i'm really wanting to get a maple stock for at least one of the rifles i will be having built for me. how strong is maple? is maple as strong or stronger than walnut? what kind of maple should i be looking for? i really like a pic that was ent to me of a rifle being built with a maple stock that looked like it has tiger stripes.

Maple should be stronger.

Janka Hardness rating
Maple-1450
Walnut- 1010

thanks very much for that info. with that info in mind it's a sure thing i will have my first rifle built with a maple stock. i really like the way good maple looks and the strength just makes it all the more appealing to me.

Pez; You will find Maple very suitable for a gunstock. The figure can be just outstanding, with many grain variants - fiddleback, flame, birdseye etc that can be just outstanding. Some stocks are stained / scorched to further bring out the figure. Should you go this way eventually post some pics. --- John303.

quote:

Originally posted by John303.:
Pez; You will find Maple very suitable for a gunstock. The figure can be just outstanding, with many grain variants - fiddleback, flame, birdseye etc that can be just outstanding. Some stocks are stained / scorched to further bring out the figure. Should you go this way eventually post some pics. --- John303.

i am definately going to use Maple for the stock of the first rifle i'm having built. i am new to picking out my own wood and don't know very much about it yet. i've heard fiddleback mentioned quite a fewtimes, so what is it and what does it look like? Flame sounds interesting too. what is it like? like i said i really like the pic my gunsmith sent to me of the maple stock that looked like tiger stripes.

Pez; I suggest you Google <Cecil Fredi> on his site you can see a few examples. Cecil is good to deal with and if you ask him he will Email you some pics. of blanks he has. Tell him you wish to see the different grains of maple. --- john303.

quote:

Originally posted by John303.:
Pez; I suggest you Google <Cecil Fredi> on his site you can see a few examples. Cecil is good to deal with and if you ask him he will Email you some pics. of blanks he has. Tell him you wish to see the different grains of maple. --- john303.

i will do that. thanks again, you have been very helpful.

Cecil Fredi's website is a BIG help to me.

When I was in gunsmith school maple was the inexpensive stockwood of that time. Especially the plainer blanks. It sounds like what you want is a nice piece of fiddle back and stain it properly to bring out the stripes. I personally like birdseye much better but put quite simply it's a bitch to work. The bidseyes being hard little suckers. Curley maple is pretty also. I liked purple heart or vermillion for a tip on maple.

depending on the type of maple it can be a bit lighter than walnut. I prefer the silverish clear color to that of stained maple. Here's a stock that came from Royal in the 1980's for a Swedish mauser.

quote:

Originally posted by zimbabwe:
When I was in gunsmith school maple was the inexpensive stockwood of that time. Especially the plainer blanks. It sounds like what you want is a nice piece of fiddle back and stain it properly to bring out the stripes. I personally like birdseye much better but put quite simply it's a bitch to work. The bidseyes being hard little suckers. Curley maple is pretty also. I liked purple heart or vermillion for a tip on maple.

i REALLY like the fiddleback maple, i was just looking again at the pic the gunsmith sent me right before i came back here. i need to take a look at birdseye again to see what it looks like. i haven't thought of purple heart or vermillion for a tip but it sounds like a good idea to me and i'm also thinking of walnut for a fore-end tip. what first got me wanting a rifle with a maple stock was a 1974 Andy Griffith movie called ''Savages'' in the movie Andy's character hunts with a 30-06 with a maple stock with dark colored fore-end tip. if you ever get a chance watch that movie.Andy's character hires a guy as a guide on a bighorn hunt, then when Andy accidentally shoots an old man who lives in the area the guide wants to report the accident but Andy will have none of it and the guide finds himself stranded in the desert fighting for his life against Andy and the elements. a pretty good movie i think and i even bought a copy on VHS a few years back. the movie is also on youtube if you type in ''Savages 74'' at the very least you can see the rifle in the first 10 minutes of the movie.

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
depending on the type of maple it can be a bit lighter than walnut. I prefer the silverish clear color to that of stained maple. Here's a stock that came from Royal in the 1980's for a Swedish mauser.

i really like that stock! the fore-end and grip cap are very close to the same color i saw on the rifle that i am patterning my rifle after. what kind of fore-end is that?

Curly red maple makes a fine gunstock but can be difficult to checker.

They are bubinga. I think Colt (Sauer) used bubinga for their big bore rifle. It's a heavy wood but for just a tip and cap it's no biggy.

