Hey Guys, is there anything wrong with Western Broadleaf maple, or Myrtle? I have seen a couple of stocks made out of these and the broadleaf maple in particular looked fantastic.

What other woods make for good blond stocks? I have a blond stock on my whelen, super plain jane, but looks good, have no idea what kind of wood it is though.

Red

Red,I live on the west coast of BC,Canada and have recently been working with Western Maple. Some of this stuff is harder than woodpecker lips and comes in colors from iridesent white to a soft chocolate. And you should see some of the figuring in this wood. I have been seriously considering getting some blanks cut as gifts to friends. derf

It's amazing that this particular maple was used for junk for years until somebody finally realized that it should be saved for things like fine funiture or gunstocks. The highly figured stuff is now prized.

Here's my VZ-24 in 308 Norma on a piece of Myrtle. Chic thinks it would burn real nice in the fire because he's an English Walnut bigot. To hell with that heathen!

-Mike

308 Norma Cheekpiece side
308 Norma other side

Alvinmack, that is one beautiful stock !!!! Did you make it yourself ???

Reminds me of Ross Seyfried's "Oulde Yellow", which I consider to be one of the best looking rifle stocks I ever saw.

I intend to have a rifle built soon. Do you know where I might find a piece of wood like that ?

I think that these two Myrtle wood stocks have aged very nicely on FN Whby actions.


Rusty
We band of brothers!

wingnut,

I have a number of beatiful Maple fiddleback blanks available. They don't have the same type of figure of the stock above, mostly fiddleback from one end to the other, which I think is gorgeous.
If you're interested, e-mail me. They are very reasonably priced. I might even have a few pictures of some representative pictures from the same tree that I sold to a couple guys from another site.
bsfx@aol.com

derf - Could I be your friend?

Finished inletting a myrtle stock last night and will begin shaping soon. Beautiful fiddleback and easier to work than I originally thought. It feels softer than burl walnut but should turn out nicely. I've seen several finished stocks from this same tree and they are spectacular under tru-oil finish only. You can of course stain to your preferred hue as you can see from the above Weatherby pics. I like myrtle for stainless varmint rifles where a little flashiness isn't out of the question. Give it a try.

Snowcat, that video box was sent out and you should be receiving it soon. Excuse my stupidity.
On the myrtlewood stock, please post pics when you're ready. I had one once I put on a small Sako .223. My best friend wanted it for his brother so I sold it. Have wanted to get another ever since. Maybe one day

Hey prof-
I jsut finished inletting and am going to relieve the tang and recoil lug and glass tonight. Shaping to follow. Doesn't look like much now but I have high hopes. I'll post when its more presentable, lotta work but really rewarding so far.

The last time a client and friend brought a Western Big Leaf Maple (aka Broad Leaf) blank to me for a stock and when done, I told him if he ever brought one again, they would never find his body. It was from Oregon, Willamette Valley where the growth rings are measured in yards. The blank looked great but it was soft and checkering of the soft/hard/soft/hard consistency of the wood was a pain in the ass. You tend to dig holes with the checking tool and adjacent to it you are carving rock. They also look like the "hooker" of gunstock woods. I am always looking for where you put the batteries in the damn things to light them up. Okay you want me to tell you how I really feel??? You guys use them up and save all the good wood for me, lol. BTW, I dont like Myrtle either.

Cayford, bet Swamp would like that stock if you stained the checkeing, VFF. Life is good when I can get a dig into you. Oops, you are doing me a favor this weekend? Aren't you???? I need to edit this.

Snowcat, if the grip and forend are soft, after you do a layout pass for checkering, use superglue to saturate the wood. It will toghen it up and make the checkering better in the long run.

Many old-time stock makers described Myrtle as a wood that "never stops warping". I have a rifle built on an FN Browning Mauser action with a Fajen fancy-grade Myrtlewood stock made in 1964. This stocj=k has never sufffered from such a problem, and has never changed zero since I put the present scope (old Leupold 7.5X) on it in 1970. This is my only experience with Myrtlewood. As for maple, I have two muzzleloaders with maple stocks, and of course, they don't behave like a modern rifle. The Myrtle stock is very blonde, but the maple is finished in a dark, reddish walnut color.

Hey Chic,

If the wood hardness is not right, besides those two types of wood what other types are there that are blond in color? is there any walnut that is blond like that?

Alvinmack, very beautiful!

Thanks guys for the replies, don't know how you did it, I haven't been able to get on the forum for 3 days.

Red

Dago Red look for a fruitless Mullbery.

My neighbor has one, but it definitely ain't fruitless, worse even than a cherry plum, what a mess. and you can't sweep up the berry's, that just smears them. :-)

I'll keep my eyes open for it though. thanks for the advice.

Red

Alvinmack, that's a nice looking rifle. Jim Turner, a walnut dealer in Chico, CA usually has some nice myrtlewood.

There's one on e-bay up for sale, looks pretty good to. Migh be a little lighter than you want.