Why is walnut THE wood of choice for gun stocks? Is it economical? Easy to work with? I've seen guns stocked in beech, teak, and other hardwoods. I would guess that any good hardwood (maple, ash, hickory, some of the rosewoods, etc.) would make great gun stocks. So why aren't they used more often? :thumbsup:
Why walnut?
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It isn't THE choice for long rifles. It was popular however.
Cheap? Not anymore. It's about the most expensive hardwood in this country now.
In the early days it was available, pretty, durable, and close grained.
Ash was used as gunstock wood, and maple was likely used more than anyother.
Cherry dominated for gunstocks where cherry was more available than the others. Cherry is still popular today. I feel Cherry lacks the pretty grain of quality walnut and maple.
Don't know about the rosewoods. Teak is VERY hard to work with and very open grained, heavy too.
Hickory is also quite hard and open grained.
Maple and Walnut lead the pack as favorite stock woods.
Cheap? Not anymore. It's about the most expensive hardwood in this country now.
In the early days it was available, pretty, durable, and close grained.
Ash was used as gunstock wood, and maple was likely used more than anyother.
Cherry dominated for gunstocks where cherry was more available than the others. Cherry is still popular today. I feel Cherry lacks the pretty grain of quality walnut and maple.
Don't know about the rosewoods. Teak is VERY hard to work with and very open grained, heavy too.
Hickory is also quite hard and open grained.
Maple and Walnut lead the pack as favorite stock woods.
Walnut is fairly dense, Yurkish or European walnut more so than domestic. Dense helps make it strong. It can be straight grained, which is easier to work than a twisted grain, and is more stable. The really nice grain on a stock actually is twisted grains. That usually comes from some ugly looking tree with a big crotch in it. Some walnut has gorgeous grain which wouldn't be easy to work. In my limited wood working experience it is easier to work than maple, that stuff is hard. Cherry is softer, I think, which will break and ding easier.
Cost walnut ain't cheap, but you can spend more. Try to find butternut these days. I don't know butternut was used for stocks BTW, it's just really expensive.
Cost walnut ain't cheap, but you can spend more. Try to find butternut these days. I don't know butternut was used for stocks BTW, it's just really expensive.
Teak has been used for ship decks for years. Even the old battleships (WWII era) used it. It seems like a wood that could withstand that kind of abuse would make a great stock! I'm aware that teak is a bit heavier than walnut, but I'm thinking about using it on a 20ga. fowler, which is pretty light in the first place. Anyhow, thanks for the info so far. :thumbsup:
Teak might indeed make a good gunstock, but it will be heavy. You'll also need to be a little careful about a finish. Teak is very oily (that's why it is weatherproof) and a hard drying oil finish may require a priming or de-oiling before the final coats go on.
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Teak is stillbused in some places as a gunstock wood. i.e. the AK-47's.
Teak is not a pretty wood for gunstocks, but functional.
Butternut is a hickory. Hickory has nver been a favorite gunstock wood, plain, realtively open grained, straight but super strong. Makes great bows due to it's flex strength, and tool handles.
Teak is not a pretty wood for gunstocks, but functional.
Butternut is a hickory. Hickory has nver been a favorite gunstock wood, plain, realtively open grained, straight but super strong. Makes great bows due to it's flex strength, and tool handles.
I have an old gunstock made out of oak. It looks alright, though a bit untraditional. I don't really like the look, it reminds me too much of furniture. A lot of gunstocks have been made from birch up here in Scandinavia. I think it's just as fine as maple and birch comes with all the nice patterns that maple has.
It is a Norwegian flintlock from approx. 1710-1720 that has been converted to percussion. The oak stock was added when it was converted. All the serpent sideplates I have seen from northern Europe have been inletted. The inletting isn't deep but just enough to ensure that the tail of the serpent dosn't snag on clothing and such.
As some of you may have seen, I am repairing a 1842 Springfield rifle by grafting on a piece of walnut at the rear of the barrel.
It's been a long time sense I worked with walnut and I had forgotten how easy it is to work with.
When I say easy, I am comparing it with Curly Maple.
Knocking off chunks of wood by splitting it along the grain is easy so getting it down to a very rough shape happens fast.
Sanding walnut across the grain removes vast quantities of wood easily getting the very rough shape down to a "close" shape.
Sanding with the grain removes the wood in an easily controlled manner, leaving a nice smooth surface.
Using (English) chisels sharpened to razor blade sharpness, walnut cuts just about as easily as Balsa wood does with dull razor blades. You just have to remember which way the grain is laying so your always cutting down thru the grains and not chiseling against the grain (see "splitting" above).
My only negative comment at the moment is that it is easy to accidently chip out little pieces if too much pressure is exerted by an inletting chisel in the direction of the grain.
Great wood to work with, and I know it always finishes out to a beautiful surface with a little linseed oil.
