierce]

Curl can be seen under the bark. You can remove a small square of bark, say 3" wide and 4" tall and tell if the tree has curl in the wood. Do it about 4 feet off the ground so you're not just seeing some compression curl.

Silver maple is almost always curly but useless as a stock wood. Nearly useless as firewood too!

 

[hoochiepapa]

I read somewhere that the curl comes from trees that are stressed, like growing on a rocky piece of ground. :idunno:

 

[rich pierce]

There are many legends and folklores regarding why curly maple forms, but if you ask Freddie Harrison, who cuts his own wood, you'll find "they are where they are". Somewhere I read that 1 in 10 red maples have curl, and 1 in 100 sugar maple trees have curl, but that sounds like a simplification.

 

[shovelhead]

I think I remember reading that the bark may give a clue to the grain but that may not have anything to do with the curl aspect.

 

[talkingamoeba]

Rich, It's that one in a hundred I'd like to find- without sawing out all 100 of course :grin:

 

[rich pierce]

I've always seen the curl of the sapwood layer under the bark of curly maple firewood. If Bogie who posted up above with the curly maple firewood peels off the bark on the bark side, I'll bet he can see the curl on the outside surface of the wood.