What is the best wood for gun stocks?
Claro is an ideal wood for gunstocks because it has good strength and bending qualities and takes finishes well. It is a beautiful wood for an affordable price. Maple: A strong and durable choice for gunstock. It is usually light in color and is favored for its beautiful figuring.
Poplar is a close, straight-grained wood, but somewhat marginal as to it's hardness (it is considered a hard wood, but just barely…. it is also rather plain- looking). So, it has never been considered highly suitable for stockmaking.
Maple makes a spectacular looking stock if it's properly handled. To bring out the figure, you toast it lightly with a blowtorch, which is called suigi finish. The wood has admirable properties, but it can be stringy and hard to checker, and it's not as strong as some of the others.
Walnut possesses a number of qualities that make it the ideal material for gun stocks. Its exquisite, heavy figuring may be stunning to look at, but its beauty is more than skin deep. Walnut is hard, dense, and resilient.
The best finish to put on a gun stock is an oil finish. It is easy to apply, durable and can be used on finished and unfinished wood. Oil finish is also water-proof, prevents UV light from damaging the wood, and can last for several years.
Re: Cherry for Gunstock? Cherry can be a wonderful wood for stocks, and was traditionally used as well, mostly in New England but elsewhere too. Feel for weight/density first, as well as grain orientation. Cherry is a little more prone to splintering than maple, so good grain through the wrist is important.
Black Walnut Uses
Because of its low movement after seasoning, walnut is particularly suitable for gunstocks.
Beech is a sound, cheap and stable wood with which to make a rifle stock but it is not beautiful. Staining can make it dark beech or redder beech and so forth but it still is, well, beech.
The second best choice is Poovarasu (Portia/ umbrella tree/ pacific rose wood or Indian Tulip). This is traditionally used for gun butts in Kerala. Mahogany is a strict no-no (develops cracks). Teak is supposed to be heavy even though it got great finish.
The precise Walnut used for guns stocks is from the Juglans Regia tree - The Persian Walnut (or common Walnut). The tree is also known as the "English" Walnut as British sailors spread the tree around the world. Walnut's colour results from the composition of the soil it's grown in.
What type of walnut is used for gun stocks?
Found in North America, Black Walnut is the most popular wood for a gunstock on the continent. It has been used for centuries to stock everything from military rifles to flintlocks. The coloring is less rich than its European cousins, often without the heavy contrast in grains that you see in other types.
While the world abounds with a great range of wood varieties, walnut has never been supplanted as the wood of choice for gunstocks. Walnut has four characteristics that make it desirable as a gunstock timber.
Tru-Oil® Gun Stock Finish has been the professional's choice for gun stock finishing for more than 30 years. Its unique blend of linseed and other natural oils dries fast, resists water damage and will not cloud, yellow or crack with age.
Boiled linseed oil is more often used on bare wood and is popular for finishing gun stocks, as the process of heating it decreases its drying time. When hand rubbed into wood, it creates a durable weatherproof seal and the heat produced from the friction of rubbing produces a deep, polished finish.
It allows the natural color and grain of the wood to show without changing the color of the wood. I usually apply 3 coats buffing with 0000 steel wool between coats and get a "glass" finish.
The most desired wood for gun stocks is walnut. However, there are other woods that can be used for gun stocks that are both beautiful and functional. There are a variety of companies that sell stocks for finishing, but stocks can also be hand-crafted from a commercial blank or from rough wood.
Synthetic stocks are stronger than any wood stock. They're made of a solid, thick and dense material, which will provide you with stability when you're shooting. They are also easier to mold to your shoulder, which will put the shooter in a more comfortable position and lead to a better shot.
In many cases, stock blanks consisted of 30 to 36 1/16” veneers. The advantage offered by laments are blemish-free material, greater strength and better action fit. Additionally, they do not swell or warp due to environmental conditions.
English Walnut
Walnut wood is hard, heavy, and resilient, capable of resisting warping and suffering very little shrinkage. The grain is irregular but typically straight with a medium texture. The endgrain is semi-porous with distinct growth rings.
Beech is much heavier than Walnut, and will never look as good as the best figured Walnut. For me, that = Walnut being best. If you are a benchrest shooter for example, then weight is a plus, and stability is more important than looks. In that Case Beech is better.
