I am getting started on a new rifle generally designed after Martin Shell. A friend cut some timber on his place and has offered me a nice ash plank left over from the lumber. It's thick enough, has some nice grain, and the price is right. I have read ash was used for Pennsylvania rifles, but I can't recall seeing one. Any thoughts?
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Ash Stock
- Thread starter BillFranz
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I restored a 17 ft sailboat that had a gunnel made of four 3/4" x 3/4" strips screwed together with the inner one sandwiching the fiberglass hull and the outer three providing a lip. After my rechargeable screwdriver gave out I ended up putting in 600 or so brass screws by hand. My arm near fell off. You're gonna love the way it works - NOT. Depending on how you shape the stock you might find the grain, while appearing straight, has a tendency to grab tools and chip out. It is a good, stable and beastly solid wood when you're done, but it is a pain to mill and saw. I used a sh*tload of clear epoxy and transparent colloidal silica to fill my whoopses so it didn't show under the varnish. You won't have that option. Keep your tools sharp and don't use a power tool to get to close to the final lines.
Seal the barrel channel and any holes well, as it has a tendency to turn black where moisture finds an entry.
Seal the barrel channel and any holes well, as it has a tendency to turn black where moisture finds an entry.
Guest
Listen to Stumpkiller! There is a reason why you do not recall seeing an ash stocked rifle! It is beastly to work, and then it splits!
:results:
:results:
robinghewitt
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Maybe this is a different ash to the one we get over here?
Ash used to be called lance wood, also used for rake handles, gun stocks, even ram rods.
The wheelwrights used it because it didn't split, elm for the hub, oak for the spokes and ash for the felloes.
I think I feel a spate of cannon building coming on
Ash used to be called lance wood, also used for rake handles, gun stocks, even ram rods.
The wheelwrights used it because it didn't split, elm for the hub, oak for the spokes and ash for the felloes.
I think I feel a spate of cannon building coming on
We use white ash for pick & axe handles, baseball bats and handles on peaveys, oars and boathooks (now mostly aluminum). It can be steamed and bent into shapes which it will hold once cooled. It is used to make tillers for sailboats.
White Ash
Hickory is the wood of choice for ramrods, hammer handles
Black ash splits are used in weaving baskets.
Mountain ash is a decorative small tree with lots of red/orange berries used for loading birds so they can poop purple stains on light colored cars
Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) is used to repell the evil dead of the Army of Darkness. :haha:
White Ash
Hickory is the wood of choice for ramrods, hammer handles
Black ash splits are used in weaving baskets.
Mountain ash is a decorative small tree with lots of red/orange berries used for loading birds so they can poop purple stains on light colored cars
Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) is used to repell the evil dead of the Army of Darkness. :haha:
robinghewitt
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We don't get hickory over here. We have chicory but I don't think that would make a very good rammer. Is hickory anything like ash? It's a kind of walnut isn't it.
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hickory is a hard wood noted for its extremely straight grain. It splits well and has a multitude of uses outside the area of furnature wood. It is extremely tough and has extremely good flexability. No relation ship to walnut in grain or color. The wood is usually very light in color and remains that way as it seasons.
Ram rods made from hickory may be "seasoned" in kerosene and made to bend in a complete circle without breaking. A properly made hickory rod is almost impossible to break. Almost every "origional" ramrod found with antique longrifles is made from hickory.
hickory is second choice for natural bow wood in North America, osage being normally the first choice. Also an unusual wood. (osage and hickory are reguarded similar to your yew and elm or ash in that reguard)
Hickory has a pourous grain structure similar to white oak but slightly finer in grain. It is extremely strong and useful where severe stress will be applied to the wood; axe handles, hammer handles, sledge handles.
There are tales of early shooters making replacement mainsprings for their flintlocks from hickory splits.
hickory is also one of the best woods to burn for home heating (we do that over here too). It has an extremey hot flame when allowed to age for a year. It also gives off a pleasant aroma when burned and is often used to "smoke" meats during the preserving process.
It actually comes in at least two varieties, shag bark and pig nut. My experience is mostly with the shag bark variety.
You now possess my complete knowledge of the hickory as a wood and tree. We probably have a forestry expert on the forum that will tell you more and have completely different information. If so then refer to him. this is not my field of expertise. I just know that some things I want to be made from hickory.
