Working from a log, first attempt

Col. Batguano · Oct 22, 2012

I was playing lumberjack this last weekend in northern MN, and spotted a hard maple tree with a dead top, which had broken off many years ago. I grabbed my tree spikes, and climbed up there and took the top off. When I slabbed it out, the entire log was spalted maple. Is that any good for gun stocks?

kaintuck · Oct 22, 2012

SOMEtimes......but sometimes the dark places will crack or something~but for a dinner table....with spar varnish...it would be beautiful!!!!!

*sigh*...I WISH I was rich, and had a wood shop~

Col. Batguano · Oct 22, 2012

This section of the log was barely big enough to get 2 gun blanks out of, about 53" long. There are bug holes (ants I think) in a bunch of it too. So I'm thinking I MAY only be able to get a half stock out of one of them. I think I know when this part of the tree died, which was about 30 years ago.

When I looked down in to the stump (this is about 20' up the tree) there were some black lines evident of more spalting going on in the living part of the tree. I'm thinking I may have to take the rest of this tree down in about a year, (so the spalt can work deeper in to the tree) because there's a huge burl (about a foot around) on the tree too. Then put it in the rafters for about 5 years......

Birddog6 · Oct 22, 2012

To each his own.... but were it me, I would look for a better tree. But that is just me...... :idunno:
Allot of work involved in cutting, taking to a mill or slabing it out yourself, sticking it, drying it for 3 yrs, spraying it with termite spray each year, etc...... for a stock or two you can buy for couple hundred bucks & KNOW it is good... Whatever you do, Keep it in the Plank for drying.......

Keith Lisle

Bill Hall · Oct 23, 2012

spalted maple makes beautiful turned bowls, but you gotta work with it. It's not all good wood. Bill

Col. Batguano · Oct 23, 2012

Part of the appeal is because the tree is on MY property, so, in addition to being a home made gun, it'll be home grown too. For me, in gun making, it's all about the journey rather than the destination.

The amount of money we spend some times just to save a buck, right?

wmaser · Oct 23, 2012

:thumbsup: Same here. It just makes it more satisfying.

Eric Krewson · Oct 25, 2012

My blanks are far less than perfect. I have a friend who can cobble together a nice, simple rifle or smoothbore from a mixture of collected, hand forged and other parts. He could take my less than desirable blanks and make a firearm that that would get the job done.

I see this route for myself somewhere down the road. I have a new GM 40 cal barrel I bought for $75, my friend will show me how to forge mounts, couple this with a new Chambers late Ketland lock and one of my already dry stock blanks and I will have a nice functional rifle for about $200 in parts.

Being a natural cheapskate this type of rifle building apeals to me.

Col. Batguano · Nov 15, 2012

Took down a 20" sugar maple tree last weekend. Hogged the log out of the woods with my suburban, and loaded it on a boat trailer. It's going to be a chore to get 8-10" of white wood out of it for a stock. Knowing my luck, none of it is going to be curly.

hawkenhunter50 · Jan 6, 2023

Eric Krewson said:
My blanks are far less than perfect. I have a friend who can cobble together a nice, simple rifle or smoothbore from a mixture of collected, hand forged and other parts. He could take my less than desirable blanks and make a firearm that that would get the job done.

I see this route for myself somewhere down the road. I have a new GM 40 cal barrel I bought for $75, my friend will show me how to forge mounts, couple this with a new Chambers late Ketland lock and one of my already dry stock blanks and I will have a nice functional rifle for about $200 in parts.

Being a natural cheapskate this type of rifle building apeals to me.

Did you ever end up making anything from your blanks? Just wondering how it turned out if you did. Sounded like an interesting project.

Juniata · Jan 6, 2023

I'm going to guess being cut so small before drying, and the nature of cherry they twisted to heck and checked.

I cut gunstocks got a couple years ago at Alferfer lumber and we always cut them at 11 or 12/4 and like any slab, air dry 9 months to a year then kiln dry.
Then you can cut them to a blank.

