Just got some pictures of available blanks for a new custom rifle build - which blanks do you find the most promising?

blank 208




blank 207





blank 215




blank 218



blank 219

Personally I think the 208 looks the best, but isnt the 207 perhaps BETTER from a structural point of view?

wow - good stuff

i thought i would get the wood upgraded after i banged up the cz factory stock

the cz factor stock wood is great and sadly i have grown fond of my hunting dings

i think upgrading wood from start is a great choice

208

207 looks strongest but the place on the uypper right butt bothers me without seeing it better.

I personally like 215, but can't see the top and bottom nor know what type of rifle it is intended for.

I'll have to say that 208 is the type of blank I always avoid. A lot of it's fancy grain is in the front half of the forend, and It runs at odd angles there. Just too much danger of an unstable forend. Just one of my pet peeves.

yep, 215

wouldnt it be possible to move the cut a bit forward on the 207 to avoid the area on the upper right butt?

I personally like 207. Grain flow seems correct, you can see the wood grain, but it's not overly pretty to the point where you would end up wanting a synthetic stock because the wood is too nice.

In my opinion, you can not grade a stock blank with out looking at the grain flow on the edges. If the grain flow cuts across the blank then you will probably have stability problems.

465H&H

207. Reminds me of the stocks Merkel uses where the grain flows through the grip.

207 provided you can get around that spot. Looks to me more a surface issue

215 looks great.. 207 has a couple risks

I like 218 if you rotate the pattern so that the tip of the forearm is down about 1.5" - 2".

Laminate 219R and 208L

208 or 215

I prefer the grain flow in 215.

Well, it's been a lot of work, but it looks like 219 is out. That should make your choice a lot easier!

215 is my preference!

207 is the only one that interests me.
Surely the knotty blemish on the right side of the butt is superficial and will clean up well.
It surely has the best grain flow and density, therefore strength enough for any rifle.
Probably strong enough to make baseball bats too.
I am not easily impressed by any wood.
I like 207.

Did you say what caliber your rifle will be? Makes a difference to me. Can't go wrong with 207 but if a light caliber others will work.

First choice 215, second 218

Right, thought I would offer you fine gentleman an update in regards to further developments.

Inquiring about the #208 since that was the blank that immediately caught my eye and voicing concern over the lack of grain flow, the gunmaker offered me the following description of the blank in question:


#208 is a “slab sawn” blank, which is cut from the log at 90 degrees from blank # 207, which is a “Quarter sawn” blank. The straight grain is still there, but is seen from the top and bottom of the stock instead of the sides. This blank will be very strong and I would put it on any of our Big Bore rifles. #208 will make a stunning stock and will be dark with good contrasting lines."

Since I am from Norway and have no chance of inspecting the blanks myself, I put faith in my gunsmith and being no other than the honorable Bitterroot on these forums, I chose to follow his advice.

#208 is the new stock!

quote:

Originally posted by LJS:
Did you say what caliber your rifle will be? Makes a difference to me. Can't go wrong with 207 but if a light caliber others will work.

.375 H&H

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
I like 218 if you rotate the pattern so that the tip of the forearm is down about 1.5" - 2".

+1

Went with the 208 on waynes recommendations.
It has the correct grain flow only you can see it from the tom and bottom instead of the sides being a slab sawn blank.

I think it will look great and work great.

215 or 218.

208 is "slab" or plainsawn from the same log as the quartersawn 207?


The quartersawn wood warps less and is stronger than the marble cake plainsawn stuff.

Better get a piece of steel all thread hidden inside the grip, set in epoxy.
Best done before the stock breaks off at the the grip.



Above:
Plainsawn marble 404 Jeffery gentle kicker on top,
quartersawn 505 Gibbs hard kicker on the bottom?

Quartersawn versus plainsawn stocks' grain flows do blend together a bit depending on where in the log they came from:









The middle plank in the log across the "slab" or plainsawn wood shows the same grain structure as the middle (best) of the quartersawn quadrant.

Not all slab or plainsawn wood is bad for a rifle stock.
You get more bad wood stocks out of a slab/plainsawn log.
Less stocks from the log, but better quality overall in quartersawn.

Riftsawn/Rift sawn looks like it might waste more wood, but give overall even better quality than quartersawn/quarter sawn.

But the quartersawn versus riftsawn differs a bit in the supposed definitions above.
Riftsawn is shown as a true radial pattern in one drawing (should be strongest and warp least), but not so in another.

Basically there is quarter sawn and plain sawn,
the more radial all the cuts are, the better, IMHO.
Glad I was able to clear this up for myself.

Wow, Rip.
VERY informative post, thanks.
Hopefully my stock will hold up though, Bitterroot on these forums ensured me that the slab sawn stock would be plenty strong..

For a 375 H&H take your pick. I like 208.

Rip,
Great presentation. Really shows how it's done.
Thanks,

Rusty

It does seem a bit peculiar that both slab-sawn and quarter-sawn stocks come from the same tree though - going by your drawings you would think its one way or the other but not both.

I am ignorant in these matters however.

Keep in mind the definition of better. If strength and stability is the concern, quarter sawn is better. If looking at English or Circassion and fancy grain is the goal, then flat sawn from big trees with tight grain will yield the super expensive marblecake most people desire. With these walnuts, super fancy grain and the strongest layout are often at odds. With other walnuts, fancy grain usually comes in the form of either fiddleback (which appears in quartersawn wood) or crotch/flame grain, which comes from the joint areas of the tree, but is still basically a quartersawn blank. The goal is generally the fanciest grain in a stock that is strong enough for the intende service. The blank you pick for a .375 is probably not the one you would likely pick for a .505. If serviceabiity is the only criteria, then I would go synthetic in this day and time.

quote:

Originally posted by Art S.:
Keep in mind the definition of better. If strength and stability is the concern, quarter sawn is better. If looking at English or Circassion and fancy grain is the goal, then flat sawn from big trees with tight grain will yield the super expensive marblecake most people desire. With these walnuts, super fancy grain and the strongest layout are often at odds. With other walnuts, fancy grain usually comes in the form of either fiddleback (which appears in quartersawn wood) or crotch/flame grain, which comes from the joint areas of the tree, but is still basically a quartersawn blank. The goal is generally the fanciest grain in a stock that is strong enough for the intende service. The blank you pick for a .375 is probably not the one you would likely pick for a .505. If serviceabiity is the only criteria, then I would go synthetic in this day and time.

Ditto above.

Yes!
Tigerstriped-quartersawn wood turn my crank!

Fiddleback or tigerstriping may show up in the best radial-grained cut, whether perfectly quartersawn/riftsawn
or from that very center slab through the heartwood on either side of the diameter and center of the plainsawn log.
Marblecake "beauty, weakness, and warpage" comes from the cuts more tangential than radial.

A single tree trunk log/crotch/rootball might easily be split into two halves, one to be quartersawn, and the other to be plainsawn.
It takes all types to make the world go round.

I like this stock, 207-ish.
Might even make this M700 .458 WinMag (at Champlin's) interesting,
except for the cartoonish buffalo on the floorplate:

Yeah, really nice.

Rip, I went with the slab-sawn 208.
Perhaps not the strongest, but the gunmaker recommended it.

Yep, here's another pretty one from Champlin's:

G'Day Fella's,

I don't profess to be a stock expert but I reckon the pick of the bunch is blank 219 and then blank 215!

Doh!
Homer