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custom/exotic wood stock

7K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  me 
#1 ·
Has anyone seen any stocks from wood other than walnut on an 1894? I was thinking a very curly maple or birds eye maple would look good. My custom muzzleloader is made from p++ curly maple and I think it would be cool for my 1894 to match it. A nice purple heart, osage orange or eboney wood might look nice also. Anyone seen or have such an animal?
 
#2 ·
I've seen pics of a couple of antique Marlins that looked like they'd been restocked with maple with no stain. Awful light colored wood.

I grew up messing with Osage Orange and while it's purty, it's bad to split and crack when dried. I did make a set of grips for a Ruger Blackhawk in 41 Mag that I used to own out of it though and they looked sharp after I let them turn from yellow to orange in the air before applying a finish to them. It'd be hard to get a piece as big as a butstock or forearm dried without splits and cracks though. On those grips, I started out with a half dozen small pieces to dry and only two didn't split or crack.

I've never messed with purple heart or ebony.
 
#3 ·
I don't think you could find a piece of ebony big enough to make a stock from. I don't know about birds eye maple either, from a stability stand point. Why don't you go for a fancy premium grade walnut. I believe walnut is used as it it available and it is a pretty durable and stable wood, plus it's real nice, even plain jane!
 
#4 ·
Man, Ebony would be very nice indeed! There is also Ebonized Rosewood. You might try some Luthiers supply sites to find these and other great woods.
I have some big Red Oak boards kicking around that are over a hundred years old, 4"X10"X72". A couple have some splits, but the rest are solid... maybe time for a project!
 
#5 ·
I'm sure I don't have the skills to make a stock but I have a friend who built me a smooth bore muzzleloader and it would be a breeze for him. I still have a piece of black walnut that is over 150 years old that came from David Crockets birth site that was around when Davey was running Limestone creek. That might be cool but I was really thinking about fancy maple of some type. I have also seen a 10-22 made of Zebra wood that was nice. Don't think I'll change my stock but if I found another 1894 with a broken stock or badly scratched that was cheap I may experiment.
 
#6 ·
Radar 1 said:
Man, Ebony would be very nice indeed! There is also Ebonized Rosewood. You might try some Luthiers supply sites to find these and other great woods.
I have some big Red Oak boards kicking around that are over a hundred years old, 4"X10"X72". A couple have some splits, but the rest are solid... maybe time for a project!
A nice substitue for ebony would be Wenge form the former Congo. Large enough pieces. Beautiful finished, very hard, almost solid black. If you used Rosewood, why would you want to ebonize it anyway?
 
#8 ·
oldbullet said:
Ochretoe try Treebone carving , He has some nice stuff . I found his site while surfing the web.
Yep. Treebone Carving and Macon Gunstocks both offer some nice wood.

And ya know, if you're up to dropping around ten grand, you could get this from Kilimanjaro in Montana. ;)



They also have lots of wood you can choose from. Big bucks when you get into truly exotic and/or high grade stuff.

There are actually guys flying around the world in private jets brokering (and cut throating each other) high end walnut and other sought after gun stock woods. It' not uncommon for someone to spend $20k and wait a few years to get just the right blank for their rifle or shotgun.

I of course, don't live in any of those circles so I refinish my birch. ;D
 
#9 ·
44-40 Willy, Tip on the osage for ya, carry a bottle of Elmer's wood glue with you when you cut down the tree and as soon as it hits the ground, slather a good coat on the cut end. You can also use shellac. This will seal the end grain and prevent cracking. You can still split the log but any cut across the end grain needs to be sealed. I mess around with primitive archery and that's how we cut it for bow staves and it really does work.

As for the curly or birds-eye maple, I've seen one rifle stocked in blond (natural) maple and didn't care for the color but others loved it. Now, if you take that curly maple and toast the wood with a torch, THEN you've got something really purty. You can't seem to find much about the process on google but there is a book called Checkering and Carving of Gunstocks by Monty Kennedy from the 1950's or so that describes the process very well. It's still available.
 
#10 ·
that big leaf maple is pretty nice in any figure but it would have to dry many yrs b4 I'd pay to have a stock made.
 
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