To upgrade or not upgrade?

[Kmcmichael]

I have a Kibler southern mountain kit on order, plain maple. I can probably upgrade the wood. I did not at the time of ordering for the following reasons;
It is my first kit.
I will likely have to put a butt cuff on it to keep from burning my right eye. i sort of resemble an orangutan; not the sexy handsome ones in the zoo but their primitive ancestor.(Please don’t mention my whereabouts to Dr. Leaky.)
I have dabbled in woodworking. Let’s say some of my projects dabbled between rustic yard furniture and firewood.
I am red green colorblind and some of the finishing techniques sort of resemble alchemy in my mind.( I have contemplated walnut for this reason)
I will likely be browning the parts parts.

Pros;
i can sharpen a chisel and I have a small collection of good ones.
I think the fancy maple stocks are beautiful.

What say ye?

Any of you regret getting plain wood or getting fancy upgrade?

 

[olskool]

i don't have a kibler, but i do like nice wood. i don't see how you could go wrong upgrading,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Bob McBride]

I went with a high grade Maple because of the unique project I was building but if I do another SMR it will be stocked in Walnut or Ash as most all my Southern Mountain guns are. As much as I love my Maple SMR nothing looks as good on a Southern Gun as plain old dark finished Ash with dark finished Walnut a close second. Of course, that’s something like saying nothing looks as good as a black Mercedes, so, as always, it’s JMHO.

 

[Buckskinn]

I go highest grade I can get to help hide my lack of experience and carving!

 

[Pete G]

Given an option.....ALWAYS upgrade.

 

[Spikebuck]

I think it depends most on what YOU like. I know it's just my own thoughts on what an SMR should look like, but I like well-finished plain(er) stocks on them. That just seems more like (in my minds eye) what a back-woodsman, mountain man of the day would have probably had with limited funds. Probably a completely erroneous perception.

When I ordered my SMR back in November I was in a hurry to get one built so I could still use it for the remainder of the winter squirrel season. I wanted the base stock Jim offers, but I also wanted HARD maple. At the time, he had one .36 kit in stock with hard maple and what he said was "probably" an upgrade wood, but he was selling it for the base price. It was that or wait for many months, so I took it.

I have a Larry Williams built "Early Virginia" rifle that has a very plain maple stock, but I really like what he did with it. The variation in colors and aging appeal to me. Plain can look very, very nice:

That said, it's awefully hard not to drool over a nicely figured piece of wood!

 

[Bill Rowe]

You get as much tiger stripe, fiddle back, curly maple you can afford, you will never regret it. Their are some fine rifles out there that the artist that created them were good enough to let there talent show, but I agree with Buckskinn , let the wood talk.

 

[Buckskinn]

Spikebuck,

There ain't no back-woodsman mountain man carrying around a beautiful rifle like that, unless he stole it or found it... Very nice.