Well, many of you have read my misgivings about English walnut on these pages as I chased down curly cherry, northwest black walnut, eastern black walnut, etc. Well I bought a piece of English walnut to give it a try again and I must say it looks nice and the wood is dense to say the least. This piece was very affordable [just what I wanted since I was so undecided], and I really like it for my working class custom I am putting together.

I promised a few others that I would not give out the source yet[ NZ-Walnut, Brian Kerr ]. Hopefully we do not flood him with anything but serious inquiries. I believe he is a small operation. Great guy, and perfect customer service. I actually never spoke to him. He handled everything via e-mail, including other pictures of his wood. The piece I originally wanted was already sold. Shipping from NZ was fast, and only took 7 days.

Tell me what you think about the piece. I know it is not very marbled, or streaked, or figured, but it has a little of each just like I was looking for.

What's the big secret?

If it's 2.375 or thicker, it will be a nice rifle.

better piece of wood than either one I used on these

The wood is 2.65 inch thick, and those are nice looking pieces of wood.

Its a crime to post pictures and say its a secret. Your busted!

I like the blank. Layout is very good (excellent in the forend), and the streaking/fiddleback in the butt is "just right". Good choice. Blank G3R4 is a steal.

Thanks guys. I found this site through a gentleman named Mike Greene at http://www.riflebuilders.com/ who is also a great guy to deal with. When Mr Greene update his website this NZ Walnut showed up. I took a look and liked what I saw.

Oh yeah! This is the best part..............

The blank pictured above was $250 USD

quote:

Originally posted by Glen71:
Blank G3R4 is a steal.

I inquired about G3R4 a couple of weeks ago and was told it was already sold. Maybe it's his "bait and switch" blank - it sure baited me.

One of the members here asked me in an PM to show them more of the photos that I have. Either I, or they, deleted the PM, so here are three more. I also have a couple more on another machine. I am only showing one side just to save space and make this faster. Additionally, I showed what I thought was the lower grade side of the wood, but I am not a grader nor an expert. These are all under $400 USD.



Sorry for the inconvenience if I was the one who deleted the file!