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Black Walnut for stocks?

JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
edited October 2012 in General Discussion
can black walnut be used for gun stocks?? I have a lady who is cutting down an OLD black walnut tree, and I can have any of it that I want. Would this be decent wood for gunstocks?? I also have access to a kiln to dry it.
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Comments

  • 35 Whelen35 Whelen Member Posts: 14,307 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Black walnut is widely used for gun stocks. Take all of it you can get!
    An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it.
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  • perry shooterperry shooter Member Posts: 17,105 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The stump is the part you want get it cut as low to the ground as possible. Black is the type of walnut used on more American made firearms then ANY OTHER wood. Seal the cuts with heavy wax to keep from cracking during drying. or even paint with # of coats of paint . you want it to dry from the sides NOT from the Ends. .The two Quarter sawed blanks opposite each other will be the Best.
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  • Horse Plains DrifterHorse Plains Drifter Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 40,168 ***** Forums Admin
    edited November -1
    Oh yeah, wonderful gun lumber! I don't think one would want to kiln dry it though. Air drying is best as far as I know.
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  • bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,669 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    YES! Paint the ends of the chunks to prevent splitting from drying out too fast. Try to get a chunk down near the roots, the figuring may be very nice.

    http://www.oldtreegunblanks.com/rifleblanks.html?woodid=1
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  • OakieOakie Member Posts: 40,521 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I would love to have some black walnut to make my turkey calls
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  • GuvamintCheeseGuvamintCheese Member Posts: 38,932 ✭
    edited November -1
    The good burly walnut stumps need to be under stress to get burly. Cut the tree down leaving 5-6' off the stump, then dig up the stump.
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  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    well, I'll see if I can get that stump thing done.

    about how old does the tree need to be to get that nice grain/figure/fiddle back to it??

    I know air drying is the best,.but doesn't it usually take like 5-10yrs to dry a board that way??
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  • Ray BRay B Member Posts: 11,822
    edited November -1
    Black Walnut is THE wood for stocks, particularly if it from "dryer" states, so as not to require a lifetime to properly season.
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  • TRAP55TRAP55 Member Posts: 8,292 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by JustC
    well, I'll see if I can get that stump thing done.

    about how old does the tree need to be to get that nice grain/figure/fiddle back to it??

    I know air drying is the best,.but doesn't it usually take like 5-10yrs to dry a board that way??

    The nutrients from the ground it's growing in determine the colors in the wood. The real "figure" in the wood is found in the crotch area, where the tree forks. That's where the "feather" figure on high grade buttstocks come from. How the log is cut makes a real big difference on how it looks as a gunstock too. Walnut burl makes pretty pistol grips, but cracks and chips out in recoil areas on a rifle.
    Kiln drying gets the wood to about a 7% moisture, and air drying is about 10%. There are stock making companies like Macon that will dry and saw the log for you.
    I just missed out on a 40FT flatbed trailer piled with trunks of old walnut trees the landowner wanted off his property, he didn't have a clue how valuable they were. The guy with the trailer was pulling out when I got there.[}:)]
    Good video showing crotch walnut being cut
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCR_lwQvsjk
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  • asphalt cowboyasphalt cowboy Member Posts: 8,904 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I am personally against kiln dried blanks as kiln drying most often sets up stresses in the blank which can develop cracks durring turning and inleting.
    If you absolutely must kiln dry air dry for 3-5 years and finish dry to 7%-9% in a kiln.
    If you can't get your logs to the mill soonest you need to move them out of direct sunlight and seal the ends.

    Some good info here.

    http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Drying_and_Sawing_Tips_for_Gun_Stocks.html
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  • oldemagicsoldemagics Member Posts: 5,846 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i canr believe with all these responses no one beat me to it...
    how does someone hang around a GUN FORUM long enough to become a mod, and still ask this question??? [:D]
    black walnut is nearly the number 1 wood of choice for domestic made guns with birch and beech a ways behind
    crotch wood (where trunks diverge or split) root area (many "Y" junctions) and any "burls" or large "knots" that seem to be attached or growing off the side of the trunk are all areas for burl or other un-usual grain.
    problem arises in that if it is anywhere near buildings or fenced fields many mills will refuse to cut it because of nails/fence staples in the wood, often buried in the wood as the tree grew around old ones
    not to mention any rocks that the roots or lower trunk area may have grown around
    one nail can take out nearly all the teeth in a mill saw at a couple hundred dollars each
    a mill that will agree to cut it may require a large deposit to cover that ossibility
    with any luck you might find some nice flame grain in crotch areas!
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  • 11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,584 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Many mills now use a metal detector to pick up nails. Saw every tooth taken off a 60" headsaw blade once- someone had placed a flatiron in the fork of a tree, and tree had grown over it. Many, MANY $$$$- not to mention the shrapnel flying around.
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  • MobuckMobuck Member Posts: 14,124 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Where have you been for the last 250 years?
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  • rongrong Member Posts: 8,459
    edited November -1
    I read a few yrs ago where if you're
    young and have an extra 10 acres of land.
    You can plant Black walnut trees and when you
    retire, No worries bout money.
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  • nononsensenononsense Member Posts: 10,928 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    JustC,