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
They are bubinga. I think Colt (Sauer) used bubinga for their big bore rifle. It's a heavy wood but for just a tip and cap it's no biggy.

thanks. i've never heard of it before but i'm glad you told me about it. i'm going to google it and findout more about it. i like it a lot. i think it's the closest i've seen to the fore-end on the rifle i'm copying.

quote:

Originally posted by Reverend Recoil:
Curly red maple makes a fine gunstock but can be difficult to checker.

i'll check that type out again on the stock websites i've been looking at. thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by Pez:
i'm really wanting to get a maple stock for at least one of the rifles i will be having built for me. how strong is maple? is maple as strong or stronger than walnut? what kind of maple should i be looking for? i really like a pic that was ent to me of a rifle being built with a maple stock that looked like it has tiger stripes.

Maples is generally Harder than most Walnut but its not really "stronger" .The grain fibers in Maple are shorter than Walnut and Hickory. Which is why you never see Maple ax handles and the reason why the new Maple Baseball bats shatter so much on the baseball field.

Areas like the wrists on pistol grips are more vulnerable to breakage IMHO that with walnut.

I do LOVE Maple and overall for a Sporting gunstock it's just fine.

quote:

Originally posted by jim62:

quote:

Originally posted by Pez:
i'm really wanting to get a maple stock for at least one of the rifles i will be having built for me. how strong is maple? is maple as strong or stronger than walnut? what kind of maple should i be looking for? i really like a pic that was ent to me of a rifle being built with a maple stock that looked like it has tiger stripes.

Maples is generally Harder than most Walnut but its not really "stronger" .The grain fibers in Maple are shorter than Walnut and Hickory. Which is why you never see Maple ax handles and the reason why the new Maple Baseball bats shatter so much on the baseball field.

Areas like the wrists on pistol grips are more vulnerable to breakage IMHO that with walnut.

I do LOVE Maple and overall for a Sporting gunstock it's just fine.

how about for a dangerous game rifle? i know of someone having a .450 Rigby built with a beautiful maple stock.

Here's a Colt Sauer in 30-06 that passed through my hands a few years back.







Alan

that is very nice looking wood.

I finished a martini in big leaf maple that I gave the stain treatmnt. I'll email you pictures if your interested . To complicated to post pictures here. Will need your email of course.

I've worked with bird's eye maple...nice looking stock.

TRACK OF THE WOLF has info and supplies for finishing maple stocks.

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/...List.aspx?catId=5#66

I really am not putting a dog in this fight, I love highly figured maple myslf.
I spent three years searching for a rifle blank that is spalted hard maple and crazy curl.
I finally found it.



That is rare. It is going on a little Kimber of Oregon model 82 .22 rimfire that shoots 5 shot one hole groups.

Jim62 is ten kinds of accurate in his statement though.
"Hard" wood does not translate to being better for gunstocks.
Equal amounts of strength in regards to hardness and flexible are what is important.
Being flexible comes from long fibers.

Maple fibers are only about 3 to 5 inches in length.
Same with black walnut and bastogne.
Claro is also short fiber and loose fibers.

What makes juglans regia the king of all hardwoods for stock making is the fibers are over twice that length.

Being very flexible under recoil is great! And too when being checkered the cutter is not always going over the ends of fibers thereby getting "fuzzy" checkering.

Everyone has opinions about gunstock wood.
Species, type of cut and they all have valid points.
No one can ever argue against the long fibers being better though.

Years ago I took a large pile of 2" by 2" random length pieces of wood from popular gunstock species and subjected them to blows from a DULL axe while they were laying on my short mowed grass in the yard.
Maple always broke on the second blow.

Juglans Regia took on average 6 blows.
I am 6 foot tall, 195 pounds, and I can swing an axe.
After that a lot of the fiber length benefits made sense to me.

All that being said, maple DOES make a wonderful gunstock material.
It is beautiful and 95% of the time you will never have a problem.
Like I have said I too like it. Birdseye maple is one of the rarest woods around.

I would however stay away from western bigleaf maple on a heavy kicking rifle.
It is a different bird than eastern sugar, rock, or red maple.
Silver maple is about on par with western big leaf, but I tend to think it is still superior to its western brother.
It does however get crazy curl.

just my two cents after spending years cutting up wood and torturing it in the field and back yard.

One other point.

I would source the maple out of Michigan.

