# gun stock from log to done in a hurry?



## dirtclod

Someone stopped by last night and said he wanted to drop off a 5' walnut log to be milled into gun stock material. He's in a hurry. Said his son broke the one on his shotgun. 

He hasn't done this before and I haven't milled for gun stocks so I don't know what thickness he should start with. (Maybe I can get some clues off ebay.) I also suspect he won't get it professionally kiln dried. So I'm wondering if anyone has tried drying them in a conventional oven?


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## Daren

2 1/2" thick rough sawn. The gun stock material I have sold over the years was to professional stock makers...they refuse to take kiln dried wood. (they have some lore about it, seems like wife's tale stuff to me and most likely bad experience with _improper_ drying in the past) I usually keep it here for 2 years to make sure it will not crack before I market it, I figure it is safe after that long. The guys I sell/have sold to want the wood dated, month/year it was milled, and will keep it in their shops for another 5 years before they touch it again :huh:. Maybe the guys I have dealt with are not the norm though ?

For your situation I don't think the oven is a good idea. Case hardening for sure. The only safe way to dry wood that thick really fast is a vacuum kiln. That service is available and I could get you contact info, but it is $$$. Even a small d/h kiln is going to take weeks.

I really don't know enough about drying in a conventional oven to give educated advice. Maybe some one else can ? But it seems to me a guy is asking for trouble drying wood in the oven. I guess I need to do some research on it, I may learn something.


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## jeffreythree

Isn't there some kind of liquid turners use to draw the moisture out of wood and stabilize it?


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## firehawkmph

Jeff,
I have heard and read about guys using alcohol to soak the wood in and then let it dry. The alcohol displaces the water then proceeds to dry out quickly. Never tried it. I agree with Darren about the vacuum dry kiln. There is a sawmill close by that uses one of these. He dries a whole batch of wood in 72 hours. I have used wood from them and never had a problem. If the fellow that needs the gunstock replaced is in such a hurry, I would probably pass on the job. Sounds like trouble.
Mike Hawkins:smile:


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## dirtclod

Thanks for the replies.

Tha VAC kiln seems like the way to go. I'll discuss it with him. 

Alcohol seems like a good idea on other species, but I'm concerned that it may leach color from the walnut.

This is probably a case where he won't be satisfied with the outcome. Using green lumber in a hurry and not wanting to find or pay for using a VAC kiln isn't going to work. He will have to buy a piece that's allready dry or use something from his or my stock that's nearly dry. I have a few pieces and he claimed he may have some, but he had this walnut tree that was recently felled and... Well, at least he might be ready for next time.


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## Kirk Allen

Our local gunstock builder, who by the way is one of the best in the country, only uses Kiln dried lumber. I say one of the best because I have seen how many other gunstock builders buy from him. Literallyl hundreds of them buy the rough blanks from him and then they finish them. He calls those folks gunstock "finishers" as virtually none of them carve out the rough blanks. 

This guy has over 300 sample blanks he works from and can replicate anything you have. How well known is he? When Winchester closed there plant last year this guy got a call from them and he recieved ALL the blanks that they had left over. 

No web site, no yellow page advertising yet those in the know, know Justice Gunstocks is the best in the country! 

Everything he has me cut for him is 2 1/4" -2 1/2" thick.  The thicker is for the stocks with the raised cheak on the stock.


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## TexasTimbers

I've been having great success with denatured alcohol like firehawk alludes to, but not on dense and thick. I have tinkered with small walnut crotches to speed the drying and haven't noticed discoloration. It takes a "hot" denatured alcohol to really work, but even the junk they sell at the box stores works okay. 

A vacuum kiln is the holy grail of drying thick wood fast.


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## Shamus

Having done a few stocks in my day I would guess your customer hasn't a clue what he's in for. A considerable amout of time/effort in shaping, sanding and fitting, then finishing. All with a piece of wood that was dried in a hurry. :thumbdown:

There are many aftermarket stocks available for all but the rarest of guns. If he wants one fast, then I'd recommend UPS.

