Black Locust: The wood is often confused with osage orange (Maclura pomifera). It has a high density and decay resistance. It shows slight shrinkage and stays in place well. Black locust is very strong in bending and is one of the hardest woods in America. Its shock resistance is almost that of hickory.

Hickory: The wood is known for its strength and shock resistance. It is difficult to dry or season. It rates above average in most working properties, except in shaping and nail-holding ability. The wood of pecans is rated slightly below that of true hickories.

Maple: Hard maple has a fine, uniform texture, turns well on a lathe, is resistant to abrasion and has no characteristic odor or taste. It is heavy, strong, stiff, hard, and resistant to shock, and it has large shrinkage. Sugar maple is generally straight grained but the grain also occurs as “birds-eye,†“curly,†and “fiddleback†grain.

Oak: Oak wood has a course texture; it is heavy, straight-grained, hard, tough, very stiff, and strong. Fast-grown oak, with wide rings, is stronger and heavier than slow-grown oak.

Honeylocust: It is very heavy and very hard, tough, strong, with a high luster. The texture is moderately coarse, with straight to irregular grain.

Black Walnut: The wood is heavy, hard, and stiff and has high shock resistance.

Osage Orange: It is very hard, heavy, tough, resilient and takes a high luster. It is ring porous and commonly confused with black locust.

Magnolia: The wood is even-textured and moderately heavy, fairly hard and straight grained. It resembles yellow poplar. Magnolia is moderately stiff, high in shock resistance, and low in shrinkage.


Ok, besides Walnut what other wood is being used, not only, for the main stock peice but for tips, grips, laminates etc.
I've access t these plus Ebony. Just no info on Ebony.

Cherry,
Myrtlewood,
Zebrawood (Harry Lawson used it),
Rosewood for Tip/caps.
Bubinga

http://www.woodply.com/p_hardwood.htm

mesquite.

ebony is hard, dense, stable, and doesn't float, takes a high polish. many species of ebony are now considered threatened, it's harvested in shortish lengths.

Cherry,Myrtle,Mesquite were all popular in years past. When i was in Gunsmith school Roy Weatherby came by driving a station wagon and took all the students out and let them pick a stock from the back of it. They were all turned and inletted in the typical Weatherby pattern with the angled forearm tip and flared grip cap with white spacers of Holly. I picked a Mesquite blank. If memory serves they were all inleted for FN Mauser actions. I built a rifle around the stock turning the barrel to match the stock inleted groove. Turned out pretty nice. At that time the common accessory woods were,Ebony,Rosewood,Tigerwood,Purple Heart,Vermillion. I still like Purple Heart and Vermillion and have some on hand even today.

quote:

Purple Heart

what color does it finish, and how hard/stable is it?

it's used in boat building from time to time.

It's a heat sensitive wood. It gets VERY deep purple with application of heat. I would say it's slightly harder than ebony and is very stable. I use it for tips and grip caps. I THINK the proper name is Amaranth. Fairly expensive and you can or could get it in board size pieces here in Tucson.Works nicely and finishes beautifully.

quote:

Black Locust: The wood is often confused with osage orange

How? These two look nothing alike.

Black Locust has alot of white wood with a small center of dark brown.

Osage Orange, is a yellow wood.

Got both around here.

Keith

The Osage Orange, that we have here in the East, is a very dense wood with a high oil content. Many local longbow makers use it. I was told that it is not native to this continent and, that it was imported to use for wagon wheel hubs because of its natural lubricity. It is also listed in one of my "woodstove" books as having the highest heat output, per cu/ft, of any wood in the USA.

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
Cherry,
Myrtlewood,
Zebrawood (Harry Lawson used it),
Rosewood for Tip/caps.
Bubinga

http://www.woodply.com/p_hardwood.htm

I made a very unique pool cue stand for my son out of figured bubinga... Even when I was making the stand I was thinking of what a stock material this would be... Very hard and heavier then red oak... Takes a finish like you wouldn't believe... Redish brown with purplish grain (grain really looks more black)...

All you have to do is find a good woodworking supply nearby and see some of this wood... I might eventually work a piece into a stock myself...

Ken....

