The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Gunsmithing Buying gun stock blanks, who's best to buy fromGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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Just recently have interest wood stocks, I purchased a blank from Dressel on line, having it sent to a guy in PA to have it turned. Have also spoke with Wrights, he has some nice blanks also, and his blanks are large enought for a DGR. Some of Dressels are on the skinny side. Anyway, just wanted some imput on others that I might want to look at that they have (West Coast English walnut), looked at the typical ones on the internet. Figured there would be some that I might not know of. I would told a place in Santa Barbara Ca clled Calico Hardwoods was good to deal with but nobody answers and no answering machine at that number. Comments please. | ||
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Cecil Fredi sold me a rather nice blank after sending me many pictures to choose from. See http://www.gunstockblanks.com/ I almost bought from Dressels, but his website photos are so small that it's hard to be sure what is what. On the other hand, I never asked him for better pictures either. Brent | |||
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Billy, I use Dressels almost exclusively now. They are only 90 minutes or so away from me so it is a fairly quick trip unless Paul and I get talking guns. They have a lot of California "English" blanks and I have seen a lot of them that would be suitable for a DG rifle. | |||
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Try www.gobywalnut.com . They have a pretty nice website ad very good pictures of most of their blanks. If you're looking for Fiddleback maple, I know where quite a bit of it is available, for a very good price.- Sheister | |||
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Quote: I'm confused by that statement, Brent. Clicking on an individual stock from Dressel's site gives me the largest picture I've seen on any other gunstock blank site. Typically 3200+ X 300 pixels. GV | |||
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Quote:Quote: Whaddya know? Sure enough, you do get a bigger better picture - a bit fuzzy in the ones I just looked at, but not too bad. When I did this a year ago, I got basically the same picture repeated again, at the same size. Brent | |||
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I have had great success and very nice blanks from Robert at WATTS WALNUT . I own 3 of his blanks. Robert is a joy to do business with and the 3 blanks I own are very nice. Just my opine! | |||
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Thanks guys for sending the links, a couple I had never heard of and have calls into Doyal at Wrights was very accomdating, he sent many pics, the one I bought still has about 23% moisture content. He said on the coast where he is located they can only get down to about 15% moisture. I'm on the Texas coast so he guessed I should let it cure for at least 5-6 more mo, he wasnt sure how humid it was here, I guess about the same or slightly more humid where I am located. The blank was cut from seasoned wood, and has cured about a yr so far. He talked in detail about storing it and weighting etc., to determine moisture content. This blank will be fine down the road, but still need to buy one short term for my current project, guess I better buy another. | |||
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The above are all very good. I have also had good success with www.heritagewalnut.com, www.mako.com/bastogne/rimrock.htm, and Preslik's. | |||
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Ditto on Paul and Sharon Dressel! Great people, great wood, good prices and service. I’ve bought four blanks from them in the last year and couldn’t be happier with them. | |||
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Billy get in touch with Roger Vardi in Australia. He sent me several photos and I visited with David Christman before purchasing. He went out of his way for me. I did have one person say he had a bad experience, but the rest were real happy. Butch | |||
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Around here we are cutting mostly Dressels and Luxus wood. Preslik's is another good bet but his wood needs to finish drying a bit more before using it. Dressels and Luxus are ready to go. | |||
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okay, dang it... you got my interest opinions vary band of bubbas and STC hunting Club Information on Ammoguide about the416AR, 458AR, 470AR, 500AR What is an AR round? Case Drawings 416-458-470AR and 500AR. 476AR, http://www.weaponsmith.com | |||
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TRY oldworldwalnut.com.The wood is real circassian from some of the oldest forests on the globe. No Turkish steaming | |||
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Brent, If you call Sharon she is real good at describing the blanks and pointing out any differences in the pictures. It’s hard to take those pictures and have them be 100% accurate in coloring. They are also really good at taking returns as long as you haven’t done anything to the wood other than wet it down with water to see the color and grain. | |||
