Anybody have a picture of a rifle stock in Mesquite they can post? I have never seen one.

This is one I had in an old Bishop catelog. I always thought it looked a lot like exhibition Myrtlewood.

That is mesquite,its a crotch piece of wood. That wood makes super stocks for high recoil calibers. van

To the best of my knowledge, I've never seen a mesquite stock, much less held one in my hands.

I understand that mesquite is heavy per cubic inch, compared with some other woods such as walnut. Is this true?

There are lots of different species of mesquite. Ive seen some funiture that looked like that stock and the stuff we cook with in texas looks real red. It is super hard and heavy dense wood.The dry dead wood is brittle. Ive seen sparks fly off my chainsaw and it will dull a chain in a heart beat. I'd rather put it in the smoker than under an action. Most of the texas trees are small.

Screwbean is a bigger tree than the stuff we have in Texas. It is very hard and heavy. It contains a lot of sand grains. Picks them up as it grows. I've seen pieces big enough for dining room tables. As STW says it will dull a chainsaw as well as any other tool real quick. Carbide is the only way to go.

I don't know for sure but the one I have felt was on the heavy side. Much like Bastogne.

Another example.

I have worked with the red mesquite to make a lot of furniture and it is a real bugger to work with. But it is also one of my favorites when it is finished. The red mesquite is the most dimensionaly stable wood, even when soaked in water for days, grown in North America. Only a few exotics surpass it in that area. That is hard fact and well documented by the way, not my opinion.

Red mesquite can offer some incredible color and figure. But the figured stuff will cost you dearly and is very hard to find. But there are several sources for it, especially in TX. An internet search for "mesquite lumber" will yield several sources. Most are small bandsaw mills and will custom cut for you to your specs. Weight wise it is very similar to good english walnut, but far harder.

Also the the reason for its nasty habit of tearing up the edges of tools is its extremely high silica content that is naturally occuring in the wood.

Am I the only one that thinks that stocks made of mesquite look like cheap laminated plywood stocks?

Fugly.

quote:

Originally posted by HP Shooter:
Am I the only one that thinks that stocks made of mesquite look like cheap laminated plywood stocks?

Fugly.

Exactly, way too Roy Weatherby for me, but to each his own....K sara sara.

those don't look anything at all like my wife's mesquite-stocked Encore - her's has all sorts of intricate waves and patterns, with some "quilting" patterns (the endcaps are black walnut). Stock done by Bullberry/Woodsmith (Fred Smith) in Hurricane, Utah.

This stock is quite a bit heavier than my simiarly-dimensioned Encore stock in Black Walnut (with mesquite encaps). My Encore has a 24" barrel, hers a 22" and overall, her gun is slightly heavier (hers is a 260 Rem, mine is a 6.5x284).

NOW That I like!

Where did the wood come from for her Encore? Can you take a close up of that butt for us?

That wood has a rich amber to brown color with contrasting grain patterns.....very nice!

quote:

Originally posted by Troy Hibbitts:

That is exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned how nice figured red mesquite looks. I think it is far prettier than screwbean. That is a beautiful stock.

I can't say precisely where the wood came from - I called Fred at Bullberry and told him my wife wanted mesquite - this was one of his last mesquite blank at that time . . . when I made my "mirror image" stock (black walnut w/mesquite endcaps) he at first misunderstood and thought I wanted a mesquite stock like my wife's and told me that he didn't have another blank. Anyway, here is a poor photo of the buttstock in full sun, but its the best I have right now:



Troy

The wood is very similar to our local Pacific Madrone. here is a small piece of stabilized burl I used when I had this custom knife made. The wood is very nice once dried, but I think a stock of it would be heavy.

The blanks are quite expensive, at least for me. Henry Pohl at Great American has some and he told me this week that he can carve one for $500-700. I found another place for $700. I am still looking. If I find anything better I will let you know.

http://www.mesquitefurnitureoftexas.com/lumber.html

These guys sell mesquite rifle blanks. I do not know for how much, or what species of mesquite, but they have it.

