Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Figure in the Wood?

[waksupi]

I don’t see how..
You're correct, the beauty needs to correspond with the quality of work.
Mother Nature’s beauty is for the taking..
I’d rather have proper grain flow and some color variations in the grain than figure..
Sometimes you can find both.
Best of luck.

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Had that been in a shop for a custom cartridge rifle, that piece of wood would have been in the $3000 range.

 

[deerstalkert]

A great friend gave me this rifle that was made in the 70s, I don't think the birds eye wood detracts from the overall look of the gun. These pictures are in the sun, the figure is muted considerably in normal light.

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Forearm;

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In normal light;

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Eric, looking at that first picture i immediately thought "polished Alligator hide" that is one beautiful rifle.!

 

[Vaino]

When first starting to build LRs, I bought highly figured sugar maple which was very expensive and soon realized that it was a waste of money. So then bought hard red maple which had sufficient figure at a much lower price. Have used this for the LRs ever since....even this didn't have a whole lot of figure. Because figure isn't made by me as are most of the other features, I don't like to over power my work w/ figure. ....some of which does enhance a LR......Fred

 

[Kodiak13]

paid 250.oo extra for these stripes and love it...but to each his own I say!!!

 

[springfield art]

Was looking at a flintlock rifle for sale. Beautiful.....except the stock had more stripe than any tiger which ever walked. The lines were thinner and more closely spaced than I am used to seeing. For me, that striping was a distraction which detracted from the overall beauty of the rifle.
I think a well executed long rifle will be beautiful without any ornamentation. But that an appropriate kind and level of embellishment will add to its beauty. And, frankly, the figure of the wood can be wonderful ornamentation. But you should see the whole gun, not have your attention riveted to some detail of it.
Yes. I know that is subjective and personal. But that is why there are different flavors of ice cream.

 

[springfield art]

Capt Jas is right. Too much figure clashes with the carving..

There is a tendency toward "too much" striping, I think. It becomes a shibboleth to some guys. It is beautiful, and to each his own, but a handsome plain gun has it's own attraction.

 

[Redlemur60]

I agree that highly figured wood can wind up competing with carving for the observer's attention. While the carving isn't totally lost, it tends to get overpowered by the wood itself. The actual area of the carving can get overly "busy looking", and actually drive the observer's attention AWAY from the area rather than draw it TO it. Sort of like how smelling salts overpower your nose and force you to turn away from them.

In cases like that you can do some things to lessen the power of the wood grain. For instance, you can apply just a little more stain to the carved area and darken it slightly more than the rest of the stock. It's going to naturally want to take in more stain anyway due to the exposure of so much more end grain (incised carving even more than raised). Then, with raised carving take some steel wool and knock back the stain. That will lighten the tops more but leave the stain in the recessed areas. The tops in your carving will be even lighter colored than the surrounding base plain of the stock, and become something of a natural "eye magnet". Overall, that will give more contrast and call more attention to the carving, while deemphasizing the grain within the carving itself at the same time. You might even do it a little bit with the areas around the carving to sort of "frame" it.

Just experiment a little bit to see how best to deal with it. Take some figured scrap and carve a few volutes and play around with it.

Metal inlets / inserts need no such treatment because the nature of them is entirely devoid of competing figure. The DO however cry out to be engraved.

I agree for extra fancy figured maple i only do demuir incized carving.

 

[Redlemur60]

"Too much fun, what's that mean?
It's like too much money, there's no such thing

Just crazy talk!!

never had too much fun" Daryl Singletary "Too Much Fun"

Too much figure? That's crazy talk!View attachment 182182View attachment 182183View attachment 182184

See thats the quote right there !

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

I have a T/C Hawken that did have too much. It broke in half right at the lock. I bought it fairly cheap and epoxied it together. So far, so good, but it gave me some appreciation for plain Jane stocks.

 

[Dave Dworshak]

The fancy stocks are great for many folks, but the way I bang my rifles around using them, the fine finish would'nt last long. Plain is fine for me.

 

[Quicksilver]

I may be the odd ball but I prefer the wider stripe. View attachment 181802

I too like the wider stripe. I have a SMR on order. I can only hope the wood is as nice.