Wormy Maple

[kingsax26]

Ok i need help, I am getting ready to order a custom muzzleloader. The company i am going through apparently has some cm-3,4&5 wood that has been eaten by beatles... The guy said he would sell me the wood at the same price as plain maple....and said it doesnt affect wood strength or integetrity. Anyone got some input? i dont ahve a problem buying it if its not gonna affect the rifle ...

 

[MacRob46]

Ok i need help, I am getting ready to order a custom muzzleloader. The company i am going through apparently has some cm-3,4&5 wood that has been eaten by beatles... The guy said he would sell me the wood at the same price as plain maple....and said it doesnt affect wood strength or integetrity. Anyone got some input? i dont ahve a problem buying it if its not gonna affect the rifle ...

Well...I personally would not want a rifle stock with worm holes in it. If it is on the outside of the blank and he will cut it away when he shapes the stock then no problem. But, it sounds like he is telling you that some of the worm holes are going to show up even after he works down the blank. Worm holes are holes that can go very deep and if I had to make that decision, I would decide against it for aesthetic reasons if not for concerns about the wood being weakened.

 

[jdkerstetter]

Ask yourself this, how can a stock with holes in it be as strong as a stock without holes? How can one look at a stock with holes in it and know that there are not larger "cavities" inside?

A couple worm hole are OK I guess and can add character, especially if going for an aged look, but I have seen one guy out there recently offering stocks that were riddled...I mean covered....with holes selling them as "barn found" or some such nonsence.

Insist on pictures first. If it's riddled with holes I would pass no matter how fancy the stripe is. I mean, what's the point in fancy wood if it's full of holes?

Ultimately, it's up to you...but you asked. :idunno: Enjoy, J.D.

 

[MSW]

just a thought, but you might want to get this piece anyway. (I assume that you're going to make your own stockblank) ... if the wood won't suport a stock (either visually or structuarlly) you'll have some really cool wood which can be used for other projects.

good luck - i'd love to see pictures!

make good smoke!

 

[Dave K]

With people making new guns look like old guns by giving them artificial patina, why not use worm wood?

 

[54ball]

Because worms eat dead wood before it's processed into stocks, not after it's made into a gun.

So it is not a "natural" process of aging.

 

[GANGGREEN]

It's your money and I couldn't possibly offer advice about what to do with it. That said, I'd agree with JDK to get pictures. If you're going to save a bunch of cash and if we're talking about a small number of small holes in what would otherwise be pretty fancy wood, I'd probably be interested.

For what it's worth, I have 3 logs laying next to my barn right now that are going to have some spalting, some limited number of very small bug holes and what I believe will be some very nice grain. Because they aren't milled yet, I really have no clue what I've got yet but I've certainly got my fingers crossed. They're going to be somewhere between practically useless garbage and some of the most fantastic wood you've ever seen. :grin:

 

[Robby]

Lot of work whittling up a gun stock. I don't think I would want to chance wasting my time on a piece of wood already weakened by worm holes, and probably has a few down in there still working!
Robby

 

[kingsax26]

HMMM well the rifle would be built by sitting fox Muzzleloaders. I spoke with him and he said that it didnt look like the integrity would be affected.....but im still leery. I mean that would be pretty awsome if i could get it but i dont want there to be any problems in the future... Risk VS Benefit

 

[F.G. Ford]

Well Byron,
Sitting Fox makes some mighty fine guns, I've seen several,
I must admit that they are not always delivered on date promised, but we all know how things happen.
Rest assured if Sitting Fox chooses a stock blank, they know what they are doing.
You do know that Sitting Fox has several builders, don't you?
A friend of mine just got a .54 Cal rifle from Sitting Fox, I must say that it is breath taking.
By far one of the finest rifles I have seen.
Wormy wood and solid is a matter of choice of which you may or may not appreciate, especially after spending in excess of $1500.
All the best!
Old Ford

 

[mah7039]

There are worm holes, then there are WORM HOLES, I've seen a couple of sweet southern guns, poor boy style with a few worm holes along the stock, no areas totally eaten up, just a few holes scattered along, and they are beautiful. Before you buy, maybe they would send you some pictures?

 

[Len Graves]

I built a gun with a stock that the owner supplied. It had a few worm holes that he said would add to the overall effect ( about five and none over 1/16" in dia.). When I got into carving I found that some of the holes went parallel to the surface and would form a groove., also some of the areas around the holes the wood was very punky and difficult to carve. This was a very difficult build. some small holes can be filled in with a glued in tooth pick and look ok, but beware.

 

[Bill Hall]

I think you should heed Len's warning from his experience. It's a heartbreaker When you whittle into a good looking piece of wood to find a bark inclusion or void, so starting out with a chunk of wood that is known to be potentially bad is asking for trouble. You have no idea what lurks under the surface. Those tunnels can go any direction, they could open up into a hole, or turn into some nasty puck wood. If you're going to pay money to have this built, why take the chance?

But I do like the idea of buying the blank at a reduced price, just for the wood. Man, think of all the little doo-dads you could make from that fancy wood. Salad spoons and forks, salt and pepper shakers, fancy boxes. Carve a tiger out of the fanciest part :thumbsup: . The list is endless. Bill

 

[rich pierce]

Dunlap will sell you all the curly maple cutoffs you want at a good price for making do-dads

 

as far as i am concerned, one worm hole is two too many!

a year ago last fall, my nephew and i tried to salvage some ash

after cutting and planing in order to try to recover as much wood as we could, a 3/4 ton p/u load of 4/4 boards averaging 8inch in width and
12ft in length netted less than 10% recovered wood.

boards showing only one hole would sometime show up a virtual ant hill of tunnels once cut or planed.

you don't even want this sort of wood in your house, it can foster hatchlings that will start to much on momma's nice hardwood furniture or worse your house.

of course you can assure this doesn't happen by heat treating, but why take the risk?

bob g

 

[Eric Krewson]

I once thought a little worm hole wouldn't be a problem in a piece of my bow wood, every time I used beetle damaged wood I had a failure. Wood wasp larva make shallow holes most of the time but powder post beetles go in the top of a log and come out the bottom and wreak havoc along the way.

Here is a typical powder post beetle excursion through a piece of red oak I split for firewood.On the outside of the log there were only a few little 1/16" pin holes.

 

[George T.]

Is there nothing one can not learn on this forum? Thank's to all for the information. Geo. T.

 

[kingsax26]

wow....yeah umm i think ill skip the wormy stuff.... way better to spend the $$ and come away knowing its not gonna suck ..

 

[swathdiver]

Couple of years ago I trimmed a red maple in my yard and set the logs on my porch with my oak and cherry firewood. The maple has been savaged by them beetles, there's barely enough good wood to make pistol grips out of anymore. Some of the cherry has very small worm holes, about a tenth of the size of the ones in the maple.

I save shavings so making a plug will work if I have to. But all that pretty red maple, what a waste.

 

[Little Wattsy]

Ok i need help, I am getting ready to order a custom muzzleloader. The company i am going through apparently has some cm-3,4&5 wood that has been eaten by beatles... The guy said he would sell me the wood at the same price as plain maple....and said it doesnt affect wood strength or integetrity. Anyone got some input? i dont ahve a problem buying it if its not gonna affect the rifle ...

I would maybe want to examine the wood just to be sure BUT if the strength was there (no a worm hole or two shouldnt compromise the inegrity) and it was just "character" for the stock a #5 would be a pretty piece...

Pictures please if you go that way. :hatsoff: