Well, here goes. I have a very nice looking stock blank that was cut totally wrong. You can count the growth rings. I don't know if it was the wedge cut and it was simply too nice to get rid of or what.

A good client/friend of mine gave me this blank as a thank you for doing his project. It was rough and it wasn't until I got it sanded down a bit that I noticed growth rings. Even the center of the tree is visible.

Here is a picture of the side I finished for the fun of it and to get a better look.

I edited this post because I wasn't really considering cutting it up, that was more of a statement of frustration about how to lay it out.

What I was wanting to ask is how would you make a strong stock out of this? Is it possible? If you use it for a thru-bolt stock, can you do anything special to make it a stronger stock? Can you install a larger wood dowel through the center and then drill out for the through bolt to add wood to the grip area that would have correct grain flow?? Use a steel rod? If so how would you deal with thermal expansion and contraction? Sooooo many questions. I didn't repost it this way as the thread seemed to be taking on a different route and I wanted to see where it would go.




I know the right person might be able to make a through bolt stock with it but I'm not that guy yet. I don't know how to do this and make it strong (if it can be done) and therefore am not comfortable putting my name on it. Do any of you have ideas to make a strong stock out of it?

What to do?
What to do?
What are your thoughts? It's simply too nice to have it sit in the corner for ever.

Knife scales, file, rasp and tool handles, loading bench accessories, cleaning rod handles, inlays. No end of things that will look better for the custom touch of pretty wood.

I'd put it on ebay and explain the problems, well pictured, and selling "as is". My guess is that you will get more for it than it's value as knife scales, whatever....which are always available as cut offs from good blanks. Really interesting that there is that much figure across the growth rings like that.

I would find an old shotgun (nothing expensive) and pull the old stock off and send it and that blank to a duplicator and have a stock cut.


Terry

I agree...perfect wood for an old lever action rifle that you still use, or a utility grade shotgun.

Garrett

There is another possibility although I would tend to agree with others as to shotgun or Lever action

use . By slicing the blank and alternating ring growth and or putting in properly orientated

strips of Walnut , it would make a decent laminated stock . Least I would think it would .

I wouldn't want just an Oil finish . I would seal and urethane or epoxy the finished product.

If you see ring growth as this appears on a " Face Cut " or crotch slab face, it more than likely was

cut for furniture , table , desk or bowl turning ?.

would look great as knife/pistols...
i would be tempted to put on my spartan!

i'd glass a bolt or 2 in it and use it for a nice looking 22 or 17 or the like

At first glance I thought it looked like a good coffin lid, and many of your older mummies are quite small.

Firewood? Just kidding. I've seen similar lumber on buttstocks of old shotguns. And some new high-end shotguns too, lots of burl with improper layout.

That blank looks like it was cut from the roots which must have been dug up. It is common to see growth rings in different plains on a root clump. It will never be the most stable piece of wood; figured wood is never as stable as straight grained wood. It looks too pretty not to use. Check all of the edges for possibly more distinct growth rings. That would have had to been a humongous tree, 9 ft diameter if that was just sliced 90 degrees from how it should have been sawn. I am betting the real groth rings are on the sides or end grain.

Trez, it could be cut to make high-grade stocks for several muzzle-loading pistols. These are cut by having the curve of the grip follow the curve of the grain.

I see wonderful handgun grips on some of our fine revolversmiths six and five guns like Bowen, Clements, Harton, Stroh, etc.

Gee, it's hard to believe that that was cut sideways through the tree. Am I looking at endgrain on the flat surfaces?

How about a salade plate.I have a laminated salade plate I built in highschool woodwork class.

As a reference, this blank is 22" long x 6-10" wide. I looked at the side of the blank and studied it a bit more and see that it has two centers on both the face and the edge. It must be a diaginal cut from a crotch or (as airgun1 said), maybe a cut from a root ball. The grain flow is hard to figure out. I don't see how it can be but it looks like it has end grain on four sides. That is why I guessed a diaginal cut. My dad (Darwin Hensley) looked at it and had about the same reaction

Trez, I'm far from an expert but I like it. Maybe not enough to use it on a high dollor gun but I damn sure wouldn't turn it into a bowl!