Just my ol 2¢


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## Chris K'nerr

*guntock drying*

The moisture content does make a difference, the real problem comes from the wood not being seasoned enough. It takes some changes in the temp and humidity for the wood to wiggle around and get comfortable. Don't forget, that blank is use to having a tree parked over it. The tree is not there anymore, so all the stresses that held in shape are gone. 


I am a gun maker specializing in hand carved gunstock. Blanks will sit in the shop at least 5 years before I do anything to them.

If it helps any, started a series of Youtube videos on how I make a gunstock. Just getting started, so more will be posted as I get them done. The 1st one is just an intro of me, the next 2 might be of interest - they are on choosing wood. Seasoning/humidty etc are covered along with many other things.

Take care,
Chris


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## DST

Take a look at wineland walnut in Chico califarnia. Good info and lots of samples


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## woodchucker71

i hear it takes a piece atleast two and a half inces. i dont think an conventional oven would dry the wood in a reasonable amount of time. i saw on the internet a profesional stock maker said even kiln dryed wood he will let sit a couple of years before he would make a stock


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## HomeBody

I can't imagine making a stock from green walnut. After a couple years of drying on the gun it would probably be one twisted sister.

I don't have any rifle blanks but I have quite a few 2-piece shotgun blanks. Air dried for 25 yrs. If you just want a plain, straight grain walnut butt blank I will sell you one for reasonable. I don't normally sell blanks but would sell you one to help out a forum member.

Here's a pic of two sets I'm just finishing up. The upper set is crotch wood and the lower set came from a stump. I'm going to start carving the upper set this week.

I try and make my blanks AT LEAST 2.5" thick AFTER it's been sanded to 100 grit. Thinner than that will work on some guns, but not all. The thinner the blank, the less wiggle room you have and the more skill you need lining things up right. An expert can do it with less, a beginner needs more when you're doing a stock from a blank by hand.

Gary


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## truckjohn

It's critical for the guy to understand why they let things sit around for as long as we do....

A... It takes forever for thick wood to dry.
B... The natural seasoning process exposes the wood to the seasonal changes.. Temperature, humidity, etc..... Some pieces are squirrely and twist/,move all over the place with these changes.. Other pieces are very stable and don't twist, crack, and shift.... You want the pieces that are stable...

All wood Moves seasonally... Some wood does bad things when it moves...

The next thing is that on your end there is quite a bit of planning that goes into cutting blanks well... The grain needs to go in a particular way or the stock will be likely to crack when the gun fires... You don't want this fellow rushing you into it and cutting the blanks wrong...

I too have fitted and finished a couple rifle stocks... For the amount of time it takes - I surely wouldn't want to have it start cracking all over the place in 6-months or have the whole stock twist and tweak the receiver every time the weather changes...

Anyway - you can get takeoff stocks pretty cheap.. You can get semi-fitted "Fancy" stocks reasonably cheap as well... Probably better to put one of those on and then wait for the wood to be ready when it's ready and give him the time to properly appraise it for bad behavior...

Thanks


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## Tennessee Tim

Hey Homebody,

Do they make stocks from other species than walnut???? and what qualifies as a Safe and DURABLE stock wood???? I have some air dried cherry cut and stuck since 1963 (would that apply to the 5 yr rule:blink:???:huh::laughing::laughing: LOL ). I need to go through stack and see What's there and workable (stacked and stored by farmer for 25 yrs prior to me buying and been picked through for "special" projects.)

