Gunstock Blanks

[Tizzy]

A windstorm blew down a walnut tree on the family farm, and I was able to get some good logs from it. As a kid I would eat walnuts from the tree and thought it would be kinda special to build a rifle or two out of the tree.
I was able to get the logs sawn into 4" thick planks, some of which have great figure.
My question for those experienced with this...should I air dry the planks as is, or go ahead and cut to gunstock blank dimensions to air dry? Or does it matter?

 

[hawkenhunter50]

I would seal the end grain and air dry as is with stickers between layers if you have that much.

 

[deerstalkert]

seal the ends and keep them full sized. gives you the most options when dried. 4 inch should dry a minimum of 4 years of air drying.
should you be tempted to kiln dry, make sure the kiln operator knows what he is doing.
i milled 3000 bf of Oregon black walnut, sold it all to a furniture maker. he took it to a kiln and they turned it into watermelon rinds. heart breaking. that was in 1976-77 and i just used the last of the planks i high graded.

 

[Dude]

From what I've heard from guys who work wood, it's best to air dry before any sort of shaping. And seal the end grain or the ends will split.

 

[deerstalkert]

as an old sliver picker i would love to see pictures of what you have.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Seal the ends with a good layer of paint and like hh50 above says, sticker the slabs and let them air dry. It takes a long time to air dry a slab depending on the humidity. Several years in some cases. There may be a sawmill in your area that can kiln dry them but there is disagreement about air dry vs kiln dry. As mentioned above with the kiln drying, better to find someone who knows what he's doing.

 

[oldwood]

For rifle stock planks , I always cut to 3" thickness off the mill. If air drying , 1" thickness per year. After the 2nd year air drying , I blank out and plane opposite surfaces. Finish air drying , while testing moisture content of the stocks. Those dry enough , are ready to band saw to a stock pattern. If I can get back into my shop following aan illness , I'm scratch building myself my first smooth rifle , of highly figured walnut. Can't wait to get it to the range. Paint or wax the end grain of each plank.

 

[Tizzy]

as an old sliver picker i would love to see pictures of what you have.

as an old sliver picker i would love to see pictures of what you have.

A few pics of some of what I am looking at.

 

[Tizzy]

A few pics of some of what I am looking at.

Thank you everyone for the responses. I will keep the planks full sized and allow to air dry. I hope to get three good blanks from the wood. Build my son and myself a rifle from the same plank, and my best friend who has hunted the land with me since we were old enough to shoot, and helped take care of land for my mother while I was away in military and life.

 

[deerstalkert]

that really shows some promise! what lengths are they? long enough to get a long rifle stock?
i am impressed if those were grown in South Carolina!

 

[James Kibler]

4” thick is overkill. You can get away with 2.5” for about any longrifle.

As far as drying, you have options. You can dry in board form and then cut blanks or you can cut blanks first. I think cutting blanks first is slightly better as the smaller pieces allow for faster and lower stress drying. In either case, sticker the wood and weight or strap it to help hold it flat. Bowing and twisting can be a big problem. Yes, seal the ends of the boards / blanks first.

 

[pamtnman]

You have received good advice here. I run a sawmill and make a lot of slabs. Everything we sell is air dried down to about 10-12%, which is good enough for a lot of uses, and too moist for a lot of furniture. Unless it has been dried for a bit somewhere hot. Like an enclosed trailer. That will take the last potential movement out. We have decided to make a kiln simply because there is no substitute for properly dried grade wood. For your purposes, this means letting your beautiful slabs dry a good three years before either putting them in a properly run kiln or up in the hay loft, which is just about like a kiln itself. The four inches is thicker than needed for a gun stock, and you can probably take a 1.125” thick board off these in a few years. I think it’s really cool you did this. Not everyone has your foresight. A friend of ours reported last September that her farmer neighbor had cut down several large, beautiful walnut trees and had a firewood party with them and his family.