Terry

Trez,
It will work fine for a gun with a thru-bolt. Don't destroy it by cutting it up.

If you had given me a Marlin 336 (30-30) with that wood on it when I was in my teens, I would never have taken up bolt actions and magnums.

It will look very good on whatever utilitarian firearm you put it on.

Garrett

A Ballard in .22 would be a great home for your wood. I have a candidate if you want to do it.

Darwin knows how to get in touch with me - I bought his Farrow a year ago.

I would slice it and make fine pistol stocks from it. Slice it lengthwise and turn some nice vases from it, which you can sell to buy a better cut blank. Or, put it on a Marlin 1895 Cowboy and find a similar color piece for the front stock. This idea was already posted: slice it and laminate it. Use a dimensional sander to get the sides parallel. If you are near the Bay Area in CA, you can bring it by and I can slice it for you and sand it.

AFreeman,
I edited my first post because I wasn't really considering cutting it up, that was more of a statement of frustration about how to lay it out.

What I was wanting to ask is how would you make a strong stock out of this? Is it possible? If you use it for a thru-bolt stock, can you do anything special to make it a stronger stock? Can you install a larger wood dowel through the center and then drill out for the through bolt to add wood to the grip area that would have correct grain flow?? Use a steel rod? If so how would you deal with thermal expansion and contraction? Sooooo many questions. I didn't repost it this way as the thread seemed to be taking on a different route and I wanted to see where it would go.

well, apparently this piece of wood has so many grain directions that no matter what you do you're going to get some bad direction somewhere. A through bolt type of stock is about the only way to go. I'd use a piece of aluminum or steel tubing installed around the bolt to get the strength through the wrist. Be sure to rough the outside so you get a good bond of wood to metal. A couple of additional "blind" pins might work out over and under the through bolt. I also wouldn't use it on a gun that was going to see any rough service because just as sure as you get the wrist stabilized someone will find a way to break it through the cheekpiece or crack the toe. Be choosy where you use it

Terry,
You have a PM.

You want to be very careful when forcing wood not to move. It simply cracks instead.

I suggest you make the rear stock as you would a normal cut blank, then bore a 3/8 or 5/16 hole from butt end toward the front. Mix up some long set epoxy and glue a 1/4 steel rod in the hold. Make sure you get all the air bubbles out.

The rod will keep the wood from breaking but it is flexible enough to bend when the wood wants to move.

If possible, bore out the pith when you seat the rod in the stock. If the pith is not in a good spot, don't worry about it; just bore the hole where it needs to be.

Trez, IMO you've received some good suggestions about a tube down the drawbolt hole and a rod through the butt. On all my 1-piece stocks I epoxy a hidden steel rod down lengthwise through the wrist back into the body of the buttstock, for strength. On all my stocks with fragile butts like steel or horn buttplates or toe plates, I epoxy a hidden steel rod at an angle from the extreme toe point back into the body of the buttstock, for support against dropping the stock onto the toe.

In the case of your wood, I'd drill a number of small lengthwise blind holes from the butt forward as far as possible and then epoxy a small rod into each hole. The holes will serve to (somewhat) relieve any existing internal stresses while the epoxied rods will tend to resist any subsequent warpage even more. Be sure to arrange it so that the holes will be hidden by the buttplate once the stock is inletted and shaped. You can also install more small hidden rods running from the front of the wrist back into the body of the buttstock; I do this anyway on the L.C.Smiths I restock, but please be careful here.
Regards, Joe

When I first saw the blank I thought of the little Owen 22 pump. If my memory serves me right you looked at it at the Reno show last year. Might make a good one for any little .22 with a two piece stock.

I think rather than a steel rod or tube, I would reinforce the stock with a carbon fiber tube and epoxy. That wood would be exellent for a small cal single shot rifle, perhaps a Martini Cadet or a Ruger. That wood looks like it might have been cut from the graft area between a Black Walnut root stock and an English Walnut tree.