Ebony is nominally 65 pounds per cubic foot, close to twice as heavy a Walnut. So, a stock made from it would be about twice the weight of one made from Walnut. It finishes up beautifully however. I use it for knife handles.
Osage Orange is the choice for making long bows today, since Lemonwood disappeared when Cuba went Communist. I have a long bow made from it, plus a recurve. Black Locust also makes a fine long bow or recurve.
The issue with using exotic woods, which look great when finished, is their finished weight which is close to twice that of Walnut.
I've used 26 different exotic hardwoods for knife handles over the years, and they are beautiful when finished.

Don

quote:

Originally posted by zimbabwe:
It's a heat sensitive wood. It gets VERY deep purple with application of heat. I would say it's slightly harder than ebony and is very stable. I use it for tips and grip caps. I THINK the proper name is Amaranth. Fairly expensive and you can or could get it in board size pieces here in Tucson.Works nicely and finishes beautifully.

I use a propane torch to bring out the deep purple that Amaranth displays when heated. It is a very pretty purple when finished, and is sure unique.

Don

So Osage Orange will have a higher resistance to moisture because of the natural oils, would this be correct?

quote:

Originally posted by Hog Killer:

quote:

Black Locust: The wood is often confused with osage orange

How? These two look nothing alike.

Black Locust has alot of white wood with a small center of dark brown.

Osage Orange, is a yellow wood.

Got both around here.

Keith

Keith, I'm not sure, I copied and pasted from a website.

quote:

Originally posted by .366torque:
So Osage Orange will have a higher resistance to moisture because of the natural oils, would this be correct?

I don't believe that Osage Orange, AKA Bois d'Arc, has a lot of oil in it as does Ebony for example. It does shrink after finishing. Osage needs to be finished with some finish like an epoxy to keep it from taking on moisture. Wagon wheels were made from it in the old days. But, it's forte is for long bows. I have a magnificent example of a long bow made by a guy in Oregon using Osage, with the head of a Deer carved and two pieces of abalone used for the eyes. It has a finish on it. With very oily exotic woods, no finish is really required as they do as you suggested above.

Don

Based upon its volumetric shrinkage as shown in several wood spec listings, I chose Teak to stock my .257R. It had the lowest shrinkage of some 16 woods listed. I've also worked with Black Walnut, Maple, Birch (ugh) and Mahogany. I used Cherry or Rosewood for tips/caps and a thin Maple spacer when installed on dark stocks.

Bud W

quote:

Originally posted by Bud W:
Based upon its volumetric shrinkage as shown in several wood spec listings, I chose Teak to stock my .257R. It had the lowest shrinkage of some 16 woods listed. I've also worked with Black Walnut, Maple, Birch (ugh) and Mahogany. I used Cherry or Rosewood for tips/caps and a thin Maple spacer when installed on dark stocks.

Bud W

Bud,

Teak would make a vey nice riflestock, as I'm sure yours is. Lots of good thing going for Teak, like it shrinks little and has oil in it for a natural preservative. Your stock would be neat to see.
Not much heavier than Walnut either, if any difference.

Don

quote:

Lots of good thing going for Teak, like it shrinks little and has oil in it for a natural preservative.

weren't some SMLE's stocked with teak?


ebony gunstock-
I saw a TV show years ago that featured some people in Africa harvesting ebony, and I don't think I saw them with a piece of it more than thirty inches long. the trees it was taken from were twisty/gnarly, and were treated like trees in a copse- a piece taken here and there, so they could return to the same tree later to get more.

if my memory is clear, the show stated that clarinets are made of ebony, and are made in sections due to the ebony only being available in short pieces.

from memory...

Here's a few blocks with some finish on them;

Purpleheart, Padauk, African rosewood, 2 walnuts, Zebrawood, Bubinga:

OK with so many people in the know here...what about Bradford Pear. I've got quite a bitm though most all of it has already been slabbed to 1"+/-. But I've seen some nice "3 layer" stocks made from 3 thinner planks laminated together. I haven't been able to find and property info on it anywhere. This might be because it is a bit unusual for these trees to survive the 35 years that this one did.

Would this stand up to 308/30-06 use, or should I religate it to something much smaller in recoil?

quote:

Originally posted by Vibe:
OK with so many people in the know here...what about Bradford Pear. I've got quite a bitm though most all of it has already been slabbed to 1"+/-. But I've seen some nice "3 layer" stocks made from 3 thinner planks laminated together. I haven't been able to find and property info on it anywhere. This might be because it is a bit unusual for these trees to survive the 35 years that this one did.

Would this stand up to 308/30-06 use, or should I religate it to something much smaller in recoil?