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I've bought blanks from the Dressel's and Steve Heilmann. And without hesitation I recommend both and will buy from both again. Heilmann's English stash is absolutely stunning at that. I like Heilmann's gradng system the best. Stephen Heilmann | |||
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Brent has good advice here. I've bought several blanks from Cecil and have yet to be disappointed! Quality dealer for sure. He will e-mail pictures so you can view his wares online. | |||
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Jeffe e-mail Roger at rvardy@netc.net.au. Give Roger a price range and a caliber and he will send you a bunch of good photos. When David got my blank, he said it was harder than a preacher's d**k. He said it will be excellent for my Lott. It was also cured to his satisfaction. Butch | |||
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Just to show you what nice people the Dressel’s are to their customers I just got off the phone with Sharon and I started the conversation in my best Chinese accent asking her about shipping blanks to China. I was making everything as ridiculous and complicated as I could for her and she never once even raised her voice or even sounded perturbed...except when I dropped the accent and told her who it was!  | |||
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HA! That's half of the fun of buying from Dressels is getting to speak with Sharon. She's a hoot. When you call, you need to be prepared to discuss everything from politics to the weather and try to work in the conversation you need a piece of wood.  lots of fun.She's very nice. I hope to meet her in person one day. Rick, I spoke with her after the Reno show. You made quite an impression on her. She thinks very highly of you. Well, at least until today! Terry -------------------------------------------- Well, other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? | |||
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I bet...she just loves Bill Sovern’s and me cuz we loaded all 200 or so of their blanks and wheeled the suckers up a freight elevator and loaded them into their trailer for them. After, I might add, we had to get Paul’s damned stuffed and mounted elk out of the trailer first. Not a head mount, a whole friggin elk! Actually, we all had a ball doing it and Paul and Sharon bought us dinner afterwards. | |||
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Yep, she mentioned that  -------------------------------------------- Well, other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? | |||
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gringo, if your using mike, you might ask him what he has around there. the worst thing he did was move to far away for me to stop in and root. i will look but there was a fellow out near harrisburg who also sold wood. i have bought from calico in the past and they usually have pretty good wood for the money. i never had a problem getting hold of them so that is something new. i have also had real good service and wood from presliks. max | |||
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Check out www.cantwellwood.com. Don is a good guy to work with. We have ordered a number of blanks from him over the years. | |||
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joe25/06 Don was a very nice guy. Unfortunately he passed away a few years ago. The wood that is left is being sold for his estate. I bought a lot of wood from Don over the years. Welcome to AR | |||
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Butch-- Do you have any photos you can share? I just contacted Roger and he sending information to me soon. I have a new 375 H&H project that landed at my feet to have done. | |||
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These are two blanks that I purchased from Roger in the last couple of years. Both blanks are rated "Heavy".   Dear Mick, Please find attached a photograph of the English Walnut Select Exhibition Grade Rifle Blank that Ross Waghorn has selected for you and that we discussed on the phone. The Blank No is MPR18A = $1800. It is the 3rd blank from the left. The first photograph shows the right-hand side of each blank and the second photograph shows the left-hand side of each blank. Our code description for MPR18A is 1A - C21 - 29 3 - S.EXH - C This code tells us which tree, which contract ( C21 trees were cut in 1983), which slab and from which part of the tree the blank was cut. It assists us if customers wish to purchase another similar blank. Thank you for your purchase, Kindest Regards, Roger Vardy 1 GRANGE ROAD POREPUNKAH, VICTORIA 3740 AUSTRALIA PO BOX 544 MYRTLEFORD, VICTORIA 3737 AUSTRALIA TEL: +6 13 5756 2411 FAX: +6 13 5756 2179 rvardy@netc.net.au  Sorry to those on dial up!! | |||
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Thank you very much. I am not sure what else I would need to see. I also have a another rifle needing a blank, but straight if fine for this target rifle. Wonder what he has in dense hard straight grain. | |||
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Calico Hardwoods is about 400 miles north of Santa Barbara next to the Santa Rosa Airport. They are a good outfit. They have a nice catalog but do not know if they have a web site. They are not open weekends. | |||
