Gunstock wood type question

My wife and I were discussing my next rifle build last night on the way home from dinner... she was telling me to go to Lowe's and get some scrap wood to start practicing carving and such on. I was explaining to her that ya can't practice on pine and then expect the same thing to happen when you start carving on curly maple or walnut, "It just don't work like that." She then asked about oak, and why gunstocks aren't ever made of oak?

The only thing I could come up with, that wasn't pure speculation, was that I needed to pose the question here on the forum, because I had no idea. She thought it might be a weight issue, but then I mentioned that walnut isn't light... and maple probably isn't either. I've seen stocks out of cherry and ash too, but never oak.

So why is it that you never see a stock made out of oak?

 

[BLAHMAN]

The type of oak that you can get at a Home Distaster of Lowes is typically red oak. I have found that the stuff is prone to splitting when nails are driven through it. It's pretty hard stuff, and it is very open grained.

Carving on pine? Well, pine is so soft I don't think that you could get the results you'd think that you'd wish to have.

Are there any lumber mills around where you live? They are not lumber yards, but an opperation that mills out lumber from raw wood. If you do, ask for some scraps that way, they may even be a source for future gunstock material. Good luck.

 

[Protrucker]

I'm not an experienced gun builder, so this is just my best guess. I think that oak is a wood that is too coarsely grained for gun stocks. It would be difficult to produce the stock without having the wood splinter too much.

 

In general Red Oak or White oak takes approx. 30 days to dry in a kiln. It takes longer than most all other domestic wood.
In the 17-1800's there wern't kilns and to get Oak to air dry enough to be used is impossiable.
If you can find beech you will have a good substitute wood to practice with.
If there is a sawmill near you ask for some cut offs and they may have them in soft or hard maple. Soft maple is not soft espically when dried.Most all curley maple is of the Red or soft maple variety.
Then curley maple is another ball game to carve too. The density in between the curle and the curle it's self is different and carves different.
But to just practice carving any close grain hardwood will work fine.

Woody

 

[Pork Chop]

That is a really good question. One sees Maple and Walnut all the time. Other hardwoods don't get much play - especially the Oaks and the Fruit woods. I don't recall seeing many Pecan stocks either, but that wood looks like it would make a nice stock. I am not much of a wood fanatic, so it is all likely to end up as kindling with me anyway...

(Hopefully my chunk of Cherry will turn out OK... :redthumb

 

[caneman]

I see you are from N.C., don't know what part. Maybe 10 years ago I saw a "This Old House" episode where they were using pine from a lumber yard in or around Johnson City Tenn for flooring. The wood had been run Through roller presses which compressed the boards and made then as hard as the old virgin forest heartwood pine from colonial days. Don't know if that would work or not. Oak tends to "chunk out" on a lathe where normally pine and ash don't. Maybe heartwood grade pine would work.

 

[Donny]

Shot yesterday with a guy who got his maple from the city burn pile. Not bad curl either, from which he made a fusil, lock and all except the barrel. :: :applause:

 

[rootnuke]

Find a cabinet makers wood supply in your area.

 

Well, LOL, thanks for the tips on where to find scrap wood for carving practice... I appreciate it, but that was not the intent of the post.

The real reason for the post was to find out why you never see a stock made out of any type of oak. Not that I want to use it for practice or anything, just wondering out of curiosity.

Woodhick had a point about oak not being able to air-dry enough. Heck, I've read that walnut should air-dry for 15-20 years... would oak not dry in that amount of time either? Walnut is quite open-grained too. Bald Mtn Main says it's too open-grained, and would splinter too much. Old Salt says it's too hard to work with the old tools. Is oak harder than walnut, ash and maple? I know ash is pretty dang hard... isn't that what they make baseball bats out of?

 

[crockett]

I bow to the expertise of others but I think oak is not used for several reasons. It is prone to split, it is not resilient, and it darks when in contact with iron. All this raises an interesting question that maybe some of the experts can answer. A highly figured wood is always desirable for a gun stock but is there a practical aspect to it; is a twisted grain less likely to split as compared to a straight grain? I know that in splitting firewood a straight grained piece of wood is always easier.
They say that if you look at the bark of a tree you can tell the grain, straight bark, straight grain, twisted bark, twisted grain.

 

[BLAHMAN]

Good post there Pork Chop, (Hey did you know that your initials are P.C.? Now are you P.C.?) (Sorry, couldn't help myself).