The upper North-west in general is where the better maple comes from.
Still some real old growth stuff to be found in parts of Michigan and Apalachian regions.

quote:

Originally posted by Pez:

quote:

Originally posted by jim62:

quote:

Originally posted by Pez:
i'm really wanting to get a maple stock for at least one of the rifles i will be having built for me. how strong is maple? is maple as strong or stronger than walnut? what kind of maple should i be looking for? i really like a pic that was ent to me of a rifle being built with a maple stock that looked like it has tiger stripes.

Maples is generally Harder than most Walnut but its not really "stronger" .The grain fibers in Maple are shorter than Walnut and Hickory. Which is why you never see Maple ax handles and the reason why the new Maple Baseball bats shatter so much on the baseball field.

Areas like the wrists on pistol grips are more vulnerable to breakage IMHO that with walnut.

I do LOVE Maple and overall for a Sporting gunstock it's just fine.

how about for a dangerous game rifle? i know of someone having a .450 Rigby built with a beautiful maple stock.

Read my post again.

Then think about it.

No- I would not stock a dangerous game rifle in Maple.

When the "blonde" wood look was all the rage on California style stocks , Roy Weatherby used a lot of North West grown American Mytrlewood. Why? Because Myrtle in terms of it;s grain structure and grain fiber length is very, very similar to fine walnut.

I would stock any normal use rifle in Maple and not think anything about it, but a DGR is not a normal usage rifle, IMHO.

Let's all not confuse beauty with utility here.

Maple's problems as a gunstock material are very real, which is most of the reason why it has not been more popular over the last several hundred yeas for that use.

quote:

Originally posted by jim62:

quote:

Originally posted by Pez:

quote:

Originally posted by jim62:

quote:

Originally posted by Pez:
i'm really wanting to get a maple stock for at least one of the rifles i will be having built for me. how strong is maple? is maple as strong or stronger than walnut? what kind of maple should i be looking for? i really like a pic that was ent to me of a rifle being built with a maple stock that looked like it has tiger stripes.

Maples is generally Harder than most Walnut but its not really "stronger" .The grain fibers in Maple are shorter than Walnut and Hickory. Which is why you never see Maple ax handles and the reason why the new Maple Baseball bats shatter so much on the baseball field.

Areas like the wrists on pistol grips are more vulnerable to breakage IMHO that with walnut.

I do LOVE Maple and overall for a Sporting gunstock it's just fine.

how about for a dangerous game rifle? i know of someone having a .450 Rigby built with a beautiful maple stock.

Read my post again.

Then think about it.

No- I would not stock a dangerous game rifle in Maple.

When the "blonde" wood look was all the rage on California style stocks , Roy Weatherby used a lot of North West grown American Mytrlewood. Why? Because Myrtle in terms of it;s grain structure and grain fiber length is very, very similar to fine walnut.

I would stock any normal use rifle in Maple and not think anything about it, but a DGR is not a normal usage rifle, IMHO.

Let's all not confuse beauty with utility here.

Maple's problems as a gunstock material are very real, which is most of the reason why it has not been more popular over the last several hundred yeas for that use.

Are you thinking of Screwbean Mesquite?? That is just about the toughest and most stable wood there is. Roy used some of that on the big boys.

Boss Hoss, Glad you mentioned the Screwbean Mesquite. If you want to see sparks fly put a chisel into this wood. Over the years I have used most types of stock wood.

Who has a source for screwbean mesquite?

i really hate to hear that about maple and dangerous game rifles because that's what i was planning on. but even if i don't get maple for my big bore i will definately get it for the 25-06 i'll be getting built. i love the way maple looks as a stock and i've just got to have at least one rifle with a maple stock but i really hope i'll get more. i'd like to have a 30-06 with maple stock just like the original rifle i saw that got me started on maple in the first place. i really like that pic of that maple blank,i haven't seen a whole lot of maple blanks yet but from what i have seen that blank looks quite unique to me. thanks very much for all the helpful info and pics guys.

Les there is an outfit in Utah that just logged some, but they say it is a year or two away from being cured yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Pez:
i really hate to hear that about maple and dangerous game rifles because that's what i was planning on. but even if i don't get maple for my big bore i will definately get it for the 25-06 i'll be getting built. i love the way maple looks as a stock and i've just got to have at least one rifle with a maple stock but i really hope i'll get more. i'd like to have a 30-06 with maple stock just like the original rifle i saw that got me started on maple in the first place. i really like that pic of that maple blank,i haven't seen a whole lot of maple blanks yet but from what i have seen that blank looks quite unique to me. thanks very much for all the helpful info and pics guys.

