Okay.....need some input here. There are at least two stock blanks in this slab of black walnut. I would like any and all opinions on where they should be.

I agree with Billy, but would stipulate that the top of the "diagonal" stock would be next to the sapwood, fore-ends of both stocks pointing to the left. You would see the left side of the upper stock and the right side of the lower. Confused yet?

Interesting......that leaves me some room for a 2 piece jobby also. The slab is 37" wide and 4 feet tall.

if its as long as I think, I would cut the first won diag right above the sap wood, second if there is room would be straight across the top.

Looks to me like you have enough for 2 at the top (forends left, butts right side), one right under the other, then enough left at the bottom for a two piece set. Stunning wood. Even the sapwood is nice. It should go to a matched pair of exhibition rifles.

Bill,

This maybe a dumb question whats the measurements

Do you have a ruler for scale? To me it looks like it will make a great pair of grips for a Luger.

Yep......graduation presents for two boys who live here. Both 7x57 on Mauser actions. 22" barrels. Blackburn bottom metal, engraved by Roger Kehr....etc etc etc. They are only in jr. high right now but if I dont get started pretty soon Im not going to make the deadline

This might help...



Right click on the picture, save it to "my pictures", then once you've saved it, go back in and right click on the picture. In the menu items you can "open with", and then choose "paint". In the paint feature on your computer you can draw where you would cut the blank. After you have drawn your stock blanks, go to file on the top of your menu bar and choose "Save as...", save it (be sure to add a digit or letter to the name of the file, or you will destroy the original), then host the picture on Hunting Pictures and show us all where you would cut the blanks.



If you need more info on how to do this, E-Mail me at jdbabcock@integrity.com

I seen one really well laid-out blank at the top, running almost parallel to the top edge. I'd want to turn this piece over for a look-see before I made another selection............

AD

For example...

(Don't give me a hard time now, I know nothing about cutting stock blanks )

Post deleted. I made a mistake.



AD

I see one one piece blank on the top as I think I saw a pic of somebody's computer drawing. The rest would be for two piece butt stocks. Just a amateur opinion. Will be curious to see what conclusions are come to.

Bill,
Send it over to me. I will even pay the shipping and I willc cut it for you. I will do my best and OOOPS, I screwed up, it is gone, wasted, send me the other one you have and I will do it right this time.

Okay on a more serious note. Don Cantwell told me once that the stockcutters rule of thumb was to lay out the absolute best one first and that is the important one. The rest will yield what it does. He also said that sometimes the best one would screw up the rest of the piece and he often looked at the best two in some cases. I would not hazard a guess without seeing it first hand. Might be able to get over there a bit later this month.

I am going to grab that photo and see what I can do with a pattern.

Sheister,

Thanks for the response - Im taking notes on everyone's opinions and I will be laying the blanks out and looking things over, then erasing and trying another suggestion etc. I dont have any intention of selling any of the wood. Im going to squeeze every last inch out of this stuff. Its over 30 years dry, dense, and the figure......well you can see it.

Geez Bill, I wish I had your problem! I think the best way to handle this is to cut one stock down low right next to the sap wood and parallel to it, foreend toward the left, then send the rest of the wood to me so you won't have to worry about where the other stock will go. I'll take good care of it and send you pictures when I'm done!

OTOH, you could cut the second blank diagonally, with the foreend just above the first stock, and the butt pointing to a point about midway of the right hand side. If I am seeing the picture properly, that will line up the grain pretty well to run through the grip for good orientation and still have lots of figure from end to end. You'll still have plenty left for several 2 piece or shotgun stock blanks.
Want to sell a piece of that root ball?- Sheister

Bill,

Another thing that you could do, if you know the pattern that you are going to want to use, take another picture of the pattern right above the block of wood, then in the picture they will be relationally the same size (if you took from another picture getting the size down right might be a problem). Then do the whole photo magic and drag this around. If you want some help I can lend you a hand. If you take a pick like that I can put together for you every which way you could get things on there.

Can you take a pic with more light? I am thinking that if you are making a matched pair, to get them as close to possible, you might want to cut them both going diagonally with the forend facing the the left of that blank. If that would fit two stocks there then I think that would give you the most similar grain in the butt.

Red

Talk about getting me all worked up again. I was really hoping that this blank was the one you mentioned to me. Now I am going to have go sulk some more.

Yeah buddy......now we're talking.....I think I had a slight stroke when I saw the layout. I have a pattern board....I bet you draw around it for quite a while before you decided on the right mix of rifle and two piece blanks.....thanks for the visual.

Bill, this is what I was thinking, now, Chic and You know WAY MORE than I ever will, so i don't know anything about how the grain flow or such might weaken etc. This is just what I thought when you said you were doing a matched set, look how close the two blanks would be to each other. I took and traced Chic's lines and then moved them around, so they should be the right dimensions.



Red

Bill,

Since you only wanted two rifle blanks and a two piece, I'll take the one at the bottom, it close to the sap wood and you probably wouldnt want that one anyway

Chic,

Well the slab is not quite here yet.....but Im working on it. I can understand Don Cantwell's advice but damn that is a tough call. Looking at the slabs I dont think that a guy could go wrong laying the blanks out in several different ways. The figure doesnt die off anywhere really. But what do I know. I will let you look it over in person. Thanks!

Bill I tried these and thought the two I did were vastly different. Not the case. It needs to be done with a pattern board looking for the best blanks. Obvious though that the "scraps" will make some nice 2 piece stocks.

Grips for a 155mm Luger YES!!!