:m2c:
Ram rods made from hickory may be "seasoned" in kerosene and made to bend in a complete circle without breaking. A properly made hickory rod is almost impossible to break. Almost every "origional" ramrod found with antique longrifles is made from hickory.
hickory is second choice for natural bow wood in North America, osage being normally the first choice. Also an unusual wood. (osage and hickory are reguarded similar to your yew and elm or ash in that reguard)
Hickory has a pourous grain structure similar to white oak but slightly finer in grain. It is extremely strong and useful where severe stress will be applied to the wood; axe handles, hammer handles, sledge handles.
There are tales of early shooters making replacement mainsprings for their flintlocks from hickory splits.
hickory is also one of the best woods to burn for home heating (we do that over here too). It has an extremey hot flame when allowed to age for a year. It also gives off a pleasant aroma when burned and is often used to "smoke" meats during the preserving process.
It actually comes in at least two varieties, shag bark and pig nut. My experience is mostly with the shag bark variety.
You now possess my complete knowledge of the hickory as a wood and tree. We probably have a forestry expert on the forum that will tell you more and have completely different information. If so then refer to him. this is not my field of expertise. I just know that some things I want to be made from hickory.
:m2c:
Guest
I have a lot of ash planks and use them for handles and such. Since I are a blockschmidt, I always have need for long straight handles on set tools and hammers. I do not try to cut it with chisels but shape with belt or disc sanders. Works exceedingly quickly and no worries with gouging. If you have a good sander(s) you might try most of the rough work with that method. A router also works for channels and such.
My Grandmother had another use for hickory: what she called a "switch". I think it rates up there with the tomahawk for man-stopping ability. Every kid in the neighborhood knew and feared her.
Hickory - the shagbark anyway - has a nut that seems to be preferred above acorns by the local squirrels. They lack the tannin of acorns and can be eaten by us right out of the shell.
Sanding ash is the way to go. a right angle edge can be sharp enough to slice your hand - I learned that the hard way. Blood really stands out on that light yellowish wood.
A gunbuilder friend of mine just recently completed a gun with a curly ash stock, and as you can see from the picture, it is a rather spiffy piece of wood. The gun is done in the style of F. Kettle of Sevensburg Va. It has a 44" .58 caliber rifled barrel by Colerain, with all furniture being browned. Ash being kind of on the dense side, the gun weighs in at a manly 9 3/4 lbs. The 13 point star on the cheekpiece is copied from one done by John Thomas of Virginia. The original F. Kettle gun is shown on page 534 of Rifles of Colonial America, Vol ll, and the star is shown on page 528. Most ash has a grain structure like that seen in ball bats, very straight, with linear figure. This is kind of unusual. My friend says that very sharp tools are needed and things must be taken slowly. This gun is for sale. Another ash stocked gun is shown on www.cabincreek.net, a website run by another maker.
Daddy likes!
A real conversation starter.
A real conversation starter.
since i work ash all the time i thought i might add a few observations.
ash weighs almost, but not quite as much as curly maple, so the weight of the above rifle would be about the same in maple.
ash is a member of the olive family and when it is worked green it even has an olive smell. hickory is a member of the walnut family.
when green, ash splits very well, almost as good as hickory but the resulting splits of ash are not quite as "rubbery" as the hickory splits. they both make excellent ramrods.
aqua fortis works very well to color ash, often giving it a warm deep coppertone brown.
though usually quite straight grained, ash can have a rather dramatic curl as evidenced by the gorgious rifle above.
hope this is of value.
take care, daniel
ash weighs almost, but not quite as much as curly maple, so the weight of the above rifle would be about the same in maple.
ash is a member of the olive family and when it is worked green it even has an olive smell. hickory is a member of the walnut family.
when green, ash splits very well, almost as good as hickory but the resulting splits of ash are not quite as "rubbery" as the hickory splits. they both make excellent ramrods.
aqua fortis works very well to color ash, often giving it a warm deep coppertone brown.
though usually quite straight grained, ash can have a rather dramatic curl as evidenced by the gorgious rifle above.
hope this is of value.
take care, daniel
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