I have a French or English walnut stock blank. Dimensions are 8"x3"x44" by 2 3/8" thick. The blank is over 50 years old and is very hard and has beautiful dark color and figure as well as symetrical on both sides. I believe it is rift sawn, but hard to determine. It does have an imperfection on the top of the stock, but should be able to be avoided when shaping. I've included a picture with an outline of a stock that shows the imperfection. The stock outline is very generous sized and has a 6" butt dimension. Obviously it could also be used for 2 pc single shot or double rifle, or a shotgun.
Can anyone provide an estimate of value for this blank? Thanks in advance.

Surely someone has an idea of what they would ask for a blank like this, or what they would pay for one. I would appreciate your help.

That is a no win question.

$300-$800? But I've paid $150 for a blank without that big defect right at the wrist. Sorry to say, without seeing it in person, that would kill it for me.

Thanks. FWIW, that is not a structural defect and doesn't affect the grain and the wood is sound below it. It's more like a void.

For some reason, I can't get pics to enlarge, so cannot really see grain pattern or defect which makes my valuation suspect to say the lease. ASSUMING the defect is not a rifle blank usage deal killer, I'd put it at $400-500. If it was really French walnut, a bit more. IMO, if it has to be cut to a 2 piece stock, that would lower value by about $100 or so.

I can't enlarge either, but looks to me like the fore end grain is taking a pretty severe "detour"

Sometimes, the grain does not follow the mater marks and If that were the case, the blank would take on a higher value and you might have a good one piece

Are you certain this is not a Bastogne blank?

Thanks, Duane. No, I'm not sure it is not a Bastogne blank.It came from the estate of an old time stockmaker/gunsmith. Some of the lighter colored water marks and some of the fiddleback look like Bastogne I've seen. It is heavy and shows little pores. Not sure how to tell the difference between English and Bastogne if they have similar color and grain. The grain in the forearm pretty much runs in the same direction as the blank, both from the top and the side. I think what you are seeing are some fairly deep circular saw marks.
These thumbnails should be able to be enlarged,altho I see more saw marks and water marks than grain. I sanded a section of the top of the forearm section and the grain is running with the blank.

I first saw it I called it American. Bastogne maybe.

A lot of fiddleback for english.

But looking at the flaw and what I can see on the bottom I'd bet your a that issue is deeper than you think.

I guess I get to keep my ass as there is nothing on the bottom except straight grain and I have probed and dissected the flaw and it stops where it shows on the side of the blank. However, you can think what you want.

Hmm...you might have a keeper! If it's heavy, I'd bet it's Bastogne. Some folks are really wild about that and usually makes a good stock for a heavy hitter.

Thanks, Duane. I think you are correct.

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:
I first saw it I called it American. Bastogne maybe.

A lot of fiddleback for english.

But looking at the flaw and what I can see on the bottom I'd bet your a that issue is deeper than you think.

My ass is gone. I got out the rasp and determined to make sure I could get into good wood. You were right - it was deeper than I thought. As I probed, it changed direction. When I finally finished, I had a notch that was almost to the top of the white outline in my earlier pictures. I think it could still work out as a one piece, but could sure be cut for two piece.

Well crap. That was a I would have rather lost.

The silver lining is you know it now and can plan to save what you can of that pretty wood.

I hate the hidden flaws. I was cutting a customer stock a month or two ago. My guess a $1500-2000 stock. Outside was perfect. Probably 50% of the grip was a flaw. I stopped and sent it back. He and the supplier are trying to work something out.

Id say its california English, Bastogne tends to have little squares in its pattern, most Bastogne looks alike, this is just some nice fiddleback with a hole in it you could blow smoke thru I betcha..I can buy a stock like that for less than $200 with such a flaw..You can cut it for a 2 piece or glass up the hole and it would make a better stock than a factory stock..As for a 2 piece, it would be a nice butt stock with a forend that won't quite match IMO..A dark butt and a light forend doesn't suit me..Call Bill Dowtin, Old world walnut.com and ask him what you can get for $400..

