Materials for a laminate stock - where to buy?

The only place I've ever seen laminate blanks was in the states....and SUPER expensive.

If this is a "just for fun" thing, you can pull off a really, really close match by buying Baltic Birch Plywood (Google it...available at most lumber yards) and laminating it together with Type III PVA glue (I like Titebond III...the reason for using this instead of epoxy is revealed in a sec). Glue up as much as you need, carve the blank, finish sand, then make it tough: Disolve 1 part 5 minute epoxy into two parts acetone, and soak the stock in it. If you can immerse the stock, so much the better. Let it cure for a full 36 hours, then re-sand (lightly) and finish.

Cheers,

WW
 
It might be worth a try if you could find a birch laminate beam material. The crossgrain layer in plywood is not strong either for most of the loads involved in a stock either structural or just making stuff so parts don't fall off. Epoxy would surface harden it a little.

Also mixing acetone into epoxy does not help it penetrate. I went into this in great detail a few years back in order to see if I could make a home made equivalent to rot doctor an epoxy that is reputed to be deep penetrating. I had a process we had used for years that emplyed a laminte product tha they had change the glue formulation on us. We figured if we could get epoxy penetration we could still use it, because there was only .5mm or wood over the bonded zone. Normal epoxy goes nowhere near that deep. I never figure the chemistry out, but solvents didn't work at all. Sure the solvents wetted but the epoxy molecule (so we were told) remianed two large.

What does work great is just to carve a stock out of regular wood and epoxy coat every single part of it. Any holes for studs, they need to have epoxy solids cast in before the screws go in so there is a thick layer and zero holes in the epoxy surface. It can be hard to make this look even Wetherby good, so you may need to paint the end result, see how you get along. This will give you a lightish (or heavy, suit yourself) stock that is perfectly stable. It's actually a little better to resaw your stock into 1/2" or lees layers. Only because wood over 3/4" can have enough of a will of it's own to more enough to crack an epoxied surface. But unless you want the natural look the laminations are usually cheaper.

The other option is your own composite stock. You can carve corecell (check boat supplies) and leave enough room for glass all over the surface. You also need to plan on regions with solid pours to take through bolts and so forth. This isn't difficult but it is tedious getting glass to conform to all the nooks and crannies while maintaining dimensions and ending up with something that looks good. A one off isn't female molded so the exterior is a big unknown dependant on your forming skills.

You can easily laminate your own stock. When you buy plywood you can get as much as 7 or more layers of hardwood for under 50 bucks. That works out to 224 square feet of veneer. Trying to buy that veneer raw can cost 1-2 dollars a square foot. Also the veneers often are pretty thin which means more cost than is really required for a laminted stock. 1/16" veneers would be fine, rather than 1/32 or 1/64. It's all going to cost about the same per square foot. If you could find stuff at a good price (some folks do live next door to mills), then you can easily make your own. Get back if you can find the veneer.

I think you can get blank stocks from a number of sources, it isn't that expensive. The same usual names that come up when import stocks are discussed do seel blanks in a few cases.
 
laminate

I have got some laminate blanks on hand but I am waiting for a another order to appear on my doorstep anyday. I also have some nice walnut stock blanks stacked in the corner. There is actually only one place in the states that makes laminate suitable for gun stocks and that is where all the stock makers are getting theirs. Because of there high volume discounts it is cheaper to go through them however. On a good day before all the duties taxes and shipping you can get a 11inchx35inchx2.25inch slab of laminate for 100 bucks, this classifies as a piece of lumber and there is no problem with import/export.
 
Instead of baltic birch or russian birch (same stuff), try to locate finnish birch. It has the same look, number of plys etc.. but it is exterior grade, made with waterproof glue, baltic birch may delaminate if not properly protected..

Only one place in the states that makes laminate blanks suitable for rifles? Give me a break, they probably just glue up a bunch finnish birch.

Don't use so called "hardwood" North American plywoods. Only the exterior veneer is hardwood, the inner plys are softwood. Only the european birch plywoods are made completely out of hardwood to my knowledge.
 
Langevin et Forest in Montreal

Just for fun I would like to try to build a stock for a bolt action shotgun. Where can I buy the materials?

Try these guys.

If they do not have what you need, they can get it....


Langevin & Forest Ltée
9995, boulevard Pie-IX, Montréal, QC H1Z 3X1
Telephone : 514-322-9330

MAGASIN DE BOIS FINS
ET D’OUTILS SPÉCIALISÉS
ÉBÉNISTERIE • SCULPTURE
TOURNAGE • LUTHERIE • BRICOLAGE
 
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