Stock blank size

[micah223]

I just recovered a walnut tree from my farm from a recent storm and want to have it sawed to blanks . I ended up with three ten foot logs from twenty four inches down to eighteen inches. I was told to cut my blanks two and one half inches x fourteen inches. Is that about right? Also my neighbor along my property line where I recovered my tree also lost a walnut tree , but he cut his up into two foot hunks to burn, he is a newly arrived country squire and I think he was not familiar with the tree. Anyway he gave me the cuts to see if I could do something with them , so I was wondering if they where big enough for pistols ? Thanks

 

[Len Graves]

I think I would go to three inches by fourteen to allow for drying warping. Be sure to seal the end grain to help prevent checking ( splitting). Lay it up for at least a year to season in a dry place like garage rafters Etc.. The same with the short pieces. If you can get it quarter sawn so much the better for warping. That is kind of wasteful, but gives better resulting wood. Some seal with a mixture of water and carpenters glue 50/50 painted on the end grain. I too hate to see nice wood go to waste. I one time found a friend splitting quilted maple for fire wood. None was good for gun stocks,but I made many small boxes, knife handles, turkey calls Etc. out of what he thought was waste wood.

 

[micah223]

I was going to use beeswax and or paraffin to seal it. Also I was hoping to get two stocks per cut. I think you may be right about going thicker , I need to think that over. Any thoughts on the short cuts?

 

[ZUG]

The thickness depends on the style of rifle you are going to be building. I had a maple tree cut up into 3" thick planks and I only lost a little over 1/8" in 5 years of air drying. I felt that I lost a extra plank havingh it sawed up into 3" thick planks. If I were to do it over I would go to 2-3/4" or 2-5/8" I do not build the early very wide butt rifles. The walnut I have was sawed at 2-1/2" thick and was kiln & air dried from a farm in Easton, PA it is now 2-3/8" thick plenty thick for what I build from walnut.

 

[Len Graves]

I agree if you are only making later long rifles. I always like to fail on the safe side. Having a wide butt,a large cheek rest, or a large cast off easily fools me, so I go a little wider. Of course it does waste wood and there is the time to remove the un needed stuff. Bees wax is just fine for,sealing, anything to slow the end drying. I sometimes think the shorter pieces split (check) faster. I have made a couple of pistols out of "firewood".

 

[micah223]

I want to leave my options open . So if I decide on another Early Virgina should I go maybe 2 3/4"?