Really quite pretty, please keep us up to date on what you do with it.

Trez,
It appears to be a stump burl. There are enough other stress concentration points, like the convention of knots that put the growth rings issue to shame. Do a small bore light recoiling gun out of it. It will still look good and will not suffer from any adverse recoil.

Trez,
Busy at DSC presently.
See you at SCI or ACGG.

There is nothing wrong with this blank and I do not think you should make any decisions until a pattern has been layed on it. I see a possible grip in the upper right of the first photos you posted...providing the measurement on the left will accommodate an average heel to toe.

All that said....there is nothing wrong with a through-bolt stock. I know plenty of people who shoot over 20,000 rounds per year with through bolt guns that have stocks on them that are very cross grained and even solid burl through the grips.

The idea that a through bolt needs to be reinforced is mostly only relevant with inferior woods with shorter fibers.

See you at the shows.

By the way....DSC has been good. I think Vendors/Exhibitors can expect a good show in Reno.

Best,


Adam

God bless you all....I have six or seven pieces as nice or better with grain gowing all over hell and back. They came from a stump burl, not the roots. They were cut in November of 2005....I will start selling soon.........


here are a couple of them, but I have more...

I want to say thank you to all who have responded. Darwin Hensley (my dad) is a very good teacher and as an apprentice I have learned his style of teaching to be one of discovery.

I have seen him work with woods that you couldn't even begin to find where the grain was flowing from and to. When I asked him about my piece of wood his reply was that I might want to make it into a through bolt gun for myself and then asked me what did I think? He had clients that liked this sort of wood enough to use it even with it's shortcomings. What it lacked in grain flow it made up for in beauty. What do I think???? I needed to ask questions and find out and so I did.

He has taught me how he does things and yet encourages me to find out more. To find out what I like to do and what I feel good about doing and what I feel good about putting my name on. Which is something I take seriously since he has attached his name with mine in calling the company Hensley and Hensley Gun Works. My work also is attached to the American Custom Gunmaker's Guild. I strive to be worthy of being a part of all this and to become one of the leaders in this field as time, knowledge and skill allow. I have great big shoes to walk in as I walk along side my father and some of the best gunmakers alive today. Well, it keeps me humble. When I get cocky most of the time I get set back on my backside and take a hit (not literally) but no less painful.

He has said that many art teachers steal the artistic creativity of their students by telling them how it should be done and how it should look. Find your own style and make things the way you think they should look while adhering to the basic rules of classic styling.

Well anyway, now you know the rest of the story. I so appreciate those here that are willing to share their knowledge freely and don't make me feel like I cannot ask questions.

I tip my hat to you! I hope to see many of you in Reno.
Trez

Trez,

Your humble approach to your life and work is what makes you special. I already consider you a leader in your field. Of the pieces I saw at last yeaars ACGG show, yours were the ones that I still remember and remenice over about the experience of the show.

I wish all the best to you. I already know that s what you give of yourself.

Trez, I learned a long time ago that the only 'dumb' question is the one you DON'T ask! Anyone who criticizes another for asking questions is, IMO, pretty stupid themselves.

BTW it's been my experience that often while a piece of stump burl is drying, the burls and root balls tend to separate and leave voids in the blank. Sometimes very large voids. In fact this tendency is one clue for me that the wood is in fact from the root ball rather than from a crotch area. The last one I did, for a low wall Winchester, had voids as large as 1/2" wide and 1 1/2" long in the interior of the butt area that had been concealed until I began shaping. A few well-matched pieces of walnut, some Acraglas & some shellac stick eventually solved the problem and now the stock is fine, and is also spectacularly good-looking.

I wish my own Father had been as understanding and wise as yours. You should cherish him.
Regards, Joe

Trez:

Certainly the layout of the blank is less than ideal, but if there is any questions about suitability Terry has the answer. Put it on a Ballard.

The wrist of a Ballard is steel and it has a substantial metal tang that extends several inches back even further into the buttstock. The through bolt threads into the extension making the stock darn near bullet proof.

See you in Reno!

Glenn