Vibe,

I know nothing about Bradford Pear. Do you have the Genus and species for it? I can do some googling on it.
Maybe someone else here knows about it.

Don

Don

I found Teak to be easy to work and takes checkering and glassing OK. Yes the oil in the wood is probably what keeps the swelling & shrinking down; I didn't know how that oil might affect the many finishes available but knew the Danes used oil on their Teak furniture so I washed the sanded stock with lacquer thinner and went with a Linspeed finish. It worked like a charm. Also, I never saw a piece of Teak I didn't like.

Bud W

Best I can tell it's a Pyrus calleryana. I've googled and Dogpiled till I'm blue and haven;t found anything.

Vibe,

All I can find is Pyrus Communis and Sinensis. But, there other genus and species of pear, with no species listed as calleryana.
Sorry I couldn't help.

Don

Edit to add: The best assumption you can make here is that the species you have is like the other Pyrus Genus Pear in terms of useability for a gunstock. My book shows the Pyrus genus to be "Moderately soft, stable, strong, and not durable. Used for drawing instruments, carving, cabinet work, and domestic ustensils."

The Pyrus Communis (sounds subversive)is the common or French Pear. I don't know the latin name for the Bradford but some years back my town took to planting sterile pears along the curb as their roots don't push up the sidewalks. My tree guy told me that the one in front of my house was a Bradford, also known locally as the "ten-year tree" because that's about as long as they last. Mine already has a long split in it. I don't think I'd use it for anything with a severe recoil or subject to rough handling.

Bud W

Bud. The splits are due to the genetic tendency for the crotch angles to be shallow, which levers out a split. This particular tree was just over 35 years old and almost 30-32" accross at the base of the trunk. While the growth rings are about 1/2" apart due to the fast growing nature of this type of tree, the wood is really quite hard and small pored.

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
Here's a few blocks with some finish on them;

Purpleheart, Padauk, African rosewood, 2 walnuts, Zebrawood, Bubinga:

Thanks for the pic richj.

Heat, you're right Bubinga looks quite nice. With Purple Heart grips & tips it would be a fine stock.

I have a question actually three for .366torque .

First what is the stock to be used for varmint or mountain rifle or ?. In other words what weight of wood are you looking at ?. Next color ?. What color of a stock are you looking at Blonde Brunette , Red Head ?. Finally how exotic of a grain pattern ( Wide loop like Oak or close straight grain little figuring ?.

No one mentioned Teak that I saw . Real Teak ( tectona grandis ) is spectacular for every aspect say one, Weight !. Green yellow black brown striking figure in some pieces !. Also
anything in the Leguminosae , Moraceae or Meliaceae family of woods are generally real good as far as stability .

Honduras Mahogany ,( Swietenia macrophylla )
African Mahogany ( Kayya Ivorensis )
Snakewood (Piratinera guianensis )
Indian Rose wood ( Dalbergia latifolia)
African blackwood ( Dalbergia Melanoxylon )

Want the hardest most stable wood which will not float !. Lignum Vitae ( bulnesia arborea )
I'm surprised no one mentioned Goncalo Alves ( Astronium graveolens ) Pistol grips are made of it all the time .

Watch out when purchasing wood , use a reputable dealer , have a moisture meter or use theirs . If it's good wood it should be 8-12 % moisture if Kiln dried it will be around 7 - 8 % . I would never attempt to let or shape a stock of more than 10 % moisture content . I prefer 8 % to 10 % . Rough shape is ok at 12 - 14 % provided you leave a lot of extra material and DON'T do barrel channel or let in the action until it's down below 10% depending on species of wood you choose !.

I was a purveyor of exotic woods for many years and still have K's of Bd Ft. of several different species of wood around !. Good Luck . One last note Be REAL CAREFUL when sawing sanding some exotics . They can cause serious respiratory problems even death in some cases !.

Dr. K, I want a project. No mountain rifles or varmint rifles yet. It'll consist of making my own stock, and doing as much 'smithing as I can. I wanted to research my options for the wood I can use.

.366torque ; Understood !. Here is an excellent source of information maybe the library has it up your way ?. Don't know about on line access ?.

Tropical Timbers of the World .
USDA Agriculture hand Book # 607


This is my resource book which I've had for well a hell of a long time 25 years or so .

Also Keith Bootle / Woods of Australia
Along with several others .

Pick a color then go to town !. have Fun ...