Eric Krewson · Jan 6, 2023

I started one gun with the figured piece of cherry, it was a nice blank. I hate to tell this on myself but as I was cutting out the forestock width, I ran the extra wide blank into my bandsaw, I got about a foot into the blank when I realized I was cutting down the center line of the barrel. Perhaps you all have had one of those moments when you actually wanted to slap yourself, this was one of mine. I glued the blank back together and made the split invisible. I gave it to my friend who will make some kind of gun out of it, he will hide the split like it was never there.

After all this cutting I came to the conclusion that it is better to buy a good blank than spend weeks trying to salvage marginal wood.

I am a bow maker and have dried more bow wood than I can remember. Experience from this type of wood collecting taught me how to treat wood.

I have bow wood and once had three times this amount in storage. This is only one of the other three sections of my stored wood.

I had heard green cherry blanks were bad to warp and check, with my method leaving the blank vastly oversized (3" wide +), shellacking the entire green blank and keeping the wood protected from extreme heat changes, not one of my cherry blanks warped or had the slightest check on it anywhere. I cut a green walnut blank and had the same good results.

I have one well-seasoned cherry blank left that has a knot in the wrist that may be gone on the finished gun, if not it can be patched and hidden. The blank is 3" wide so there is lot of wiggle room, I wasn't thinking when I cut the blank out, I had plenty of room to move the knot up under the side plate location.

WyomingWhitetail · Jan 6, 2023

Your wood collection makes me jealous. I dabble in selfbows but good bow wood is dang hard to find out here in Wyoming. I do have a few pieces of hickory and osage that I've collected from afar over the years, have a little bit of ash I cut out of the neighbors yard too. Even finding normal hardwood lumber thicker than 1 inch is a real challenge. Wish I had better access to osage, it's probably my favorite wood.

hawkenhunter50 · Jan 7, 2023

Eric Krewson said:
I started one gun with the figured piece of cherry, it was a nice blank. I hate to tell this on myself but as I was cutting out the forestock width, I ran the extra wide blank into my bandsaw, I got about a foot into the blank when I realized I was cutting down the center line of the barrel. Perhaps you all have had one of those moments when you actually wanted to slap yourself, this was one of mine. I glued the blank back together and made the split invisible. I gave it to my friend who will make some kind of gun out of it, he will hide the split like it was never there.

After all this cutting I came to the conclusion that it is better to buy a good blank than spend weeks trying to salvage marginal wood.

I am a bow maker and have dried more bow wood than I can remember. Experience from this type of wood collecting taught me how to treat wood.

I have bow wood and once had three times this amount in storage. This is only one of the other three sections of my stored wood.

View attachment 187878

I had heard green cherry blanks were bad to warp and check, with my method leaving the blank vastly oversized (3" wide +), shellacking the entire green blank and keeping the wood protected from extreme heat changes, not one of my cherry blanks warped or had the slightest check on it anywhere. I cut a green walnut blank and had the same good results.

I have one well-seasoned cherry blank left that has a knot in the wrist that may be gone on the finished gun, if not it can be patched and hidden. The blank is 3" wide so there is lot of wiggle room, I wasn't thinking when I cut the blank out, I had plenty of room to move the knot up under the side plate location.

Thanks for the update and the funny story of the cut you made.

Cornbread · Jan 8, 2023

Does it have to cure or dry before you can do any more shaping or cutting? In that condition, is the wood still green or damp?

My great uncle from Arkansas told me (wish I could share the accent too) that his dad (my great grandfather) could look at a stand of trees and not only know what kind of tree it was, but based on how it grew what it would best be used for: furniture, gun stocks, kindling, etc.
Now that’s an ‘education’ no college professor or degree can duplicate.

James

Rob M. · Jan 9, 2023

Great posts . All my builds are from trees I've cut down or my Amish buddy had . Its so gratifying to do do many of the step as possible aka Wallace Gussler style I call it , LOL .

Eric Krewson · Jan 9, 2023

Yes, you have to have the blank completely dry before you do any shaping.

I left them in this shape to dry.

This was in the butt of the one I centerline cut;

Valkyrie · Jan 9, 2023

That’s awesome! I have a giant sugar maple that layer over in the wind a couple years ago. It’s still alive but I don’t have any way to deal with it.

Working from a log, first attempt

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