Gun stock question

jaketbs · Apr 17, 2014

My family owns a couple of walnut orchards and this year we removed a few trees and the burl buyer said he can have some gun blanks cut for us, so I'm stoked about that. My question is where would you guys take one to get cut for a gun or how would you go about finding someone to do it? Any information would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

440sixpack · Apr 17, 2014

I would talk to a good stock maker and get his input, there are listings in the guild .

Depending on where you're located , the type of walnut and how fast the trees grew you may not have much to work with. I bought a couple walnut trees years ago from western Oregon and had my father in law cut them with his mill, they were pretty much useless for gun stocks.

If they didn't grow slow in a dry climate from what I gather you pretty much just have lumber.

Stay thirsty my friends

Wes · Apr 17, 2014

Go to this post on Long Range Hunting and contact Joel Russo.
Wes

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f42/claro-walnut-wood-blank-spf-133112/

RELH · Apr 17, 2014

Your burl buyer sounds like he can have the rough blanks cut. Most gunstock wood is quartersawn for best figure. If he can cut the rough blanks, then you will need to seal the ends, to prevent cracking and let it dry down to about 8% moisture. About a year process unles you have it kiln dried.
Is your walnut English walnut grafted on to black walnut, claro, roots? The best figured wood will be crouch where two limbs run out. Crouch wood for the butt and straighter grain wood for the fore end to lessen warping after fitted to a rifle.
If this is orchard wood that was irrigated, it will have larger pores then old slow growth walnut. Less desirable, but can still can have very good figure and make the 200-400 dollar range of gunstock wood if you are lucky.
I have been lucky enough to handle $2,000.00 Circassion walnut gunstocks brought in from Turkey. The wood sold for that price for one stock and that was 20 years ago.

RELH

jaketbs · Apr 18, 2014

Thanks for the input guys I hadn't realized the year dry time. I'm not expecting the best quality in the world just thought it would be an interesting piece to have and to share.

The trees are English grafted on to black. The burl buyer asked us to leave them long up the first crouch in the tree so hopefully it was for the reason you stated RELH. I will be sure to seal the ends once I get them. I can only imagine how awesome it must have been to handle that quality of wood. Thanks again for the help guys

Boskee · Apr 18, 2014

Fred Wenig does a lot of custom shotgun stocks and has made many a rifle stock in his day. He used to head up production for Fajen and has some guys working for him that can make a decent gun stock and you won't mortgage the house to do it. I've seen some custom trap guns and other rifles he's made stocks for and they were really nice and the quality was excellent and these were high end trap guns. He's in Mo. if memory serves and offers a good alternative to a higher end stock maker.

jaketbs · Apr 21, 2014

Thanks for the recommendation Boskee. I will definitely keep him in mind when it comes time to get them cut down. Hopefully I'll find someone fairly close to my area (central California) to deal with. But if not I will definitely look into Fred. Thanks

Boskee · Apr 21, 2014

Jake one thing I forgot to mention is Fred's experience with all types of wood and blanks. Fajen would have a few hundred blanks in many different woods and types of walnut on hand for customers to chose from. Fred's experience and that of his craftsmen in working with all different types of walnut may be of benefit to you with your endeavor. Experience trumps location when selecting any stock maker. You got some good advice from several on here with other excellent recommendations.

Remember most gunsmiths can work on guns but very few can actually produce a quality wooden stock, let alone checker or inlet one. I've known quite a few guys that were disappointed when their $200.00 blanks came back looking like a stock Ruger. So do your homework, check references, see examples of their work, and in the end you'll be happy.:^)

2f350s · May 9, 2014

Try shipping your blank and the barreled action w/bolt bottom metal & trigger parts to the Colorado School of Trades Gunsmithing school at the link below. The students getting their gunsmithing certifications actually work on the guns and they have a specific course for stock making and refinishing.

"Our students learn Gunsmithing through the repair of customers' firearms ... The gun shop offers firearm repair and gun mod services so students get a variety of real-world experience."

You could save some cost this way, if you want a really high-end custom stock job this is not the way to go.

http://www.schooloftrades.edu/default.php