exotic hardwoods for use with rifle stocks

[jimbo14]

Love that box elder!

I've only done turning projects with zebrawood, purpleheart, cocobolo, bocote, padauk, etc. All worked well on the lathe. The oils in some of them would definitely interfere with gluing up laminations so acetone would definitely be your friend. Another issue is with the dust, esp with cocobolo and other woods in the rosewood family. Some people can develop severe sensitivities to these so be sure to wear a proper mask when working with it.

Baltic birch is my favourite plywood. Every layer is birch (all voids should be factory-patched too) and there are many layers compared to the basic oak or birch plywood you see in a big box store where you get a thin veneer of birch/oak, etc and the core is a few layers of a much softer wood, often with voids in the middle.

 

[cody c]

I've done a few gun related projects in zebrawood and the density is such that it is a great option for a rifle stock. It's in the same range of weight as maple or slightly lighter. It also works easily unlike your reported issues with the purpleheart.

Purple heart was nasty, cocbolo I didnt mind so much, but with purple heart even the dust from it seemed to form tiny burning splinters and I wore a dust mask and glasses to run it through the planer or under the sander, not out of fear, but because they irritated my eyes and breathing.

Love that box elder!

I've only done turning projects with zebrawood, purpleheart, cocobolo, bocote, padauk, etc. All worked well on the lathe. The oils in some of them would definitely interfere with gluing up laminations so acetone would definitely be your friend. Another issue is with the dust, esp with cocobolo and other woods in the rosewood family. Some people can develop severe sensitivities to these so be sure to wear a proper mask when working with it.

Baltic birch is my favourite plywood. Every layer is birch (all voids should be factory-patched too) and there are many layers compared to the basic oak or birch plywood you see in a big box store where you get a thin veneer of birch/oak, etc and the core is a few layers of a much softer wood, often with voids in the middle.

How is the baltic birch for weight? how is it's tendency to warp? These are the only reason I haven't gone to PJ white in calgary to grab a sheet is that I've worked with Birch before and found it a bit heavy, if it is as light as maple or walnut I will just grab a sheet. I dont really care about colors, but if I could pick one the forest camo laminate that boyds carries is amazing, really the only color I would try for but it doesn't seem easy to aquire unless I was willing to do a huge order and have it shipped from the US.

 

[New Camper]

Finally: Box elder (Manitoba maple)





I cut a slab of this burl wood off a tree in the yard to clearance it for a fence and then realized what it was. Probably the prettiest wood I've had my hands on, it was as maple to work with, the only issue I had was that I didn't kiln or cure it long enough, and the butt stock warped a bit. It probably isn't as hard as walnut though not bad, but it is about the same weight or actually a bit lighter. Workability is fine and throw some tru oil on it and it is majestic to hold in your hands. If you can find some cured/dryed flame (or firey ) box elder to work with, it may be too pretty to take out of your safe, and although not as strong or common as maple or walnut, to me it is so much more interesting and fun to work with.

Have a search on the web for flame box elder, some really amazing stuff out there.

Currently I'm looking for more info on Baltic birch laminate, if it's fairly heavy and if there is a lighter alternative, any thoughts or input?

Regards,

Cody C.

You'd be surprised how hard many "softwoods" really are: Trembling Aspen for example is very soft and wet (so heavy) when green but after drying becomes very hard.

For most of my life I always looked on Manitoba Maple (Acer negundo)quite critically, but about ten years ago it started to occur to me the experiment that could become by considering the wood. As you found, these trees frequently sport burls, the grain is very untypical. This of course always led me to believe that while it is quite soft, it might dry to be hard but will it stay straight. I've not conducted any experiments yet as most logs are urban or fencerow and likely full of steel.

Your stock is very unique and appealing: I've wanted to take a large typical log of this species, particularly the heartwood which sometimes has bright blood red streaks throughout it. Indeed, "exotic" wood doesn't necessarily mean it has to come from a different continent. Next stock I build, I am leaning toward red and white oak laminate for the colour and grain contrast.

EDIT: For those looking for an exotic purple coloured wood, the native Juniper trees are often a deep purple colour. While they don't grow large, it is possible to obtain boards which are large enough for most bolt action stocks, and they are strong beyond what is expected of a coniferous tree

 

[jimbo14]

How is the baltic birch for weight?

About 75-80lb for 18mm x 4'x8' sheet

how is it's tendency to warp?

It's extremely stable. I think the 18mm version has 13 plies of birch.

When you are shopping for it, buy a flat sheet and it should stay that way. Stay away from Chinese plywood. There is a lot of garbage out there. I have some mahogany ply from China and it's junk. Flakey veneer, voids, improper laminating and warping/twisting after you cut it.

