Stupid Stock Question

[robert reed]

I have seen stocks of beech, birch, cherry, maple and walnut. Are they ever made of oak or hickory? If not, why? I know that one of you knowledgable stock makers can enlighten me.
Thanks

 

[Lock Nut]

Not a stupid question. I'm sure stocks have been made of oak as well many others than what you listed. Stocks of maple, cherry and walnut etc. are a tighter grain and make for a nicer stock for working with, finishing, durability etc. Oak is a very porous open grain wood. Could be used, just not as practical.

 

[M. De Land]

Good question and good answer!

 

[Stophel]

Oak is very heavy and extremely unstable wood. White oak is supposedly more stable than red, but still neither are really stable enough for gunstocks. I'm sure it was done on occasion, I think I have seen a wall gun somewhere that was stocked in oak (who cares if it weighs two tons?). Often you will see guns where it is claimed that they are stocked in oak, but they are obviously stocked in ash (well, it's obvious to my eyes, at least).

Hickory... well, hickory is harder than the steel in your chisels, that's why no one wants to try to stock a rifle in hickory! :haha: Actually, there is one Bucks county rifle stocked in hickory (the gunsmith was obviously a masochist), and if I recall correctly, Rich Pierce has made, or was going to make a copy of it. As I understand it, hickory is not terribly stable either, but I don't have enough experience with it to say.

 

[tenngun]

I asked something about this a couple of years ago and was put on track to lookup some stuff. Seams the high tannic acid content of oak is hard on barrel iron. Lightly pitted hinges or strops ect was no problem, but was too much for guns.
No such thing as a stupid question I wish I had asked more.

 

[B.Habermehl]

No such thing as stupid questions, just stupid mistakes because questions were never asked. Oak is a miserable wood to inlet. And due to the grain structure being ring porous it is difficult to get a nice level filled finished surface. Look closely at oak hardwood flooring, you will see the sanded surface is never really flat, the grain structure doesn't allow it, plus it is prone to splitting while your workin with it. BJH

 

[Pete G]

I remember reading an article about a gunmaker ( I think it was Brooks, but I can't be sure) who had built a Southern rifle with an oak stock. His idea was that it was a commonly available wood that might have been used.

The final assessment was "NEVER AGAIN".....

 

[MSW]

my 2cents:

not really in the 'dumb question' arena: you would think that early makers would have used the materials at hand. I can attest, however, that oak would not make a good stock, since it really isn't stable, even when dry (I have made oak turnings on a wood lathe which drove me nuts and caused the use of many bad words). If all you want is something straight, like table legs or a set of drawer fronts, oak looks nice, but for something with curves and a tight grain structure, I'd stick with cherry, maple, walnut, or ash.

Good luck with your project!

 

[Katahdin]

Been my experience building furniture if the growth rings are easly seen the item will twist/warp just the nature of the wood. Think about tight grain woods ,, Maple/Berch/Beech/Apple/Walnut ,, little movement/shrinkage ,, now go with Pine/Oak/Ash not a Rule of Thumb just what I have experienced and observed ,,
Tried some Black Locus ,, stable ,, but you add lots of weight to what ever you build ,,good to look at all the same,,

 

[Billnpatti]

Both oak and hickory are too heavy for stock making. Another thing is that neither has the type of grain that stock makers like. Cured hickory is quite hard and not as easily worked as other woods. Oak has an open grain that can be filled today but back in the day, these modern grain fillers were not available. The work of applying and sanding enough layers of finish to fill the grain would have taken way too long. Today, it is largely a matter of weight and taste in the appearance. There may be other reasons of which I am not aware but I think these are two of the main reasons oak and hickory are not used.

 

[user 922]

Ron Luckenbill made a hickory stocked Bucks gun a couple of years ago. He said he'd never do it again.

 

[B.Habermehl]

I did a gun stocked in curley ash, neat gun when finished. Definitely in the never again category. Worked like oak, similar grain structure, all the same bad habits. YEECH!

 

[Rifleman1776]

Many years ago some magazine, American Rifleman perhaps, published a great article explaining the characteristics of different woods with emphasis on how they might be good, or bad, for use on rifles. I sure would like to see that again. But, then, there must be reasons why walnut and maple are the most popular. I'm sure birch and a few others are acceptable in the not fancy categories.

 

[M. De Land]

I have a cousin that once stocked a pistol in Osage orange, he said is was heavy as iron and just about as hard. It sure was a curious color for gun stock wood but will easily our wear and last the metal in the gun.
We still have fence posts and farm house columns of it on our farm that were put in the ground over a hundred years ago and still haven't rotted off last I knew.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have a cousin that once stocked a pistol in Osage orange, he said is was heavy as iron and just about as hard. It sure was a curious color for gun stock wood but will easily our wear and last the metal in the gun.
We still have fence posts and farm house columns of it on our farm that were put in the ground over a hundred years ago and still haven't rotted off last I knew.

I work OO quite a bit because it is such a unique wood and I have a large supply. (I know, illogical but it is what I like. :wink: ) It is heavy and tough, no doubt. Advantage is when your one-shooter is empty you can hit your opponent with the gun, probably do more damage than a fired ball. :shocked2: Enneyhow, that strange bright orange color won't last. Eventually the stock will be dark walunt brown. I'm turning a custom handle from OO right now, it is slow going. Be cautious, some folks are very sensitive to OO dust.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Persimmon (very hard as it is used for golf club woods) and apple have been used on occasion too. I tend to think that osage orange is very similar (or perhaps even related) to the African exotic wood paduak. Starts out orange or red, and winds up much darker. Cherry darkens over time too.

Back in the day, walnut was known as a military stock wood. When you look at a tree, only the sap wood is useable in maple, (which is about 1/4 of the tree diameter on each side) so finding big enough trees to make stocks from is hard. With walnuts the inside 3/4 is useable, so you can get more gun stocks from the same size tree. ANd walnut grows faster than maple too.

 

[Stophel]

When you look at a tree, only the sap wood is useable in maple, (which is about 1/4 of the tree diameter on each side) so finding big enough trees to make stocks from is hard.

Only the sapwood is usable????

I have some stock blanks with a little bit of heartwood in them. The wood seems fine. Actually, I wish I could get a stock blank of ALL heartwood! That's never gonna happen, though. If it is considered by anyone to be unstable (and I don't know that it is), it would probably be because it was from the very center of the tree, because, sugar Maple generally doesn't have a lot of heartwood, relative to some other trees like walnut.

A sugar maple cross section:

Walnut:

 

[Col. Batguano]

The heartwood / sapwood ratio varies from tree to tree, and region to region. I cut down a couple of 20" maples in northern MN a couple of years ago with a view to making stocks out of them, and there was much more heartwood than your pictures show. Maybe it was the soil /nutrients / sunshine they grew in, or maybe it was the shorter growing season (of northern MN vs. more southern climes), but after the first one showed that sort of ratio, I dug down in to the roots to get a piece of wood that had the right bend to the grain and was wide enough with sap wood to get a rifle blank out of it for the second one. Hint; freshly harvested maple logs are HEAVY!

When I went back to the (remnants of the) tree a couple of years later (for pistol blanks from the limb / trunk junctions) ants had been chomping on the heart wood, but the sap wood was still clear.

In places where limbs grow out of the trunk it makes for perfect bendy grain for pistol blanks (very little grain runout). Try getting that pattern out of a commercially harvested maple trunk. You won't find it because it's not very labor efficient to cut trees just for the ML'er pistol blank market.