Questions for those with Pedersoli Kentucky Rifle

[dmills]

I received this lightly used Pedersoli Kentucky rifle last week. When I opened the patch box, the wood underneath is blonde. Blonde also under the toe plate. Doesn't look at all like European walnut (which I have on my GPR). Anyone aware of a Ped. Kentucky that would have maple instead of walnut?

Everything else checks out as the Ped. Kentucky rifle.

Any thoughts?

 

[dcriner]

Walnut and maple have different grain patterns. Please post some close-up photos.

 

[dmills]

Best I could get. What do you think?

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This could be walnut but it is very light.

 

[kingsax26]

lookslike walnut to me....many woods are actually quite lighter in color than they appear when finished. take a damp rag and wipe it on t he blonde part and it will darken... the stock looks like its a piece of light walnut stained dark...

 

[dikman]

I would tend to agree, looking at the edge of the butt area it looks like a dark stain just bleeding around the edges. It also looks like walnut grain. (Many years ago we had our kitchen cupboards made from a walnut veneer. The outside was very dark, where the painter had obviously applied a walnut stain, but the areas that were covered by something - particularly on the inside - were quite a light colour, which surprised me at the time, as I thought that walnut was a very dark wood.).

 

[ohio ramrod]

Walnut has a dark heart wood but an almost white sap wood. But the grain at the butt doesn't appear to be where you would have sap wood. Some European walnut is not nearly as dark as American black walnut. :idunno:

 

[Pete G]

I vote for Birch. The rays in the wood at the bottom left side by the toe plate are typical for this species.

 

[kingsax26]

I dont know abo0ut birch...if you look at the pics there is actually s small bit of burl to the grain. I dont think ive ever seen birch do that...usually birch is about as straight graines as it gets

 

[dave524]

Pretty sure it is not any species of walnut, but another type of European hardwood stained to look like walnut. Birch is the most likely but even could be beech looking at the rays.

 

[b737tvc]

I know american walnut can have a flair of white in it often called sap wood. When I build cabinet and dressers I will often run into it on 4/4 rough cut wood. Something to think about

the trapper

 

[kurts]

I would say it's beech.

 

[G.smith]

Could that be "English Walnut" it is a nice blonde wood.

 

[dikman]

I just picked up my used Frontier flinter today. Been a bit busy, but I found time to strip it down (of course). I found what looked like some fine sawdust under the barrel, which I thought was interesting and made me wonder if the previous owner ever dismantled it.
Anyhow, in the barrel securing holes in the channel the wood is quite blonde and there are traces of the stain having run down a little into the holes. Their website lists the Frontier as available in Walnut or Maple and I'm assuming that this one is Walnut (I think Maple would have bumped the price a bit!).

I'll try and have a closer look tomorrow.

 

[Alden]

Congrats on finally pickin' it up Dikman! Now it's yours -- you'll have to update a prior thread or something once you've fired it.

 

[PA16th]

Looks like beech.

 

[Bardo]

Walnut is an open grain and from the picture its not walnut. Walnut has a very blonde sap wood but it is still an opened grained wood. The finish would have a texture look, unless they filled the grain. It doesn't look like beech to me either. My vote would be a soft maple. It just not curly or quilted maple. I haven't used birch hardwood much. But looking at the end grain it looks like a soft maple.

Bardo

 

[dikman]

Pedersoli seem to offer their rifles in Maple or Walnut, but I guess the question is "What type of Maple do they use?". I hadn't given it much thought before and just assumed that it would be like the photos I've seen on here of Maple-stocked guns, but in thinking about it they would probably use a locally sourced Maple which most likely will have a quite different grain structure to US Maple.

Well, it makes sense to me, and could account for the confusion in identifying it.

 

[JimG]

It's Euro. beech. I'm positive on that. Good strong wood.

 

[dikman]

Only problem with that is that, according to the Pedersoli site the Kentucky apparently only comes in oiled Walnut.

 

[Alden]

I don't recall if it was available for the Kentucky particularly but they have had upgrades available in maple too...