It's been a long time sense I worked with walnut and I had forgotten how easy it is to work with.
When I say easy, I am comparing it with Curly Maple.
Knocking off chunks of wood by splitting it along the grain is easy so getting it down to a very rough shape happens fast.
Sanding walnut across the grain removes vast quantities of wood easily getting the very rough shape down to a "close" shape.
Sanding with the grain removes the wood in an easily controlled manner, leaving a nice smooth surface.
Using (English) chisels sharpened to razor blade sharpness, walnut cuts just about as easily as Balsa wood does with dull razor blades. You just have to remember which way the grain is laying so your always cutting down thru the grains and not chiseling against the grain (see "splitting" above).
My only negative comment at the moment is that it is easy to accidently chip out little pieces if too much pressure is exerted by an inletting chisel in the direction of the grain.
Great wood to work with, and I know it always finishes out to a beautiful surface with a little linseed oil.
there are many reasons why walnut is a good choice for gunstocks. first it is a very beautiful wood its also noted for its differant color variations. walnut is probably americas premier carving wood because it works fairly easy with hand tools has great strengh and does not split with the grain like a lot of other woods. walnut also tends to grow with huge straight limb free trunks that make it easier to find perfect gunstock blanks than the other gunstock woods. the last but most important reason is walnut is a very stable wood and that makes for a more accurate shooting rifle.
butternut is a cousin to walnut and is also known as white walnut its grain is similar to walnut is a beautiful but is soft fairly weak and gets the fuzzys when you sand it.
i am a logger and love the history of logging. i have read many books on logging and lumbering and find wood a fascinating subject. before we had plastic and all our space age material we had wood and most everything was made from it. each species has its own characteristics and the old timers knew what they were and used to their advantage and i believe we have lost some of that knowledge.
imo curly maple is the most beautiful wood in the world but kind of a pain to work with every time i cut a large maple tree down i check for it and when i find it i feel like i found a lost treasure. : :m2c:
butternut is a cousin to walnut and is also known as white walnut its grain is similar to walnut is a beautiful but is soft fairly weak and gets the fuzzys when you sand it.
i am a logger and love the history of logging. i have read many books on logging and lumbering and find wood a fascinating subject. before we had plastic and all our space age material we had wood and most everything was made from it. each species has its own characteristics and the old timers knew what they were and used to their advantage and i believe we have lost some of that knowledge.
imo curly maple is the most beautiful wood in the world but kind of a pain to work with every time i cut a large maple tree down i check for it and when i find it i feel like i found a lost treasure. : :m2c:
Walnut is a heavy, strong wood. Ash was used, maple preferred. Cherry was popular. I think some of the Southern Mountain rifles used whatever suitable wood was available and I think of walnut as being more of a European choice or for military weapons. A lot of Hawkens had plain maple stained to look like walnut and a few were walnut. There are different kinds of walnut and some can be rather soft. Some wood is heavy and strong but more likely to split. I am surprised the oak stock has worked out okay. I think blacksmiths use elm to anchor their anvils because elm is tough and resists splitting. Question. Does anyone have an easy way to tell ash from maple or birch? Ash seems to have sort of an open grain like oak and birch seems more white than maple. Maple seems to have sort of wavy grain. :hmm:
"... walnut cuts just about as easily as Balsa wood does with dull razor blades."
OK, I exaggerated.
Walnut does not really cut that easily, but when compairing it with Maple, it does cut easier. I think this is mainly due to it being an "open grain" wood.
I haven't tried carving walnut, and my present little project (1842 Springfield) will not give me a reason to do any carving.
The gun actually has too much carving already. Some knucklehead in the last 160 years carved the initials AN PLC into the right side of the stock in letters about 1 1/2 inches tall and 1/8 inch deep.
I would guess that Walnut would be much more difficult to carve the fine detail which is common to many Longrifles.
Although it cuts fairly easily, the course grain of the wood might be prone to splitting which would cause the small details to be broken off.
OK, I exaggerated.
Walnut does not really cut that easily, but when compairing it with Maple, it does cut easier. I think this is mainly due to it being an "open grain" wood.
I haven't tried carving walnut, and my present little project (1842 Springfield) will not give me a reason to do any carving.
The gun actually has too much carving already. Some knucklehead in the last 160 years carved the initials AN PLC into the right side of the stock in letters about 1 1/2 inches tall and 1/8 inch deep.
I would guess that Walnut would be much more difficult to carve the fine detail which is common to many Longrifles.
Although it cuts fairly easily, the course grain of the wood might be prone to splitting which would cause the small details to be broken off.
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Walnut was long the prefered wood for mass produced military rifles because it is easily worked, available in large quanities of straight grained pieces, and it has the ability to absorb recoil with out spliting.Maple and cherry were the prefered woods for the Pennsyvania (kentucky ) rifles. :m2c:
