I just purchased an old but really nice Simson 12 ga. double...I really like this gun but the wood, although original and numbered to match, and I have seen it before on these English guns is strange looking....It is basically a blond matrix, with many thin black lines running lengthwise and very porus with open pores. Its like laminate but it solid wood of some kind...Its in excellent shape and seem to be solid...I may just restock this old gun, its a quality gun today by comparison. but back in the day it was a low dollar English gun..

Hello. Walnut comes in all grades and, in truth, the fetish for highly figured wood is a late 20th Century thing.

Purdey, Holland, Boss guns of the 1900s and up to the 1920s and 1930s have very plain wood. Guns of the time before that even plainer!



Wood then, as it should be, was chosen for strength and strength alone. If you can post a picture then all the better.

Got it identified. Its a very hard piece of European Birch..Not pretty but functional..I will restock this winter and copy the flat topped checkering pattern, add a Neidner butt plate and prince of whales grip..skinny forend.