Guys, just wanted to post of an offer I got from Waffenfabrik Hein. Karl Webber, General Manager for Waffenfabrik Hein offered to host the scholarship's website on their server. A very nice jesture.

However, the memorial scholarship recently established their own website and the memorial rifle project will have its own website in the near future.

I just wanted to acknowledge Mr. Webber's offer and thank you for it. Thanks for offering to support this worhty endeavor!

My preference is for a 7X57 no matter what we call it. We all want to see the highest possible number of tickets sold and we'll accomplish that by not alienating anybody. For that reason, it would be easiest to leave the marking decision for after the raffle. This is not an "executive decision", merely a suggestion. Stratton also informed me that if we used anything other than a .284 caliber he would personally wring my neck, so my executive decision about going with a 270 is moot.

Now for something more interesting to argue about...

Roger Vardy of Australia has offered to donate a stock blank for our project. I've long admired his stash of blanks and the idea of using something a little different on this rifle appeals to me. Mr. Vardy has sent photos of several blanks to me so I've selected a few to post here. Let us know what you think.

#411



#310



#148



#51



These are all beautiful blanks and there's something for everyone to love in this selection. Roger V. is being quite generous is allowing us a selection. I see several blanks here that I'd have an interest in after we decide on a blank for the Scholarship Rifle.

Thank you very much Mr. Vardy.

Nice blanks to choose from. I see a couple I really like.

I like a number of different things with each of them!

I'll be curious to hear Duane's critique of each blank.

I'm not up for wring anyones neck, but I don't want to get into trouble with one of my suppliers. Lilja is going to a lot of trouble to cut maybe 6 weeks off their mamufacturing process just so we can meet our timeline. I don't want to change the 7mm order now.

I'd have to vote for the top one, #411.

As an aside, I spent 5 hours at Roger's place three weeks ago. Bought 4 blanks for myself after looking through a few hundred. The youngest blank I bought was cut 13 years ago, the oldest was over 20 years.

- stu

Wow talk about a kid in a candy store. I like 411 and 51.

I like 148 and 310

If we are allowed to be honest I like all of them too, but none for this project.

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
If we are allowed to be honest I like all of them too, but none for this project.

Pardner, as much as you and I have banged heads on here this may seem strange...but I couldn’t agree more with what you said. There is nothing “special†about any of those blanks...IMO.

They just do not seem to have that quiet restrained elegance about them that would seem fitting for this project.

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
They just do not seem to have that quiet restrained elegance about them that would seem fitting for this project.

I thought April Fools was last month!

Here are two more blanks that look pleasing.

#413



#418

I'm stuck on #148. That puppy is just beautymous. Tom Purdom

411 & 310 are my picks.

Hog Killer

It’s tough to pick a blank from photographs alone. I do have the advantage of high resolution photos and some top and bottom views. Here’s my take on each of the blanks.

#411
Classic quartersawn layout. The pin knots bother me a little bit, but they don’t look too bad. I would like to have the blank in hand and see where those knots come out. It might be just a little plain, but I think the flash is washing out some of the color. The butt end looks good in the high resolution photos.

#310
It has a beautiful red color. That upward sweep in the butt will appeal to some, and turn off others. This is one of the few blanks I’ve ever seen where the upward sweep is so pronounced but still has good flow through the wrist. It also has a lot of subtle fiddleback that will add highlights to a finished stock.

#148
I’m really intrigued by this smoky beauty. Of all the blanks shown, this is the one I’d be most curious to see when it’s a finished stock. I don’t know if it would turn out just too cloudy when shaped or not. This one draws my attention for sure.

#51
Hell for stout quartersawn layout. It has end-to-end fiddleback and would definitely get prettier as it was shaped and checkered. I’d use this one on a big bore anytime.

#413
This one looks a little too slabsawn for my tastes and usually I’d dismiss it out of hand, but there’s a classic beauty to this blank that I like. This is another blank that would get prettier as shaped and would show checkering very well.

#418
This blank has a lot of interesting colors and highlights in the butt. It looks like the fore-end is rotated just a bit, giving it an upward sweep on the right but not enough to bother me. The pattern is drawn a little lower on the right side than the left side. It looks like you could rotate the pattern up just a touch to compensate for most of the upward sweep. This blank looks washed out by the flash also. I’ll bet the colors are even better than shown.

I’d like to hear some opinions from some of our resident experts.

If any of you would like the high resolution file, send me an email (not a PM please) and I’ll reply with the pics attached. I’ll warn you though it’s an 11MB file and it might be too large for some mail boxes and will be slow to download on dialup connections.

Out of all of the blanks I think 148 is the nicest.

Excuse the ignorance but what is the difference between quarter sawn and slab sawn?

Forrest,
haven't read all the posts, so don't know if this has been mentioned, we will offer NRA membership to the winner of the raffled rifle.
regards
griff

Too bad this is $1700.00 on Denli's website. Something along the lines of this blank would do this project justice:



Even this one for $1300 is nice:

for what it's worth, 148 gets my first and second vote

51 would make a nice stock... 418 needs to be a boomer

310 talks to me..


the 1700 denali is NICE....


jeffe

Is Denli offering to donate it?
Butch

quote:

Is Denli offering to donate it?