I've seen some guns made from pear tree wood and apple. The wood from pear is ok (from what I recall), but the apple wood is really interesting. Wouldn't mind getting ahold of some of that stuff.

 

[silverfox]

Just my opinion on oak for gun stocks. I don't know about the drying bit but the heavy grain in oak would be hard to get a smooth finish. The way oak splits is also a problem especially around the lock and wrist areas which are prone to breakage on thin Kentucky style stocks. Carving also would be hard with the grain in oak. :imo:
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[NC-Wes]

It's been suggested to me to pull the stringers out of pallets to use as a practise material. Some are made of maple others of oak. Burn the slats in the fireplace.

That's a good idea, I may have to try that one out!


There are 2 places that I know that have a selection of Hardwoods in Charlotte (A lil' south of you Static). One is the Charlotte Hardwood Center near the airport, but it's high dollar!

The other is a "Woodcraft" store in Matthews (The new I-485 makes the trip easy!). They have "grab boxes" of "odds and ends" of different hardwoods. Also I any gonna take a few wood carving classes there. To learn to sharpen, etc.

-Wes

 

[Pork Chop]

Blahman, with my last name (Raper) I had to walk the PC line while working in Corporate America. Now that I am self employed, I can be PIC. Politically In Correct!

I have seen a couple of fruit/nut tree stocks, but very few. Apple would be neat. Cherry is a beautiful color (why I got this!), and there are several others. I like the unusual stuff, so this was a good thread to broach this subject.

 

[rich pierce]

There are many qualities required in wood useful for gunstocks. One often overlooked is "dimensional stability". That is, does it swell or shrink much with humidity changes? Going west, pioneers had axles on their wagons fall apart sometimes when they got to the desert and things dried out.

Cherry, maple and walnut have appropriate density, hardness, compressive strength, resistance to splitting and dimensional stability.

Beech would and does work but is so bland to look at. Ash can work too but is coarser and usually bland, when not curly. The other factor is whether it can be carved. If the "rings" on a piece of wood vary a lot in their hardness (dark and light growth rings) the wood is hard to carve as the chisel cuts fast and slow as it crosses the rings.

 

I've read that walnut should air-dry for 15-20 years... would oak not dry in that amount of time either?

The moisture in oak to be lowered enough to be stable enough for it to be used in the stock of a gun would :imo:
never get low enough by simply air drying it no matter how long you had it drying.
As a cabinet builder and furniture repairs all the older oak I have repaired for customers of antique furniture was still above 10%. It should be down to a min of 6 to 8%
Yes ash is used for baseball bats. but they now use soft maple for the bats that they give away on bat days at the major league ball parks because to cost.
Oak is harder to carve because of the open grain, espically in relief type carving.
Also like you have mentioned the weight of oak may have been considered a factor as to why it wasn't a common wood used in stocks

Woody

 

[BLAHMAN]

I understand! How's it going with your cherry re-stocking project...any news you wanna share?

 

[boar]

Read a bout that one time they droped steel balls on oak and curly maple oak was good as maple on dents but oak split more also they talked when you took gun out of house the maple didn't change as much from the humidity so it was a better wood then oak also they liked the looks of curly maple Dilly

 

[Pork Chop]

I haven't done anything with it other than mull over what kind of stock I want. My initial thought was to just replicate the Bobcat stock in shape, but now I don't know. It is not the most comfortable to bring to a sight picture. Besides, I have 4 pistols that I want to finish before I dive into it in earnest. One pistol needs sanding, staining and oiling, one needs two tennon plates inletted, one needs a hammer screw and one needs several parts sourced yet. Tinkering with them will help me get to where I need to be thought wise.

 

That's a good idea, I may have to try that one out!

There are 2 places that I know that have a selection of Hardwoods in Charlotte (A lil' south of you Static). One is the Charlotte Hardwood Center near the airport, but it's high dollar!

The other is a "Woodcraft" store in Matthews (The new I-485 makes the trip easy!). They have "grab boxes" of "odds and ends" of different hardwoods. Also I any gonna take a few wood carving classes there. To learn to sharpen, etc.

-Wes

:RO: That will work... I will check that place out. Yeah, last time I was in Matthews, I had to take Harris to Independence... man, I HATE that drive. Them people down there are crazy. Can you tell me where exactly in Matthews it is? I'm hoping it's right there where the Outback and all them other stores are?