A two piece stock, unless of striking English doesn't have much value. Sometimes, a sharp guy with a duplicator can tip, cant, screw around with layout and save the day.

John Vest..and others... might be able to pull it off.

My inexperience opinion, this blank should not be considered as high end.

One see many of these type of blanks for around $250

Where?

quote:

Originally posted by RugerBoy:
My inexperience opinion, this blank should not be considered as high end.

One see many of these type of blanks for around $250

Really, sign me up for all the blanks like that you can find for $250.

Now that I can enlarge pics and see fiddleback, I tend to agree with Bastogne. Assuming you could work around defect it is a great looking stock.

I have a Turkish two piece blank Id sell for $300 plus $25, postage, no flaws in it. matching wood. I don't consider it high end but its damn sure a nice two piece stock, properly laid out and contrasting lines..I have had it since 1982.

I too have noticed that one can purchase some really excellent two piece blanks for reasonable money, and the question I have always had in the back of my mind is how it would work out to properly join the two together to get a really nice blank for a price much lower than if it were one piece.

If the joinery was excellent and were "masked" somewhat by being in a spot where checkering was located it might be a reasonable deal if both of the piece of wood were quite similar.

Anybody tried it?

I've seen discussion of double barrels that received butt transplants to avoid having to inlet around the action. Joint is covered by checkering.
Depending on size and layout, I would think a similar technique could be used on a 2 piece blank for a rifle.

I just can't see joining a forearm and butt blank to make a rifle blank. Not that it can't be done, mind you. But why bother?! Just cough it up and do it right. The cost of hand fitting and finishing would far out weigh what might be save, and there's always the possibility the joint might fail. While I was in school, and we were making our "tang style" stock ( a required, then), the guy across the bench from me made a beauty using a really nice piece of English. The fitting must not have been correct, because it broke all the way through with the first shell fired. Probably 100hrs + lost, plus the cost of the blank. That's the hard way to learn about proper wood to metal fit! And that's all it'd take, a 'not good' wood to metal fit, and you could have 2 pieces in stead of one.

So the guy pieced together a stock and the first time he shot it, it failed. I am trying to understand how that could happen.

Didn't he dowel it and glue it properly?

And wouldn't all of the pressure be on the rear part of the stock, and very little if any pressure be on the front part of the stock where the barrel is. and Maybe no pressure at all if the barrel was free floated?

I wonder how many ebony forend tips break off from the pressure of shooting a rifle?

Don't know what caliber that was, but you have inertia plus holding on to the fore end. A fore end tip weighs almost nothing and a proper inletting job should leave the tip material itself BARELY free floating, as well as the dowels, glue or sometimes even bolts

No...this is not a sound idea...save those two piece blanks for the proper application

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Don't know what caliber that was, but you have inertia plus holding on to the fore end. A fore end tip weighs almost nothing and a proper inletting job should leave the tip material itself BARELY free floating, as well as the dowels, glue or sometimes even bolts

No...this is not a sound idea...save those two piece blanks for the proper application

Any thought on butt transplants for doubles? I know David Trevallion, former Purdey's stockmaker, and other respected stockmakers have done butt transplants on up to .577 NE.

Lindy, the example I gave above was of a solid, very nice, English blank on a tang style shotgun, 12g. A solid blank can fail if there's not a proper wood to metal fit, this one broke right through the wrist. As for gluing up a 2 piece to make a one piece, only an idiot would go there or a cheapskate, or an idiot cheapskate. About the same as many phone calls I get; "I want the best, it has to be perfect, but I don't want to spend much". That just doesn't 'fly' in the real world in any endeavor.

It can be done, but I wouldn't even consider a joined butt stock...a forend tip? certainly they are all joined..pistol grips, I did a 577 Navy Arms double to keep it original at the pistol, and yest hid the break with checkering, but it had a threaded steel bar from one end to the other, some hidden pins and glass..Its still working but I didn't guarantee it for sure..I can't think of another reason to do such a thing and tried to talk the guy out of it, but he insisted..I didn't charge him for it..that said I don't consider it a practical option, nor even a suitable one..restock the gun is always my advise..