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I started this thread three year ago, looks like it came back to life. Bought a lot of blanks and built a few rifles since then. Billy, High in the shoulder (we band of bubbas) | |||
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It is a couple of hours drive from me, but short of driving there and breaking down the door, I cannot get a hold of them. I was put on hold and no one ever came back and the fax and e-mails have gone totally unanswered. I would love to go select a blank myself, but..... http://www.calicohardwoods.com/ | |||
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Rick, Have you ever seen any of Sharon's stocks? She is very good professional stockmaker. She graduated from a Junior College back east and down south a bit, that had a gunsmithing program. I was on the phone with her today. I never end up talking to her for just a few minutes. She started talking about their trip to Mexico. She is such a joy to be around. I am going down there on Tuesday and going to visit them. I will take some photos of Paul's den and trophy room and post one or two here if they don't mind. It is an incredible "guy" room. | |||
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"It is a couple of hours drive from me, but short of driving there and breaking down the door, I cannot get a hold of them. I was put on hold and no one ever came back and the fax and e-mails have gone totally unanswered. I would love to go select a blank myself, but....." I am a couple of hours south of Calico and have never had any problem getting in touch with them in the past. However about 35 years ago my best friend and his wife and I were at Roberts Woodproducts in Yuba City looking at gunstocks. Old man Roberts escorted us to the loft where he had the semi-finished blanks and told us to pick put what we wanted and he would be right back. We found the stocks we wished to purchase and then went downstairs only to discover that he had forgot about us and closed the shop for the day, locked up and went home. I am sure glad he did not have a junkyard dog on duty or an alarm system. Lucky for him we were honest and did not steal anything. We did give him hell when we returned later to buy the stocks we had picked out. | |||
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I am glad it has worked out for you. I will see if they respond to me. | |||
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She showed me some pictures of their house and Pauls mounted trophies (I got to know the one Elk pretty well in Reno! )...but I have only seen her gun work as it has appeared in magazines.Two of the nicest and most down to earth people I have met in a very long time. Absolutely no inflated ego‘s there, and not at all afraid to share their knowledge with others. I have always loved wood and working with it, but never really had a chance to sit and talk with anyone who was willing to share their knowledge about gun stocks with me, and anyone who really knew what they were talking about on the subject. You can only learn so much from books. Paul and Sharon both were so kind and eager to give me some tips and pointers on picking out a good blank, and more importantly, showing me what made it good other than just being pretty. I feel very honored to have met and become friends with them, and believe me I don’t feel that way or say that about many people ! | |||
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Forgot to mention this Chic...but when I talked to Sharon the other night Paul had just left for a trip to New Zealand. | |||
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I’ve heard...no personal experience, just heard...that it is a bit difficult to send wood from the USA to Australia, does anyone know what is involved coming the other way? | |||
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Rick, I have an Aussie friend from Queensland who was living in British Columbia for a year and a half and was running a regular business buying blanks from Preslik and from Kesselrings gun shop in Burlington Washington. He was driving down the Washington and shipping them from here. The Preslik stocks were sent to Washington and then off they went. I never heard of him having any problems. | |||
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Chic, I had heard that Australia was finicky about importing unfinished wood due to the possibility of insects or something like that. Not that you can’t import it, just that you have to go through a few more requirements in order to do so. | |||
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I have gotten completely nuts over the walnut blanks. I already have two I like, and I am getting more pictures from Roger in Australia. I would love to have a piece of this Australia English Walnut. I also have a lot ov Mahogany with no home: Cuban, Honduran, Philippine, African, Santos, and some that is from Southeast Asia that I do not have a species for...oh..oh...maybe Spanish cedar, or vermillion, or zebrawood, or sapele, or or or See it is an ilness. | |||
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