I wish...

None of the Vardy blanks really do anything for me. They are all "okay". For the kind of rifle you are building here I would keep looking. What does Mr. Weibe have to say on the subject?

Boy am I glad Duane is doing the stock work, this is a tough crowd. Out of all the stock blanks I've looked at over the years, sometimes is hard to judge what's on the inside at stock level. I've had some blanks that were good, not great, and when you cut them to finish level they turned out beyond exspection. I few years back Leupold used one of my rifles as their center sprade in their catalogs, you may have seen it. That was one of those pieces of wood that looked dull, I think I paid $185 for it but it turned out specular. Sometimes you never know. It can go the other way as well...

Well my opinion and a $ will buy you a cup of coffee but here goes.

First vote is 148.
51 would also be OK.
I'm one on the ones that 310 TURNS OFF.
411 concerns me that the knot shows on both sides. Might not conneect but???
418 would work.
413 is a little slab looking.

Ok..here's my two cents worth...I'd like to use one of the quarter sawn blanks. There's comfort in knowing the figure you see will not change much in the shaping process. Sometimes, with slab sawn, you might end up between the annual rings, resulting in a great big spot with absolutely no figure or graining. Lastly, movent (i.e. warp) that may occur will be in an upward direction in the fore end (I'm assuming proper lay out here) With slab sawn, the movement will be side to side

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe:
Ok..here's my two cents worth...I'd like to use one of the quarter sawn blanks. There's comfort in knowing the figure you see will not change much in the shaping process. Sometimes, with slab sawn, you might end up between the annual rings, resulting in a great big spot with absolutely no figure or graining. Lastly, movent (i.e. warp) that may occur will be in an upward direction in the fore end (I'm assuming proper lay out here) With slab sawn, the movement will be side to side

Duane,

Was just wondering, in your experience would a barrel channel cut for an octagon barrel warp differently from one cut for a round barrel?

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe:
Ok..here's my two cents worth...I'd like to use one of the quarter sawn blanks. There's comfort in knowing the figure you see will not change much in the shaping process. Sometimes, with slab sawn, you might end up between the annual rings, resulting in a great big spot with absolutely no figure or graining. Lastly, movent (i.e. warp) that may occur will be in an upward direction in the fore end (I'm assuming proper lay out here) With slab sawn, the movement will be side to side

Which one of the quarter sawn blanks do you like?

We'll have some more blanks to choose from shortly.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick 0311:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Duane Wiebe:
Ok..here's my two cents worth...I'd like to use one of the quarter sawn blanks. There's comfort in knowing the figure you see will not change much in the shaping process. Sometimes, with slab sawn, you might end up between the annual rings, resulting in a great big spot with absolutely no figure or graining. Lastly, movent (i.e. warp) that may occur will be in an upward direction in the fore end (I'm assuming proper lay out here) With slab sawn, the movement will be side to side

No, Octagon barrels may be SLIGHTLY siffer, but if wood has a notion to move, it will do so. I wouldn't get too concerned...Thin shelled walnut, properly seasoned, shows very little inclination to move about. Years ago, Dave Petzel wrote an article in Gun Digest...went something like "I sold all my beautiful wood" and he claims to have restocked everything he had in plastic. His "beautiful" wood was a stockmakers nighmare...should have been a coffee table in a whore house. Too much wild grain is not a good thing.

Duane,

Thanks, I wasn’t concerned...just ignorant! Didn’t know if barrel channel with square cuts for an octagon would warp differently than one with a round cut out.

I knew I'd be asked which of Vardy's blanks I like best...I personally like 148, but would feel comfortable with any choice you guys come up with

Duane, don't make up your mind too quickly. Here are a few more to look at:

#2A



#2B



#101A



The sapwood would probably not be a problem, but the grain through the grip bothers me.
Lesson learned: never ever buy a blank without seeing both sides.

#101B

Of these, I like #2B and #101A. I'd like to know more about the depth of the sapwood on #2B and see the other side of #101A before I made up my mind. (edited: I've now seen the other side and I'll pass)

Personally, these two are about as wild as I like a blank.

Duane, this is not a true democracy, you should get the final word on the blank.

If anyone else has blanks to offer, let me know. We don't have unlimited funds, but we want the best blank possible.

I need to change my vote ... I like these last three much much better than the previous blanks.

101A gets my vote.

Forrest: Probably most stockmakers will look layout before figure..I do..but I also like pleasing wood..I'm not real wild about fiddleback, puely prejudice because i's a bit more difficult to work with...You guys like it, though, fine with me. On another matter, some on AR have been reaching me thru the AR website...kinda cumbersome! My e-mail is duane@directcon.net seeya

quote:

Originally posted by 54JNoll:
I need to change my vote ... I like these last three much much better than the previous blanks.

There's a reason for that....
$$$$$

Roger sent pics of the right side for 101 A and 101 B. I've posted them above. I'm not in favor of 101A any longer.

I still like 148 personally.