Is there such a thing as exhibition grade black Walnut with fiddle back,Tiger strip or feather crotch Figure?What are the different kinds of walnut that make good stocks in usa?Claro & ?
where is bastonge from?What kind do winchester rifles have and kimber and ruger and marlin?who does good work making custom stocks in the atlanta area?What about south eastern southern states?I need some contacts or references.Anyone tried BOYDS?Good or bad?
Thanks in advance!

Bastogne Walnut is a hybrid between Claro and English walnut. It occurs very rarely when raising Claro saplings. It is heavier and denser than either English or Claro, and is in between the two in color. It is a low umbrella like tree, and often has amazing figure. Boyds stocks are, from what I have seen, graded fairly and the semi inleted, semi finished stocks are a good deal, and turn out some very nice stocks if you/your stockmaker are willing to finish it up.

Claro walnut is from California, and ranges from red to golden brown. It's name means "clear" and that is a good way to discribe it. English walnut is actually Pursian, but was taken to England by the Romans.

http://www.gobywalnut.com/

Goby has a lot of black

I have used boyds for laminated stocks, not sure on upperend wood I would go that route, but might be fine.

Contact Roger Ferrell, 130 White Oak Court, Fayetteville, GA 30214, 770-460-0533. He can answer all your questions about walnut and provide any level of gun work you may require.

Yes, lots of beatifull black walnut out there..Mostly you see it on Deluxe grade American rifles and shotguns of days gone by..Still lots of it around..Black is heavy, porus and generally not a good choice, nor is Claro for the most part, but there are always exceptional pieces in any wood....both are hard shell species..

I favor Turkish, French, Australian, Russian or some European thin shelled walnut. Its lighter with much less pores and is stronger for the most part..They are thin or soft shell nut trees..These woods increase the value of your gun like no other IMO...

Bastogne is a good big bore wood, it is heavy and tends to be checker boarded in color, very pleasing..I have seen some nice Mesquite stocks and a few Myrtle that looked pretty good, but all my stocks on my personal customs guns are Turkish..

Thanks fla3006,i will give him a call.Is the circasian walnut wood on the ruger express rifles from turkey also?Is some circassian light wood like balsa and not very strong or scratch resistant.What about the french walnut is it strong and has beautiful figure?Only saw a few of those specimans.Thanks very much for the help.

I want a black walnut stock in a really nice figure.I saw one on a winchester custom shop american series shot show special I think?, a few years back,375H&H, that was knock out and dark,very dark.Also a very dark super grade in 25-06 that was beautiful feather crotched figure,I just didnt know if the wood was called Black walnut or not even though it was dark..I guess the way mother nature works ,you could get a special dark wood out of all of them ,you guess,it would just be a fluke?

blackbearhunter,
American Black walnut is an excellent gun stock wood and is overlooked way too often. You have made a good choice. Full figured stocks are a real bargain. The best prices I have seen are from Gary Goby in Oregon. Circassian walnut, French Walnut, English walnut, California English, Turkish walnut is the same wood, Juglans Regia and it is only named for the area where it is harvested. Circassian Walnut at one time was the primo wood and came from the Cacassus mountains bordering Turkey and Russia. It is not light, it is dense and very good wood. I suspect that a lot of Turkish wood gets "renamed" Circassian for the monetary benefit. True exhibition Circassian is very expensive.

To answer your earlier question, any stock blank of an exceptional figure can be graded as exhibition, it is not reserved for just English walnut.

Customstox those are some very nice rifles!Beautiful wood and metal,Ireally liked the 7x57! super fantastic!

What do you think of this one?

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2711043/m/939105012

Bill your work is as good as it gets!Fantastic!
Beautiful works of art!Thanks for sharing the beautiful rifles with us!

Customstox ,that first rifle on your site is so nice!What kind of walnut does it have?Pretty!!
Thanks for sharing!

The one at the top with the scope is English Walnut, the next one down with the open sights is Bastogne.

I just snapped this picture yesterday of my Am Black walnut stock that is going on my Savage 1899B (octagon bbl) in .38-55 American wood on an American rifle...
Sav 1899B .38-55

Pfeifer,
Looks fantastic. BTW, how do you like the Kimball vice? I already know the answer.

Hey Chic... Wish I could say that this one was mine, but I must admit it belongs to my gunsmith friend Dick Hart. I wish the Kimball family could be contacted about making these again.
jp