Paz,

Frankly in terms of resale and overall style taste, a Blonde colored stock seems to "fit" the personality of a fast smallbore rifle9and it usage" than it would on a DGR anyway.

Somber, dark very well laid out walnut done in a Severe American or English classic style is a better overall investment of your time and money in a big bore than a "Blonde bombshell" type build.

I would save the maple for the 25-06.

This is a Maple stock I had done by Accurate Innovations, I like mine a lot!

quote:

Originally posted by Boss Hoss

Are you thinking of Screwbean Mesquite?? That is just about the toughest and most stable wood there is. Roy used some of that on the big boys.

No Boss, I was thinking of Myrtlewood, just like I stated. I realize that Weatherby used some mesquite, but he used more Myrtle overall.

Mesquite is a very hard and somewhat brittle wood. Some of it I have seen seems to have the same shortness of grain fibers s Maple, especially Texas mesquite. It is hard wood though.

quote:

Originally posted by jim62:

quote:

Originally posted by Boss Hoss

Are you thinking of Screwbean Mesquite?? That is just about the toughest and most stable wood there is. Roy used some of that on the big boys.

No Boss, I was thinking of Myrtlewood, just like I stated. I realize that Weatherby used some mesquite, but he used more Myrtle overall.

Mesquite is a very hard and somewhat brittle wood. Some of it I have seen seems to have the same shortness of grain fibers s Maple, especially Texas mesquite. It is hard wood though.

Well actually I have a few Screwbean blanks and this is one of my rifles I had my buddy run through the Marlin factory as a custom. It is a non factory configuration with a non factory wood type in fact the Only Marlin ever built with Screwbean Mesquite!! This is the toughest wood stock to ever go on a Marlin!! I sent the pics to Gordon to put on his site...

Screwbean is unique and has completely different fibers than Honey for example. Only 1 blank in 10 will make it to finish stage because as it dries it twists!! When it is stable it has no peer for stability and strength. Also, no one is cutting it because it is controlled and grows only in the harshest conditions we have to offer lol.

http://www.oldtreegunblanks.com/gallery.shtml


It is also Very expensive so be prepared to those who are interested in using it.

quote:

Originally posted by LesBrooks:
Boss Hoss, Glad you mentioned the Screwbean Mesquite. If you want to see sparks fly put a chisel into this wood. Over the years I have used most types of stock wood.

Who has a source for screwbean mesquite?

Les---Do you want to do one for me?????? Your replacement in Trinidad does not want to work with it LOL!! I took them all up there to let him see them and said he would "cook" with them!!!

He likes the nice walnut but he is going to finish one of Ken Howells rifles that I got from Ken in componets! Bet you cannot guess what kind of wood it is--I left it with him and he had had it now for a couple of years -- stable now. No fair calling him and asking !!! It was his idea and he wants to do it!

Pawn shop find, FN Mauser action



http://i493.photobucket.com/al...unter/P1210394-1.jpg

michael458 and tom ga hunter those are both very very nice looking rifles with absolutely beautiful wood. thanks for the pics.

quote:

Originally posted by Pez:
i'm really wanting to get a maple stock for at least one of the rifles i will be having built for me. how strong is maple? is maple as strong or stronger than walnut? what kind of maple should i be looking for? i really like a pic that was ent to me of a rifle being built with a maple stock that looked like it has tiger stripes.

Maple with "tiger stripes" is called fiddleback.

Here's a look at mine:

Here's my maple stocked 22-250. It's the bottom one in my small stable of thumbhole stocked Model 70 rifles: The other thumbholes are (top to bottom): 270 Win. in Tiger Myrtle, 375 H&H in Bastogne Walnut, 300 WSM in Fiddleback Myrtle, and 22-250 Rem. in Shell Maple.

RaySendero and Use Enough Gun those are some amazingly beautiful maple stocks. thanks for posting! i enjoy just looking at stocks like those. and yeah, while looking around on the internet i just foundout that the tigerstripe looking maple is called fiddleback and that is what i'm wanting for my first maple stocked rifle which will most likely be a 25-06 but i'm sure i will get at least one other rifle with a maple stock and i may get it in another type of maple. anyone else that owns rifles with maple stocks post pics if you can. i enjoy just looking at the beautiful maple wood and it also helps give me an idea of what i want for my rifles. i might have one of my Remington model 700s restocked with maple also. i bet it would be great for my .17 Remington.