What wood is this stock made of?
- Thread starter Jabol
- Start date
Observations:
No 'finger nails' in the grain anywhere: not beech.
Chequering: Walnut, very rare to have chequered beech.
Colour / grain: Leaning more to a low grade walnut as opposed to beech.
Documentation:
pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/FIREARMS/cz550.pdf
Page 23: CZ 550 Standard: Walnut: straight from the manufacturers literature.
Candocad.
No 'finger nails' in the grain anywhere: not beech.
Chequering: Walnut, very rare to have chequered beech.
Colour / grain: Leaning more to a low grade walnut as opposed to beech.
Documentation:
pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/FIREARMS/cz550.pdf
Page 23: CZ 550 Standard: Walnut: straight from the manufacturers literature.
Candocad.
I have both CZ beech and walnut and synthetic stocks. For an iron sighted bush gun I want synthetic. At the range walnut is pretty but if I could have just one I'd want beech. It's much more durable to wear than walnut. I like the beech stock for a working gun. CZ 557 Range for example.
Now if only they would make arms out of Chinese Cheu Wood like on the SKS I'd be all over finding a nice gummy stock to hunt with
Now if only they would make arms out of Chinese Cheu Wood like on the SKS I'd be all over finding a nice gummy stock to hunt with
CZ checkers all their beech stocks...not sure I'd call that rare, since we are talking about CZ rifles.
I had a quick check on the CZ range, and the only beech stock that I could find that had something like chequering was a CZ 457 Jaguar. Looks like lazer rather than chequering. Most if not all their walnut stocks are checkered.
The other beech wood stocked rifles (CZ 457 Scout / CZ 457 Training Rifle / CZ 512 Semi Auto) do not have any chequering on them. (https://cz-usa.com/product-category/rifles/)
From experience, beech can be quite variable when trying to chequer, even when compared to a cheap piece of walnut. Simply put it can be really hard to get a good finish on some beech, that and it's reputation of being inferior to walnut means few beechwood stocks get chequering.
Candocad.
I've had a dozen or more HVA rifles from the 50's-60's that have cut checkered beech stocks, few Russian TOZ-78's with beech and cut checkering, half dozen BSA CF2's with beech and cut checkering, doesn't seem like any more difficult of a job then doing walnut.
CF2's with beech and checkering.
Most of the cheap stuff today with beech (Ruger & Savage rimfires for example) have pressed checkered beech stocks which is cheaper to do of course.
I started chequering like most on old stocks picked up at game / gun fairs, and soon found that most beech stocks can be real a challenge to chequer due to the nature of the wood. It seems to 'whisker' or have variable hardness making the process of getting a crisp line quite hard. That said, I have had the same on cheap walnut too.
The rifle you have shown above, if it is beech, as it could easily pass as walnut, is about as good as I have ever seen, and thus it also seems to take chequering well. All of my beech stocks are a lot more basis, wider grained and would be a nightmare to chequer. Nice rifle stock.
Candocad.
The rifle you have shown above, if it is beech, as it could easily pass as walnut, is about as good as I have ever seen, and thus it also seems to take chequering well. All of my beech stocks are a lot more basis, wider grained and would be a nightmare to chequer. Nice rifle stock.
Candocad.
buck knife
CGN Regular
- Location
- Golden forest
Fine grain walnut
Geniuses here can't tell walnut from beech. Put stain/spray lacquer (in the case of CZ and most of the gun makers) on just about anything and it looks like just about anything. Yes, that is Beech, but the "fingernails" alone are not the only tell; grain structure (flat and lifeless compared to even basic walnut), direction and the way light is reflected.
I grew up on a farm, my Grandfather, my dad and myself managed 25 acres of hardwood forest in southern Ontario, and selectively harvested all sorts of stuff from red and white oak, beech (blue beech, had a slight orange hue to the wood), soft and hard maple, Walnut, Basswood, and some Cherry and Elm (although the Dutch Elm Beetle killed off most of the Elm) and white, green and black Ash (Emerald Ash Borer has killed off virtually all the Ash species over the last 5 years). We sold the logs, and heated our house with the tops. I know what wood looks like.
