What is a "Gum" wood stock?

taperloc

I know what a gum wood stock looks like. I have old Winchesters with both walnut and gum wood, but what kind of a tree does "gum" wood come from and why use it as opposed to walnut?

Thank you,

Taperloc

timbroman

Taperloc, Gum is a tree indeed...black gum and sweet gum are a couple of varieties. Best, Jim

timbroman@aol.com

captkirk3@dslextreme.com

The only 'GUM' wood I know of is the RED GUM and the BLUE GUM...Both are EUCALYPTUS..Lots on them in Australia and Imported to the U.S back about a Hundered years ago..Always heard that the Wood was Brittle and not good for much but Firewood and Didgeridoo's...Be interesting to hear what others have to say.....

Captain Kirk, Tech Staff

He Dog

The "Gum" trees currently wrecking havoc with California habitats, and adding greatly to fire hazard, while being protected in some communities, are indeed Eucalyptus and are only a few of hundreds of species in Australia and Tasmania. The Eastern gum trees are a vastly different group of diceduous ranging into the mid-west. The sweet gum is used in landscaping and is sold over much of the country. It is an understory tree, rarely exceeding 50 feet in height over most of its range, so likely the black gum is the source of stock wood. Never seen a gum wood stock myself.

My heros have always killed cowboys.

JIM STARK

I have heard...Not exactly from a "reliable source"...That.... Gum wood..sometimes called sourwood is that soft off colored portion of the wood that sometimes shows up in a stock (usually lightr in color , won't take stain the same way the other part does) found mostly in the lower budget.. foreign made rifle and shotgun furniture... This story is as good as another...Anybody else know???

bambihunter

Here's some worthwhile reading links about the tree itself...
http://www.wkonline.com/d/gum_trees.html
http://www.karmaskorner.com/Vacation/Gumtrees.html
http://sres.anu.edu.au/associated/fire/ecol/as13.htm
http://www.mv.com/ipusers/env/bgum.html

wundudnee

Here is a little on Winchester's use of gumwood stocks on their 1906 model 22s from Ned Schwings book, Winchester's Slide Action Rifles Vol.1.

Because the company was attempting to offer a lower priced version of the model 90, the gumwood stock used on the model 06 was designed to keep the cost down. Gumwood had several advantages other than cost over walnut. It was lightweight and easier to work with because of it's soft texture. But this softness was also a disadvantage because the wood was not nearly as durable as walnut. Woodworkers often refered to gumwood as "satin walnut" because it could be finished to look very similiar to walnut. Winchester accomplished this by either soaking the gumwood in an alcohol mixture or placing the wood in a steam bath to bring out the grain and make the wood appear more like walnut.

This is why you rarely see a model 06 now with a good or even an original stock. A lot of 06s now sport 1890 stocks. Winchester also used gumwood on a lot of their cheaper single shot 22s such as the 1902-1904s. There are some 06s out there with walnut stocks, but they usually were made with reject walnut with some sap wood showing.

I worked in a power plant and had access to a live steam line. It does raise the grain and lifts some considerable dents out of some of these old stocks. Or at least thats what somebody told me.[8D][;)]

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