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

[52Bore]

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.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

It can obscure good carving in some cases.

 

[Shadowalker164]

Not to say this is good carving, but I think it works

 

[SOLANCO]

Not to say this is good carving, but I think it works

With that figure, I almost have to hunt to see the carving.

 

[Pete G]

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

 

[tom mesa]

I have to ask why carve a well figured stock? The grain structure in a stock blank is the work of nature. If you want to display your talents for carving use a plain stock and let your art make it a thing of beauty. Just an old man's opinion .

 

[leadhoarder]

I like a little bit of figure but honestly I do agree with the OP that plain wood shows off the lines of a rifle better. If I ever buy a quality flintlock I will have it made with plain wood.

 

[Redlemur60]

its too nice?
Too much figure fo mi money?
just too beautifulz?
just terrible problems!

 

[Mr. Flintlock]

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.

Never enough.

 

[Eric Krewson]

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.

Forearm;

In normal light;

 

[Johnny Tremain]

"There's always a bigger fish" Qui-Gon Jinn

 

[SPQR70AD]

The curlier the better
Shadowalker

fine figure of a stock

 

[1BadDart]

I don't think you can have too much figure in a stock. My opinion on carving, if I had a stock with lots of curl, birds eye or tiger stripe I'd want any carving on the wood, for me it would detract from the natural beauty of the wood.

 

[deertraks]

I may be the odd ball but I prefer the wider stripe.

 

[Shadowalker164]

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

I love it!

 

[deertraks]

I love it!

Thanks!

 

[Greg_E]

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.

View attachment 180575

Forearm;

View attachment 180576

In normal light;

View attachment 180577

That fish eye is really nice, I like it!

 

[Col. Batguano]

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.

 

[Tacitus]

"Too much fun, what's that mean?
It's like too much money, there's no such thing
It's like a girl too pretty with too much class
Being too lucky, a car too fast
No matter what they say I've done
I ain't never had too much fun" Daryl Singletary "Too Much Fun"

Too much figure? That's crazy talk!

 

[OldMaineWoodsman]

I think it comes down to personal preference and matching the wood grade to the type/use of the firearm.

On a custom-built, historically accurate Hawken type rifle, I prefer straight-grain Maple. But there is no question that semi-fancy, fancy, etc. grade looks great.

Over the years I have ordered a couple of unmentionables from C. Sharps Arms Company. The first had semi-fancy Walnut. It looks nice, but since then I ordered standard, straight-grain Walnut.

If you look into some of the historical companies like Sharps and Winchester, you could order a rifle with special grade wood and certain features. My guess is you could do the same with say, the Hawken Brothers shop.

Personal preference and desire of both the builder and potential owner.