Wood grain through the wrist?

[chuck-ia]

I understand the grain should follow the wrist area with no run out. I have 2 blanks that the grain will not follow the angle of the wrist, I am not able to take pictures, the grain will have some run out through the wrist area, how much run out is acceptable? I would say the grain follows the upper and lower forearm, which will leave some run out through the wrist. I don't know, these are plain red maple blanks. Hope this makes sense. thanks, chuck

 

[B.Habermehl]

I understand the grain should follow the wrist area with no run out. I have 2 blanks that the grain will not follow the angle of the wrist, I am not able to take pictures, the grain will have some run out through the wrist area, how much run out is acceptable? I would say the grain follows the upper and lower forearm, which will leave some run out through the wrist. I don't know, these are plain red maple blanks. Hope this makes sense. thanks, chuck

If the blank is quarter sawn then the grain definitely should follow the wrist of the stock. If flat or board sawn then it is not as critical. If you look at the but end of the blank with it oriented vertically. The annular rings should be some variation of a arc across the wide part of the butt, for a board sawn blank. Verses nearly a straight arc across the narrow part of the butt, for a quarter sawn blank

 

[chuck-ia]

Ok, thanks. Appears to be board sawn. So should be ok. thanks again

 

[B.Habermehl]

Your welcome!

 

[Col. Batguano]

Red maple doesn't have the torsional or sheer strength that sugar maple does, so it's worth paying attention to grain more so than in sugar maple. If you're really concerned about it, there are a couple of things you can do;

Dave2c had a stock with a bunch of runout in it and he mortised under the rear foot of the TG and epoxied in a separate piece of wood with the grain going vertically to reinforce the wrist. The mortise was totally covered by the TG foot

Another thing to do is to drill a hole with a long bit running right down the wrist. Then put in a metal rod or hollow metal tube going right down the wrist and epoxy it in place. I would suggest a larger diameter aluminum tube (rather than a thinner steel rod) to help keep it light, and allow for the tang bolt to go through it if you're going to go this route.

 

[Zonie]

I think the walnut Tennessee I built from a pre-carve shows what poor grain thru the wrist looks like.

In this case, the rifle style is what saved the day.

The Tennessee rifles use very long barrel tangs and trigger plates so this allowed me to use these features to fully "sandwich" the wood thru the wrist with solid steel on the top and underside. The tang screws go thru the wrist to screw into the trigger plate on the bottom to give the entire area a lot of strength.

If the gun had been one of the styles that use short tangs and trigger plates the unsupported wood in the wrist could split if it was subjected to heavy loads or shock.

 

[chuck-ia]

I think the walnut Tennessee I built from a pre-carve shows what poor grain thru the wrist looks like.
View attachment 1680

In this case, the rifle style is what saved the day.

The Tennessee rifles use very long barrel tangs and trigger plates so this allowed me to use these features to fully "sandwich" the wood thru the wrist with solid steel on the top and underside. The tang screws go thru the wrist to screw into the trigger plate on the bottom to give the entire area a lot of strength.

If the gun had been one of the styles that use short tangs and trigger plates the unsupported wood in the wrist could split if it was subjected to heavy loads or shock.

Thanks, this gives me some ideas.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Here is the best blank I ever cut out of a log, cherry, it even had a lot of figure in the butt. The bad part is I had a senior daydream moment when I was cutting the side profile on my bandsaw got my centerline mixed up with my side line because I wasn't paying attention. Yep, I put a cut down the center from the nose cape to the entry pipe location. I glued everything back together to an invisible line and gave the blank to a friend of mine that stocks up random parts to a good shooters and great looking guns but is not too hung up on absolute perfection.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Chuck,
Maybe you already considered this but you don't have to orient the gun with the barrel parallel with the edge of the wood. You may be able to angle the stock on the board a little such that the grain is straighter through the wrist.

dave

 

[Zonie]

Another picture of my Tennessee for those having problems with seeing the direction of the grain in the wrist.

 

[chuck-ia]

Yes, I can gain a tiny bit by moving my pattern on the blank. That is pretty much like my blank Zonie. I am going to build a trade gun, I know trade guns are supposed to be walnut, but have these red maple blanks. I should say am going to follow the basic shape of a trade gun. Eric Krewson, I have used my band saw on a few guns, My blood pressure seems to go way up when I flip that switch, I remember one I cut across the line, I was so mad I almost threw the blank over the fence. The last gun I did, I sawed by hand, every thing! A lot of work, but did enjoy it. Plan to do the same on this one. I do like those southern guns Zonie! Thanks, chuck

 

[Vaino]

The average blank on the market today doesn't have good grain direction through the wrist and formerly when I used expensive maple, quarter sawn blanks, some of these didn't have ideal grain direction through the wrist.

A blank which has had it's butt end cut from the stump end of the tree has a better chance of having good grain direction through the wrist, but there aren't many of these on the market.

Yes....one can "tilt" the stock layout on the blank, but due to the "skinny" forend wood on the average blank and long bbl lengths, not much is gained......Fred

 

[Col. Batguano]

Since most logging happens by cutting off the tree trunk above ground, and to get bent grain for the wrist, the stump has to be excavated for the cut, you wonder how many loggers actually go through all that trouble to get the perfect gun stock blank. It would take some big heavy equipment to do it or a ton of time with a shovel, and chain sawing through dirt is pretty hard on saw blades.