Lyman Great Plains Pop Quiz

[mykeal]

I did some calling last spring when I was working on one and they said it was some species that they imported from africa that is supposed to represent walnut. Good walnut, either American Black walnut or European walnut shouldnt be striped like zebra wood. That stuff was hard, oily, plumb full of silica, and when you worked it, it smelled like a shingle off from an outhouse.

I think that it isnt walnut.

That does not describe the wood on my gun.

 

[ryoung14]

I heard that Circassian walnut and Carpathian walnut are the same. Any truth to that?

My Dad used to graft Carpathian onto Black for the nuts. Got a lot of it here. Ugly, wild looking trees. Wood's light, often with a dark center I'm culling the old & injured ones and burning them in the woodstove. A few bore terrific nuts.
Bob

 

[paulvallandigham]

The Carpathian Mountains run through the balkans, while the Circassian Mountains are on the east side of the Black Sea, and run from Ukraine, through Georgia, and down to Turkey.

Carpathian walnuts are considered a subspecied of " English walnuts" which actually should be called "Persian Walnuts", as that is the source of the trees now grown in England.

Circassian Walnut is also considered a member of the English Walnut family, with varying colors and streaks that make it idea for use in furniture veneers, and gunstocks.

Because of the proximity of the two mountain ranges, it would be very difficult to suggest that they are not similar in origin. I don't know and can't seem to locate any good scientific information on the two species to answer that question definitively, by doing a search on Google, but I suspect there are tree nursery experts who can tell you the answer for sure.

If you look at the prices asked for these kinds of gunstocks, you will quickly understand why American Black Walnut is so popular for gunstocks! :shocked2: :thumbsup:

 

[Zonie]

The wood on my Lyman GPR is Walnut.
The previous owner filled the grain so the surface is smooth.
The wood was left unstained and is a nice Walnut brown color with a number of stripes from the natural curl in the wood.

I know you folks have seen this before but some of the filled open grain and the natural curl shows in the picture.

 

[Old40Rod]

Lyman's publications call it "European" walnut. I have no idea what part of the continent it came from, assuming the term refers to the place of origin.

Staining: The European Walnut stock, as supplied, will finish to a nice
warm brown color if finished without the use of a darkening stain. The
wood of most old muzzleloading rifles and pistols was very dark in color.
Select a walnut stain and follow the directions provided with the product.
Stain the stock until you achieve the desired color.

Mine looked "walnutish" enough prior to BLO/spar varnish finish:

 

[BossHoss]

Mine is walnut with bout 8 coats of hand rubbed tung oil ----Dont know where the walnut come from & really dont much care---I like it :v

 

[mykeal]

Boss - very nice gun. I like the chair, too.

Here's my effort, Herter's French Red filler and tung oil:

 

[jtmattison]

Here's mine with about 8 coats of hand rubbed Tru-Oil. No stain.

HD

 

[BossHoss]

That be sum purdy wood too :thumbsup:

I finish my steel up & Thumper is 100% again :v

 

[bucktales]

Posted this pic before, but I also went with the Tung oil finish.
Filled, sealed, whiskered and then used a Tung, Mineral Spirits , and a few drops of Spar Varnish for this finish. About 8 coats did the trick.

 

[maypo59]

Does anyone know if a maple stock is available anywhere for a GPR? I know I could start from a blank.. but don't think I am up for that just yet...

 

[longshot47]

I'm gonna toss in my opinion [agreeing with Bountyhunter] and guess its the 'african walnut/mahogony/teak' variant. I've seen it before used in workbenches imported from africa.
~Longshot