 

[Barkley Burker]

A windstorm blew down a walnut tree on the family farm, and I was able to get some good logs from it. As a kid I would eat walnuts from the tree and thought it would be kinda special to build a rifle or two out of the tree.
I was able to get the logs sawn into 4" thick planks, some of which have great figure.
My question for those experienced with this...should I air dry the planks as is, or go ahead and cut to gunstock blank dimensions to air dry? Or does it matter?

As is. Always air dry in original configuration
Avoids twists

 

[Josephg]

Coat the ends with Anchorseal. Sticker planks or blanks where you get air flow through the stack. Cover the stack with sheet metal or wood. If you sticker blanks make sure to cut them oversize. They can shrink more than you think.... Figure one inch per year but don't be surprised if some blanks are still green inside after four years. I swear some blanks never dry completely.

 

[Northwoodstrapper]

I have my customers coat the ends with Anchor Seal. It slows the possibility of end check. If it’s a log it will lose moisture at the same rate as the bark does. It doesn’t block the ends from losing moisture.
If you take it to a reputable kiln they will let it air dry for a while to get all the wood going into the kiln at the same or about the ambient moisture.

 

[Century to late]

All great advice. If you have never worked highly figured wood I would recommend lots of practice and research. Remember the stock may be as strong as straight grain woods. Keeping to a medium or smaller caliber also.

 

[Tizzy]

that really shows some promise! what lengths are they? long enough to get a long rifle stock?
i am impressed if those were grown in South Carolina!

I appreciate all the replies and information provided from all! I know it will be years due to necessary drying, but I look forward to building something to be passed down in the family with a story.
Deerstalkert, we cut most planks that I have into 41-43" lengths from the stump.....I'm a Hawken fan. I did keep one slab cut to 71" x 3 1/2". I cut most of the straight run into slabs that my sister could sell since the tree fell on her fence. (She lives in the old family house, and I wanted her to be able to recoup some money for fence replacement).

 

[James Kibler]

As mentioned, I would cut blanks out of the planks. Cut the thickness to around 2.75" maximum, seal the ends and stack in a dry place out of the sun. If you let them sit for a year or so like this, then kiln dry you'll be in business. If you have an attic space that gets hot in the summer you could also finish off the drying process there after they have air dried for 6 months to a year. There's a good chance one summer would be enough to finish these off if in blank form. Drying in an attic works amazingly well for a small amount of wood that has previously air dried. Get a moisture meter to monitor or weigh the blanks to get an idea of moisture content / weight stabilization.

 

[Col. Batguano]

You can also make yourself a solar kiln. Plenty of plans for that around on the internet. It's pretty easy. All you need is a place in the sun, and some black plastic material. Totally cover the (stickerd for spacing between the boards) wood pile (keeping the plastic off the wood) and seal it to the ground with rocks or dirt or something. Provide a vent up high on one end, and a vent down low on the other end. This encourages the cold dry air to come in one side and exit (as hotter moister air) out the other. No fans, no motors, and it works totally by convection. It works better in the summer than in the winter, but even so, with the dry winter air it can still work remarkably well. Temps under the black tarp can reach 70 degrees warmer than ambient outside temps.

Be careful when you cut the boards in to gun stock blanks. There will be internal stresses in the wood that are released or relieved when the excess material is cut away, and let the wood bend some more. So give yourself some "working room" to allow for this when cutting your blank. I would suggest letting it sit after cutting to rough shape for at least another 6 months before you start turning it in to a gun stock, but longer if you can.

 

[Rob M.]

A windstorm blew down a walnut tree on the family farm, and I was able to get some good logs from it. As a kid I would eat walnuts from the tree and thought it would be kinda special to build a rifle or two out of the tree.
I was able to get the logs sawn into 4" thick planks, some of which have great figure.
My question for those experienced with this...should I air dry the planks as is, or go ahead and cut to gunstock blank dimensions to air dry? Or does it matter?

Paint the ends and put the planks away to dry for 4 years ...wish you hadn't cut them so think but is what it is . In four years take them.out and look for cracks and checking and see what you can get out of them . Might want to talk to some folks that are knowledgeable in kiln drying if your in a hurry . Best of luck.