Stock material

[tom in nc]

I got this 10ft piece of maple from someone that we hired to do some work on our house. He saw my rifle above the fireplace and started a conversation. He says this has been cut for "several years". And he says there is plenty more where this came from.

 

[Dave Dworshak]

I hope that it is thick enough for a stock! Good score!

 

[tom in nc]

I have figured out that the plank I got is thick enough for rifle stocks except ones with the thickest, widest cheekrests, (which I dislike anyway). I was told there is/are plenty more available very cheap. The first one was actually free. I was also told that the planks have been sawn for a few years and stored in dry condition.
I'm wondering, for future use, should I go by one of my stocks and bandsaw out a few blanks and store them? Should I use a meter that I have somewhere, ( just have to find it), and check the moisture content? What numbers do I want to see if I check? How do I know whether it is stock material or firewood? Thanks.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Ask Jim Kibler, he’s spoke on the issue of moisture and size.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have cut a ton of bow wood and a good bit of stock wood, the moisture content depends on what the ambient M/C for your area is, where I live (NW Alabama) it is 12%, any wood I cut is completely dry at 12% M/C. In some areas of the country the ambient M/C might be 6%.

I have a drying box and can bring the M/C lower but it is going back to 12% once I take it out of the box unless I store the wood in a climate-controlled area like in my house. The finish on a rifle won't stop the fluctuation of the M/C in a gunstock, if we have a month or so of very dry weather, the inlets in the rifles I built won't be as tight as they were when I built the gun, the metal will be a little proud.

Wood dries on average at a rate of one inch of thickness a year, any dimensional wood like you have that has been stored and air dried for several years is good to go.

Most pin type moisture meters only measure the surface M/C, I have a pinless one that measures deeply into the wood. I have been given so much wood and told it was dry as a bone but my moisture meter told me it was green as gourd inside.

I have found if I put wood in my drying box that has a M/C of over 16% it is likely to check, even at a low temperature setting, I air dry the wood to 16% before it goes in the box. I have a dimmer switch on the lights that heat the box and can control the temperature all the way up to 140 degrees.

 

[springfield art]

I hope that it is thick enough for a stock! Good score!

I'd buy the whole lot!

 

[SeaBee133]

Curly, burl and/or quilted are -NEVER- firewood grade. Gunstocks in 1 or 2 piece, revolver and jam-o-matic grip scales, ramrods, knife handle scales, instrument tuning pegs, small carvings, turned beads (bits available online to drill/carve)… I worked at a custom cabinet shop. Curly maple was always considered a “flaw”. Boss let me haul it home for free, gave it away to artisans along the Gulf Coast from Slidell LA to Destin FL.

 

[ZUG]

That is a very nice piece of maple and if it is not silver maple and is sugar or red maple it should make up into some nice stocks. Ask him if the "other boards" are at least 2-3/8" - 2-1/2" thick or thicker and around 8" to 9" plus wide then ask how much he would charge you per board or quanty? You could always sell any "extra" to other builders or woodworkers.
Even though silver maple is not the best for gunstocks it can be used, and any woodworker can make use of it.

 

[Des52]

Nice set up Eric, I too have a rack of staves like that. Like the drying box, light bulbs with a dimmer switch, sweet.

 

[tom in nc]

Turns out the piece I got is thick enough but not wide enough. My supplier assured me today that he has plenty that is wider than this first piece. He is bringing more.