Having an argument with someone about this gun. One opinion says the figuring in the walnut is natural, another says it's artificially painted.

What do you think? Also, does it look like American walnut, or Turkish walnut?

I'll take a chance at being wrong; natural and American. I hope you and I agree and are right.

Looks like quarter-sawn American Walnut to me.

Looks like dyed birch

American Black walnut no question.

While I agree with the American Black Walnut response remember that it grows all over the country under every condition, Therefore huge variations can be found in color weight hardness.

Looks like walnut to me, seen plenty of factory stocks with that pattern. Sure hope that the grain pattern through the wrist is more horizontal.

I have seen real USA walnut and "painted" inexpensive Turkish walnut that looks like that.

Is that a metal escutcheon plate on the stock?


May we hear a bit more of the gun maker and rifle?

Slab of black walnut, Its not quarter sawn, its slab sawed..Cheap wood but usable for a working rifle..

Nice looking piece of walnut, but I would not want it on a rifle in a caliber with significant recoil.

Very porous black walnut.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Slab of black walnut, Its not quarter sawn, its slab sawed..Cheap wood but usable for a working rifle..

100% - slab sawn, black walnut -- more than likely from a youngish tree and in mid-trunk -

black walnut = american

while there is plain and porous european walnut, it looks very much different - and "english" french, and turkish are all the same species, while "black" or american walnut is a different species -- that makes an infertile hybrid, commonly called bastogne

Thanks people. So the general agreement is that it's American walnut. Is there an agreement too that the grain is natural and not applied?

It's a Benelli semi auto.

sure looks like american walnut, and while likely dyed to bring out color, the grain is natural

My argument wins then. I thought the grain was natural even if the color was not. Thank you all

The grain on your stock is natural, the finish being what brings out the grain and will darken it to various degrees, and applications, not to mention what finish you use. Im not into dye as I don't care for it, or find it useful, with the one exception exception of Alkanet root, or for patch work, not to mention its hard to use.

Your blank is natural with a satin oil modified finish is my best guess..Properly inletted American black, Claro or Bastogne will take all the recoil in the world, its tough stuff if grown in a proper region, properly cured/dryed. The three are hard shell walnut, Bastogne is the strongest and the heaviest of the hard shells..American walnut is used on the majority of factory rifles including the .458 Win not to mention the big sharps rifles..It suffers a bad rap because someone said so, and many believed. There are only two kinds of walnut, soft shell and hard shell. The wood is named from its geographical location.

American walnut or hard shell walnut is not my choice of wood, I prefer the soft shell and that being Russian/Turkish from the Russian/Turkish border that's got 100 year old trees that grew in the harish of weather..Black walnut grown in such climes would be probably as strong, but its not grown under such duress that I know of, its also much heavier, whereas the European such as soft shell French is very light and every bit as strong..Most of my stocks are the Russian varity soft shell.

Soft shell English grown in California is somewhat inferior to the Overseas wood due to weather conditions IMO..Its mostly grown on a ditch bank in California..

Claro is a pretty wood with a dark red matrix and tiger striping in some cases, and its a cross bred wood, as is Bastogne. Bastogne has a different grain with vertical color varitions and its pretty.

All that said, there are exceptions, The late Tony Barnes gave me a beautiful blood red tiger stripped Claro blank, that's light, and harder than woodpecker lips and took 32 LPI checkering and would have taken more..I have no explanation for the exceptions but they are rare indeed..

Could write a book on gunstock wood, but you should get the idea..Damn few people know good wood, many think they do, but its a complicated learning process, as a matter of fact. I know an individual that can smell the root and tell you how hard the wood is! I really do and he is always 100% dead on.