Have a Blessed day in Jesus's Awesome Love ,
Tim


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## qbilder

We have a walnut that grows here locally. It's called "nogal", or Arizona walnut. Some of it is nearly identical to eastern black walnut but then some of it isn't. Much of it looks like the Bastogne or Circassion with all the marbling, except that this stuff keeps a lot of it's colors AFTER drying. One other notable difference is that the color naturally bleeds into the sap on dead trees, unlike black walnut. A dead tree will not have a white sap but instead will be dark immediately under the bark. I'm planning to buy a duplicator & making stocks for my shotguns. Gonna have some really plain jane old guns with fancy wood LOL


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## HomeBody

Tennessee Tim said:


> Hey Homebody,
> 
> Do they make stocks from other species than walnut???? and what qualifies as a Safe and DURABLE stock wood???? I have some air dried cherry cut and stuck since 1963 (would that apply to the 5 yr rule:blink:???:huh::laughing::laughing: LOL ). I need to go through stack and see What's there and workable (stacked and stored by farmer for 25 yrs prior to me buying and been picked through for "special" projects.)
> 
> Have a Blessed day in Jesus's Awesome Love ,
> Tim


I'd say if it's dried since '63 you would be okay.:laughing: I've never made a stock out of anything but walnut. I've wanted to make a fiddleback maple and a cherry crotch stock for a long time but have never run across good blanks. 

Here's a pic from the internet of a cherry crotch stock. Looks good to me...except for the bad spot in the wrist. The next two pics are of a crossbow stock made of oak! Gary


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## HomeBody

qbilder said:


> We have a walnut that grows here locally. It's called "nogal", or Arizona walnut. Some of it is nearly identical to eastern black walnut but then some of it isn't. Much of it looks like the Bastogne or Circassion with all the marbling, except that this stuff keeps a lot of it's colors AFTER drying. One other notable difference is that the color naturally bleeds into the sap on dead trees, unlike black walnut. A dead tree will not have a white sap but instead will be dark immediately under the bark. I'm planning to buy a duplicator & making stocks for my shotguns. Gonna have some really plain jane old guns with fancy wood LOL


I was just reading in a gunsmithing book from 1938 that black walnut from the SW US is generally better than black walnut grown in the midwest. TX, AZ, and NM were mentioned. According to the book, midwest walnut grows in much more fertile soil and grows quicker with wider growth rings. The SW walnut grows in poorer, rocky soil and has tighter growth rings. Having said that, I've never seen a black walnut blank for sale from the SW. If the book is right, you might have some really good stuff where you live. Gary


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## truckjohn

There is a lot of lore about the growth rings and the density or strength of the wood... In general - it's false.. There isn't really any correlation between strength and growth ring spacing... If you want to get a "Stiffer" or harder piece of wood - you look for a more dense piece of wood...

Now... that may not be what you really want in a gunstock... I would postulate that pure stiffness isn't really a virtue... I might want it to flex a bit under recoil rather than cracking... and extra-Heavy isn't high on the list of things I really want in a gunstock....

Thank


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## woodchucker71

im looking to replace a butt stock on a shotgun and im looking to buy a blank possibaly a piece of mapple or somthing you can recomend that has alot of grain showing do you have any to sell and at what price


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## Tennessee Tim

Homebody,

What finish is on the oak stock???? Love that color and sheen:thumbsup:. What style is that stock called??? I have a savage .222 over 20 ga that in time I'd like to replace the broken stock. This was an officer friend's gun whom years ago we altered the stocks (pistol gripped per his request) for him to use as a last defense if ever needed (Praise the Lord he never had to use it:thumbsup::yes::laughing.....after an illness death I was able to obtain from his wife as a memory token. 

After target shooting it one evening the walnut grip broke (grain direction is very important ) but no one got hurt nor gun hit ground:yes::huh::laughing:....and that's about how the reactions were.

I'd like to go back to a full length rear stock and front stock.

Have a Blessed day in Jesus's Awesome Love,
Tim


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## HomeBody

Tim, I got the pic of the oak stock off the internet. I don't have any idea what kind of oak or what kind of finish. I like it too...I think it's the first and only oak stock I've ever seen. 

I have a .22 over .410 to restock as well. Doing it for my barber as a favor for years of good haircuts. Gary


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