Walnut stock

R

Rflshootr

Member
I am going to replace a plastic stock with a walnut stock on a sporter rifle.
My choices are Claro walnut, Black walnut, English walnut and Bastogne walnut. Anyone know the differences in these woods as far as stability, density or anything else that makes for a better stock?
 
Last edited:
The best wood is English by far and away, it wins in every category that needs to win in. I would not consider any other category of species of walnut. For a one peice stock for a modern rifle it is your best bet.
 
Why don't you do a search on the internet? You will get a lot more info there or go to www.accuratereloading.com and ask the question in the gunsmithing forum. It is frequented by a lot of the ACGG gunsmiths and stockmakers.
English works great, it is strong, has less internal flaws, and can have beautiful figure. True Turkish is not available anymore unless somebody has some in their stash.
Butch
 
Beauty is in the eye...

Rflshootr,
Truth is, you can find absolutely gorgeous stocks with any of the walnut species (JMHO). American black walnut can be fantastic. Also you may not need to go to the top grade of walnut to get what YOU like. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I have some stocks on my own guns that I'm very proud of & they are not exhibition grade.

A few years ago, I had two Turkish walnut square blanks in my hands, one $2500 and the other $3500. I really couldn't tell much difference - both were stunning! The customer said he wanted "the $3500 one, of course!"

That's the one he put on his 3200 Remington trap gun. That gun is up for sale - I'm going to own that one soon! One of the few guns I LUST after!

Regards, Ron
 
Go english

While Claro and Bastogne have their place you can't go wrong with a nicely figured piece of English.

FWIW the higher end dangerous game guns in the bigger calibers typically use English walnut because it is a stronger wood. It tolerates the boomer recoil these bruisers generate. Least that's what I was told by the stock makers at Dakota Arms.

Also looks really nice when properly finished.

Good luck.

C
 
Some like blondes. Others prefer redheads.

On the basis of looks alone, I prefer the best American black walnut, toward the darker end of the spectrum. Nearly all the "English" walnut is too light colored for my taste and stockmakers in recent years generally don't like to use stain.
 
The guild stockmakers that I know and use have no trouble using stain. I keep some alkanite[spelling] red stain around for that purpose. It is getting very hard to get. The english walnut on my stock on the Blacksmith thread just below needed no stain. All english is not light. Also pictured here is a walnut blank with just finish and no stain needed. It is English.
DSCF0035-1.jpg

Butch
 
Last edited:
The amazing thing about stock woods is the variety of patterns and color variations. Yes, the consensus is that English has the most desirable traits for a high end gun stock (actually Juglans Regia, whether we call it English, Circassian, French, European, Turkish, Persian, or a variety of other names). It is dense, strong, easy to get crisp corners on when carving and shaping, takes checkering well, and overall is just a great wood to work with.

On the other hand, there are still uses that the other varieties of walnut will fulfill almost as well as English.

Jim

Gunstocks025copy2.jpg
 
the environment the tree was grown in has alot more to do with its strength and density than any other factor ( including what you call it).
 
Jim Wooten,

What would be the approximate price range of the 4 blanks you pictured above?
 
vicvanb,
This is a $1200 blank.
100_0202.jpg

This is the same blank finished.
DSCF0005-3.jpg

The walnut in the thread below"Blacksmith work" is a $250 blank.
Now this 2 piece blank is a piece of 30yrs. old Turkish[English] that is being carved at this time for my Hyper Single falling block. It is a $700 blank.
DSC_0003.jpg

Some of the best wood that I have seen was kinda plain as a blank. The blank at the top is Australian English.
Butch
 
I wouldn't be as kind as Butch regarding most of the wood in that link. I used to be enamored with woods such as Claro and even curly maple. I've come to really enjoy deep mineral streaking, and little to no figure now. Here's a link to some of the nicest blanks available for viewing IMHO.

http://www.luxuswalnut.com/
 
Butch Lambert said:
katokoch,
Most of those do not have a good layout and a lot of knots. A couple are alright.
Butch
Click to expand...

Agreed. You should have seen the owner's reaction when the same thing was pointed out on another board.

However, the M44-46 set is pretty spectacular.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top