How do you refinish Beech wood?
7 Finishing & Staining Tips for Beech Woodworking Projects - YouTube
A Hardwood With a Delicate Bark
Despite having bark so thin and delicate that carving one's initials in it will permanently scar the tree, Beech is a type of hardwood.
Generally acknowledged as the hardest wood, lignum vitae (Guaiacum sanctum and Guaiacum officinale) measures in at 4,500 pounds-force (lbf) on the Janka scale.
More than 100 applications have been received since the rule was introduced last month, with residents planting kikar and neem trees across the district. The northern state of Punjab, which was engulfed by a violent insurgency throughout the 1980s and 1990s, has a well-established tradition of gun ownership.
1. Always Keep the Muzzle Pointed in a Safe Direction. This is the most basic safety rule. If everyone handled a firearm so carefully that the muzzle never pointed at something they didn't intend to shoot, there would be virtually no firearms accidents.
Mannlicher stock (plural Mannlicher stocks) (firearms) A stock on a rifle that runs the full length of the weapon.
- Color shall be specified in connection with this grade in terms of “extra light,” “light,” “light amber,” or “amber” from the USDA Walnut Color Chart or in terms of “red” color. ...
- Size shall be specified in connection with this grade in terms of one of the size classifications.
Turkish Walnut – This wood comes from the species “Juglans Regia” that originated in Iran and is the same species as English Walnut. Although the mineral content in the Turkish soil gives the wood a different color, it still has the dark brown or black mineral lines.
There are many varieties of walnut trees, but just a few are native to North America. It's the Eastern Black Walnut (also called the American Black Walnut or American Walnut) that is most often used for woodworking. Beautiful walnut trees found in the midwest hail from Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana.
While walnut is the favored gunstock wood, many other woods are used, including maple, myrtle, birch, and mesquite.
What is Monte Carlo stock?
Monte Carlo Stocks Explained - YouTube
It involves hand-laying fiberglass layers in a mold, with epoxy resin to bind the layers into a solid shape. Next, the void inside the stock is filled with polyurethane foam and catalyst, which expands outward, pressing the layers of resin-impregnated fiberglass cloth tightly against the inside of the mold.
No, you can't use Rem Oil on wood.
Gun oil will ruin the wood. Not at once. But over the years it will soak in and make the wood soft and punky. It usually happens where the stock meets the receiver.
Wipe Down the Outside of the Gun
Once the inside of the gun and it's moving parts are clean and lubricated, it's time to clean the exterior. A gun/reel cloth is perfect for this job. These cloths are soft and pre-treated with silicone lubricant.
Gun Stock Maintenance #1 - YouTube
How to Seal the Wood When Finishing a Gun Stock - YouTube
Reviving gun stock shine
Instead buff the wood up with a spot of beeswax furniture polish (don't use synthetic spray polish) on a clean soft cloth. A very small amount of beeswax will do.
Tung oil creates a harder, more durable finish than linseed oil. Tung oil is more water-resistant than linseed oil. Raw linseed oil takes significantly longer to cure than pure tung oil. Tung oil is generally more expensive than linseed oil.
The main difference between tru oil and tung oil is that tru oil can give a harder, more varnish-like finish, while tung oil lets you experience the natural feel of the wood. Lacquer finishes can provide relatively good protection, but care must be taken to keep them in the best shape as they age.
Re: Darkening Finish After Tru Oil
However, very likely to will darken with age and exposure to light.
How long should Tru oil dry between coats?
Both of these factors encourage a finish to dry quicker. Tru-Oil takes about 2-4 hours to dry enough for a second coat. This is longer in humid and cold places, and shorter in warm dry places. After a couple hours, lightly touch the piece.
No, you can't use Rem Oil on wood.
Gun oil will ruin the wood. Not at once. But over the years it will soak in and make the wood soft and punky. It usually happens where the stock meets the receiver.
Black Walnut Uses
Because of its low movement after seasoning, walnut is particularly suitable for gunstocks.
We recommend using our High Lustre Polymerized Tung Oil formulation as it builds to create a well sealed and durable coating, while maintaining a hand rubbed, “gun stock” finish.
Gun Stock Maintenance #1 - YouTube
