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Rifle stock wood

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R.Boone

32 Cal.
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I have just purchased a band saw mill an was wanting to know what thickness an width lumber does it take to build a long rifle stock? Any other information will be helpful like drying time for the different types of stock wood ect.
 
Depends on era of the guns you will build. 1700s rifles with cheekpiece need 2 and 3/8” planed smooth. Late percussion rifles need 2” planed smooth wood.

Air drying green wood takes 1 year per inch thickness. For cherry you’ll need 18” wide logs. For walnut you need more because of sapwood. Most avoid heartwood on maple so need 20” plus logs.

For best figure maple is quarter dawn which needs more thickness of course.
 
As above, but give yourself some leeway, and allow some for shrinkage too. It wouldn't hurt to cut a plank to 2 1/2" or 2 3/4". To get quarter-sawn wood it will take a really big tree, and / or a portion of the tree that is bent, like down in to the stump wood below ground.
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I don't like digging. so I would blast it out. Fortunately, you're coming up on the perfect day of the year for that. Who's to say where that big boom came from?
 
Rich Pierce beat me to it. Give the wood plenty of time to dry. I have read about the various ways to keep the blank from warping, but I just sit mine on stickers and let them do their thing. I would go with 18 months per inch, but that's just me.

Good luck with your project!
 
Drying time is less important than moisture content, since time to dry varies with your local climate, airflow, seasonal humidity changes, etc. You need to use a moisture meter to determine when the wood has reached a stable moisture content. The absolute worst thing you can do is try to hurry it by heating, or fans, etc. That will create internal stresses and honeycomb. Your green lumber needs to have the end grain sealed immediately after cross cutting, and for the duration of the drying process with roofing tar or other sealer since moisture will exit far more quickly thru the end grain than tangentially, etc.; which is a bad thing (causes severe checking and other problems) if you want to use it for something other than firewood. Here's some additional info you should look into:

http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/sawdry.pl

You should also download applicable chapters of the Wood Handbook issued by the US Forest Service.

https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/products/publications/several_pubs.php?grouping_id=100&header_id=p

I'd also recommend you cut the timber at least 3" thick to allow for shrinkage, planing and so on. You can always remove more wood, but it's very hard to put more on. and last here's a on-line calculator that will give you shrinkage by species.

http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/shrinkulator/
 
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Years ago I contacted a saw mill owner and asked what species of trees he uses for the RR ties which were his main product. He told me he liked sugar maple and the ones in his area {north central WI} made good RR ties.

I asked him if he ever ran across some curly sugar maple and he said yes. So I asked if he would reserve the curly logs. H agreed and 2 wks later we discussed how he should saw the 8 that he had and call me when done.

Saw the blanks and none were curly and he wanted $120 for the 12 RR ties that weren't made. Paid him and never ventured again into curly wood for gunstocks.....Fred
 
One other thing on leaving it wide. Many early guns of course had wide butts, over two inches. Many also had cast off, the butt curved to the right,(southpaws might want to curve left) sometimes as much as a half an inch. So you would need leave enough to to make side plate and cheek plate, but enough to throw your all to the left and still have enough on the right.
 
Years ago I contacted a saw mill owner and asked what species of trees he uses for the RR ties which were his main product. He told me he liked sugar maple and the ones in his area {north central WI} made good RR ties.

I asked him if he ever ran across some curly sugar maple and he said yes. So I asked if he would reserve the curly logs. H agreed and 2 wks later we discussed how he should saw the 8 that he had and call me when done.

Saw the blanks and none were curly and he wanted $120 for the 12 RR ties that weren't made. Paid him and never ventured again into curly wood for gunstocks.....Fred

IMO, you owed him nothing. He didn't have what he said he did, he failed to deliver. Not your fault he couldn't uncut them into ties.
 
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