Cutting logs for rifle stock blanks today
- Thread starter Evanguy
- Start date
Yeah man, there is some left but i got some slabs you can have.
nowarningshot
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Looks like quite a few short pieces and 50/50 heart to sapwood. Shame really. Not really sure storage outside on a coastal island would be best for curing. To me more climate and humidity control, and out of UV would he more certain. Still, would love to see some stunning furniture in a couple years.
Very nice walnut
I had a 10’ long 24” ish wide 5” thick piece of yellow birch that was cut in the mid 40’s by my wife’s father and grandfather. Was left overs from making sleigh runners for behind the horses back then.
Was cut and laid in the barns grainery for decades. Covered with decades of feed grain for the critters. Barn was demolished in 2012 or so and we scooped the slats and birch out of the grainery. Some of it I made into a bar/ledge in my basement, never thought of using the leftover to make a stock. Great, now I have another thing on my “to do” list.
Thanks
Thanks a lot.
I had a 10’ long 24” ish wide 5” thick piece of yellow birch that was cut in the mid 40’s by my wife’s father and grandfather. Was left overs from making sleigh runners for behind the horses back then.
Was cut and laid in the barns grainery for decades. Covered with decades of feed grain for the critters. Barn was demolished in 2012 or so and we scooped the slats and birch out of the grainery. Some of it I made into a bar/ledge in my basement, never thought of using the leftover to make a stock. Great, now I have another thing on my “to do” list.
Thanks
Thanks a lot.
as for storage, this is about all I got, no its not ideal but it should work and yeah its trying to dry less then 100m from the ocean in a rainforest......it is what it is I guess
Dodosmike haha its always good to have too much stuff on your "to do' list
it is a shame the stump broke, it had rot in the middle of it. although i did start to dig up one of the tap roots. ill see what I can get out of it anyway.
also I got 2 more logs to mill that are 14-16" diameter and 6' long. all the stuff left is around or less then 12" diameter so ill leave that. i have a pile of it now anyway.
Dodosmike haha its always good to have too much stuff on your "to do' list
it is a shame the stump broke, it had rot in the middle of it. although i did start to dig up one of the tap roots. ill see what I can get out of it anyway.
also I got 2 more logs to mill that are 14-16" diameter and 6' long. all the stuff left is around or less then 12" diameter so ill leave that. i have a pile of it now anyway.
Cool looking wood.
I just bought a bandsaw mill. Coming in 4 to 12 weeks. Mostly Douglas Fir, birch and spruce around here. 100's of big dia poplar logs just rotting up the road. Fallen so they don't take out the power line. Douglas Fir beetle kill is wiping out the fir around Horsefly.
I just bought a bandsaw mill. Coming in 4 to 12 weeks. Mostly Douglas Fir, birch and spruce around here. 100's of big dia poplar logs just rotting up the road. Fallen so they don't take out the power line. Douglas Fir beetle kill is wiping out the fir around Horsefly.
to update this thread i cut up one of the large crotches i have. it was 52" by 36" i got 6 usable slabs of wood. they are 2.5" thick
the tree fell almost 2 years (21 months) ago so these have just been sitting waiting until i got a bar big enough to mill them, but then i figured a way to use my mill to get the extra reach. i have 30" of bar exposed so if i come in from both sides i can do a 60" cut.
there are 2 really nice pieces of wood that show some promise for gun stock blanks, maybe just 2 piece stocks but maybe more. they are the 2 quarter sawn boards, the pith was between them. they are the 2 with screws in them in the stacked pic.
the other crutch i have to mil is 60" long and 42" wide
in the pics i just showed the tops of the 6 boards. the other sides are similar, except for the first and 6th board, they have a lot of white wood on one side.
the tree fell almost 2 years (21 months) ago so these have just been sitting waiting until i got a bar big enough to mill them, but then i figured a way to use my mill to get the extra reach. i have 30" of bar exposed so if i come in from both sides i can do a 60" cut.
there are 2 really nice pieces of wood that show some promise for gun stock blanks, maybe just 2 piece stocks but maybe more. they are the 2 quarter sawn boards, the pith was between them. they are the 2 with screws in them in the stacked pic.
the other crutch i have to mil is 60" long and 42" wide
in the pics i just showed the tops of the 6 boards. the other sides are similar, except for the first and 6th board, they have a lot of white wood on one side.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
That's pretty wicked!
- Location
- SE corner Sk
Very cool!
- Location
- Steel Town
What an informative thread. I have a new found appreciation for this "art" and understand why gunstock grade wood is so fricken expensive. Can somebody explain to me the difference between "checking" and cracking?
wind checking is when the tree sways in the wind thought it's life and has lots of internal cracks along the grain you don't see it until once it's cut open.
And checking from drying is when you don't seal the ends well enough or sticker it correctly and as the water leaves it cracks along the grain.
I just googled it after typing this. Turned out a check is a small crack that doesn't necessarily go through the whole board.
And checking from drying is when you don't seal the ends well enough or sticker it correctly and as the water leaves it cracks along the grain.
I just googled it after typing this. Turned out a check is a small crack that doesn't necessarily go through the whole board.
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- Location
- Steel Town
Thank you for this. It makes sense now.
This is a great thread !
This is a great thread !
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i do not pretend to know much about drying slabs but yoke makers would bury there blanks in the hay mow so they would dry slowly. i hope i have that right. i recently left a piece of chestnut with a local to make slabs. i have walnut on the farm and will be taking a few down. will know better what i have then. to the op it is interesting what you have and are doing.thanks for posting.
- Location
- WMU247 near Edmonton
nice work on cutting the wood.
going to take years to dry and cure
going to take years to dry and cure
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Was a story I read about gunstocks - old time German/Austrian - Grandpa cut down trees as young man, Dad dried them in loft - Grandson eventually carved into stocks from planks from tree that Grandpa felled - each spent time to fell trees for two generations ahead to carve gun stocks; each spent lifetime overseeing planks drying without checks or cracks for subsequent generation to carve; each was wood carver that made stocks that two generations previous had felled the tree. Versus modern - living tree one week - want it as rifle stock the next week. Likely why synthetics so popular - crude oil in ground one week - a plastic rifle stock the next week.