    I guess I'm not as hard on folks who want an answer to their questions:

    Standard Black Walnut - Plain

    blackwalnutplainstraigh.jpg

    Black Walnut Fancy with Fiddleback

    blackwalnutfancyfiddleb.jpg


    Black Walnut Extra Fancy

    blackwalnutextrafancyfi.jpg

    Good black walnut used to be easy to find and reasonably priced for rifle stocks but mass production by companies like Ruger has steadily eaten up the supply.

    Your project should involve a wood cutter who happens to know how to cut a tree which will be used for rifle stocks. This is not as simple as one would think. Get an expert especially if you think that the wood is good quality. Sometimes these folks are referred to as 'arborists'.

    Best.
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  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I didn't know about "balck walnut", since the high end stock blanks I have always heard of or seen were called "Bastogne walnut" to "Turkish Circasion". I guess I just couldn't beleive that someone telling me I could have the whole tree if I wanted it, could actually be worth money[:I]

    anyway, she told the elctric company they could cut the whole thing down to get it away from the wires. She then said "take all you want"[^] I am glad to know that "black walnut" is what nice stocks are made of as well as the European stuff that runs $600-$2000/board.

    My stocks are mostly fiberglass and/or epoxy over metal skeletons. I tend to be an accuracy guy rather than a wood guy. But hey, for free wood,...looks like I may be getting into the fancy stock blank game[:D]
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  • MIKE WISKEYMIKE WISKEY Member Posts: 10,042 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    check your area for guys that have porable band saw mills. you get 1/3 more lumber (lots less saw dust). the tree should be a min. of 16" dia. for a good rifle stock, less for 2 pcs.
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  • MBKMBK Member Posts: 2,918 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Watch out that the utility company might screw up the cut sizes....making firewood rather than stock lengths.
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  • MtnSpurMtnSpur Member Posts: 87 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Absolutely get all the black walnut you can get your hands on. Savage Fox BSE SxS shotgun stocks and fore ends were constructed using American Black Walnut and I've got a pre '68 that to this day has one great looking and sturdy stock.
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  • Ray BRay B Member Posts: 11,822
    edited November -1
    One of the reasons Walnut has been used for gunstocks is it's resistance to moisture based rot. Take a piece of Walnut and a piece of any other type wood you want, leave them out in the weather for a few seasons. The walnut will be nearly like new, the other will be nearly dissolved by weather and bugs.
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  • oldemagicsoldemagics Member Posts: 5,846 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    as nononsense pointed out (and i forgot to add) is the best grain display is from "quarter sawn" wood
    this is wood that cuts at an angle across the length of the log rather than a straight cut along the length which follows the grain
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  • 1911a1-fan1911a1-fan Member Posts: 51,193 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    when i was a kid my dad used to get it dirt cheap, actually cheaper than any other lumber from a lumber mill owner he grew up with, he actually built a privacy fence out of it, i was about 13 and found out that a 16 penny nail would not penetrate the wood, i attempted to hammer in a nail and "zing" they would fly back across the yard of go in about 1/8 of an inch and bend the nail
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  • papernickerpapernicker Member Posts: 1,371 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I wasn't too ticked off, last year, when I spent all day making some stocks for my snubby High Standard revolver. These can not be bought, for the most part. I have a few small chunks of Black Walnut that I have saved for almost 40 years. I never did this before and one side cracked, while 95% done, tapping on it to mark for a pin to drill out.
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  • RosieRosie Member Posts: 14,525 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have a nice piece of black walnut about 2 inches thick and I believe 16/18 wide and 47 inches long and don't know what to do with it. Kiln dried. A friend of mine works in a cabinet mill and gave it to me because he thought I still made stocks. I don't but didn't have the heart to tell him so. They got rid of it because it has a blemish on 1 end. also he's the boss!
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  • onepopperonepopper Member Posts: 1,825 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    By all means dig out the stump. If you have to, use a chain saw to slab off the stock sized pieces. It's cheaper to sharpen a chain saw chain than to replace a saw mill blade. I have some stump that I cut up more than 30 years ago. The grain resembles boiling water, and reflects silver and gold like specks in the sunlight.
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