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Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Figure in the Wood?

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Joined
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Was looking at a flintlock rifle for sale. Beautiful.....except the stock had more stripe than any tiger which ever walked. The lines were thinner and more closely spaced than I am used to seeing. For me, that striping was a distraction which detracted from the overall beauty of the rifle.
I think a well executed long rifle will be beautiful without any ornamentation. But that an appropriate kind and level of embellishment will add to its beauty. And, frankly, the figure of the wood can be wonderful ornamentation. But you should see the whole gun, not have your attention riveted to some detail of it.
Yes. I know that is subjective and personal. But that is why there are different flavors of ice cream.
 
What you are describing is a very expensive piece of wood. Like you I don't care for it to me it looks fake. I did a fake stripe like that on one years ago and it found a new home 30 minutes after I hung it on the club house wall at a shoot. I much prefer a stock with an uneven curl, to me that is much more appealing.
 
Wood with a nice fiddleback to the grain is my favorite

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Was looking at a flintlock rifle for sale. Beautiful.....except the stock had more stripe than any tiger which ever walked. The lines were thinner and more closely spaced than I am used to seeing. For me, that striping was a distraction which detracted from the overall beauty of the rifle.
I think a well executed long rifle will be beautiful without any ornamentation. But that an appropriate kind and level of embellishment will add to its beauty. And, frankly, the figure of the wood can be wonderful ornamentation. But you should see the whole gun, not have your attention riveted to some detail of it.
Yes. I know that is subjective and personal. But that is why there are different flavors of ice cream.
Got photo?
 
Heavy recoiling dangerous game rifles always get the straight plain wood. The highly figured wood will not stand up to the recoil of heavy caliber rifles. Broken wrists are common if a guy just insists he wants a fancy grain. Fancy grade wood should be on small bore squirrel and deer rifles. Something to keep in mind when you build a 10 bore rifle.
 
At one time I planned to go into custom gun stock duplicating. As part of that (failed) effort I made contact with some importers of fancy gunstock blanks. Some of the 'flame' walnut was fancy enough to knock yer eyes out. If that didn't do it, the price would, some in the thousands. So, my answer is "no". I saw some beauties that, for me, were not 'too much'.
 
This is a CM4 grade (supposedly). It had some really hard and cross-grainy sections that would snag the blade or scraper...made for some challenging shaping. I like the end result, but a more modest grain structure is more to my liking so my Woodsrunner will have a standard grade from Kibler...which doesn't mean it won't have some figure, because he always overdelivers in every way.

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