One more thing - BB ply usually has football shaped patches to deal with any knots or voids. Different qualities of BB ply will have varying numbers of patches on the faces. Look for them when you are shopping because you don't want one of these patches on the side of your stock.

 

[joe.danay]

For an exotic wood, I'd reccomend Thuya. It's expensive but incredibly beautiful and has a rich, deep appearance when finished. It's technically a softwood, but the Janka Hardness is 1160 lbs compared to Birch, being about 1260 lbs
The density of Thuya is 42 pounds per cubic foot where Birch is only slightly denser at 43 pounds per cubic foot.
Don't get too hung up on hardwood vs. softwood, but pay attention to the density and hardness of what you're considering. After all remember that Balsa is technically a "hardwood" by botanical definition.

 

[cody c]

Great info fella's.

The easiest, and cheapest, is going to be going down to PJ white in calgary on a friday after work and grabbing a sheet or two of baltic birch, I've seen it recommended through them on a couple google searches. I went to windsor plywood again to have a look but they didn't have anything that seemed to call my name, they did have baltic birch but their prices were much higher then PJ White (about 20%+ more). I think I've got my mind set on Baltic Birch.


That Thuya looks like a cool wood to work with, some neat photos on the net of burl wood, but it seems to have more of a uniform colour throughout as compared to box elder. Would make an excellent wood stock though if you could do a rifle all in burl.

I've got a bit more of that box elder burl in my garage, not sure if there's enough to do another winchester or a enfield sporter or something.

 

[303bowhunter]

Hi Cody, I use birds eye maple with becote on bows and it's very nice, also figured bubinga and ebony is nice. I also refinished a bunch of 303 and added a ebony Schnabel and at the grip, I even added imbed walrus tusk moose tracks , checkering and jeweled the bolt. I get my exotic wood from "exotic woods " in Burlington Ontario ( mel is the guy to talk to )
I also bought some very nice walnut from Langevin forest in Montreal... I haven't seen nicer walnut anywhere than Langevin forest.

 

[cody c]

Hi Cody, I use birds eye maple with becote on bows and it's very nice, also figured bubinga and ebony is nice. I also refinished a bunch of 303 and added a ebony Schnabel and at the grip, I even added imbed walrus tusk moose tracks , checkering and jeweled the bolt. I get my exotic wood from "exotic woods " in Burlington Ontario ( mel is the guy to talk to )
I also bought some very nice walnut from Langevin forest in Montreal... I haven't seen nicer walnut anywhere than Langevin forest.

Thanks for the info, not looking for Walnut at this point, but should my skills ever get good enough that I feel worthy of working on some high grades of walnut I will check them out, always good to know good places to get the best materials!

 

[New Camper]

For an exotic wood, I'd reccomend Thuya. It's expensive but incredibly beautiful and has a rich, deep appearance when finished. It's technically a softwood, but the Janka Hardness is 1160 lbs compared to Birch, being about 1260 lbs
The density of Thuya is 42 pounds per cubic foot where Birch is only slightly denser at 43 pounds per cubic foot.
Don't get too hung up on hardwood vs. softwood, but pay attention to the density and hardness of what you're considering. After all remember that Balsa is technically a "hardwood" by botanical definition.

"Thuya" is probably a common name (amoung many as in most species) derived from part of the trees alternative botanical name Thuja articulata or Tetraclinis (genus) articulata (species) from the Cupressaceae family... or a false cyprus amoung many. A photograph of a crosscut section (excluding colour) has a similar appearance to the Juniper I mentioned with the deep purple colour. The burled segments are lovely though, but sadly, I am not certain sizes for a full length stock could be procured.

I've always struggled with the arbitrary determinations of hardwood or softwood: Commonly it seems, any broadleaf tree is labelled "hardwood", and cone bearing "softwood" so I maintain this to be flawed as you seem to be suggesting. Yes, stability, and strength is foremost in wood in stock use.

 

[jclayton]

I have just finished putting together a 45/70 on a P14 Enfield action. There is quite a bit of work involved starting with opening the bolt face and reworking the extractor.

And it still doesn't feed properly from the mag. Got a nice plank of walnut from Windsor Plywood in Vernon, enough to make two stocks for $80.00.
Eventually I will cut the trigger guard and take the bend out of it. This reduces the mag capacity but unless I can solve the feed problems mag. capacity is not a big problem.
My first P14 makeover was quite a long time ago. The Bishop semi finished stock cost $15.00 in 1951.