Anyone in South Texas selling mesquite is selling Prosopis glandulosa, usually simply referred to as "mesquite" or sometimes "honey mesquite"

Mesquite, TX native plants database

We have very little of the screwbean mesquite, at least not until you get out towards El Paso.

Troy

I'll second the 'hard on blades' bit. I resawed some into knife scales last year... I'm not sure I'll try that again! It does look good though...

333_OKH

Who made that knife for you?

quote:

Originally posted by 333_OKH:
NOW That I like!!

+1

I thought mesquite went out of fashion for gunstocks due to high cost. Sure do remember looking at a lot of gorgeous mesquite stocks back in the 60s and 70s though. They were certainly beautiful!

LLS

quote:

333_OKH

Who made that knife for you?

Journeyman Bladesmith Chuck Richards
Fortuna, CA http://www.woodchuckforge.com/

Mesquite (flat pod red) is not as hard as the screw bean type. I have worked several of both types and the screw bean will be the best for heavy recoil guns like Weatherby used in the 50's-60's. This Texas mesquite has a little bit of fiddle back and it is cut for a Martini small action.

I sold a house a couple of yrs ago that I put a mesquite wood floor in my Trophy room, lots had burl and much figure for South Texas Mesquite, but they were only two inch wide and the longest plank I had was maybe 3 feet. Made one hell of a floor.

I've never built a stock on it, the pieces I've seen large enough to build a stock on didnt have much figure. I still plan to build a gun with a mesquite stock, just have to get me a blank.

Screwbean Mesquite--my 308 Marlin [IMG:left] [/IMG]

quote:

Originally posted by Boss Hoss:
Screwbean Mesquite--my 308 Marlin [IMG:left] [/IMG]

Hmmm....Kinda looks like a bad laminate stock.

Funny---that is the reaction of a lot of people! When it was being built the production guys said the same thing!

Very nice.

When I was a kid my dad was friends with an old rancher is West Texas. He had a Winchester lever gun in 25-35 that he had personally restocked with Mesquite in the 40's after the factory stock broke when his horse took a tumble. I always coveted that gun and stock. It was gorgeous. Being from Texas it just seemed right. I held the gun when I was 10 and the old man was 80 or so and I never forgot him or the gun.

A guy on ebay has a screwbean mesquite stock for sale listed under pre-64 stuff.

Here is a photo of the blank or good old Texas red mesquite I will be using on my Marlin 1894 44 mag. Treebone Carving is turning it to his "cowboy conversion" pattern for me.

Now that is real mesquite M1!
Butch

Don Dobbratz of Telferner, TX (Victoria) is famous in South Texas for his mesquite stocks.

Early Weatherby in plain-jane mesquite:

quote:

Don Dobbratz of Telferner, TX (Victoria) is famous in South Texas for his mesquite stocks.

Yes he is... didn't know many people remembered Don, an old ACGG member, or knew of his work. I have a Sako .30-06 he stocked in Mesquite and it remains one of my favorite rifles! Don is over 70 now and doesn't do wood gunstocks much anymore but if I have an issue with a gun, he gets first shot at working on it.

I know Don through the late Wayne Baker, a fairly well-known gunsmith from Conroe, TX. Although Wayne's work could be "spotty", he was capable of top-quality work and did some of the auction rifles for Houston Safari Club. Don profiled alot of Wayne's stocks and probably did other work for him as well. Both very knowledgeable smiths.

If it's the same Don Dobbratz he was a classmate at Trinidad in the class of 1954. Only mesquite stock I've ever had any experience with was one from Roy Weatherby. He visited the school and gave each student a stock (unfinished) for their use. I remember he was driving a big,I beleive,Chrysler station wagon and the stocks were in the back of it. I picked a mesguite blank. they had the tip and grip cap mounted and I remember mine had thin holly spacers. I bought a new FN action (that's what the blank was inletted for) and built a pretty nice rifle, have no idea what caliber or what I did with it but I did like the mesquite.

Cool story regarding Roy Weatherby donating those stocks to you guys!

Pretty wood, mesquite.

How is the weight of mesquite as compared to walnut?

I just listed a nice 1 piece mesquite blank in the classifieds and will be listing a couple 2 piece mesquite blanks as soon as Dad can get me some photos.