Oak stock?

Two negatives of using Oak: Extremely heavy and open pore grain structure. Oak is denser than Walnut, and thus is not optimal for a Hunting stock (unless you want a heavy "lightweight" stock), and the open grain structure means you have to use a LOT of finish to fill the pores. Other than that, as long as your wood is stable and reasonably dry, it should work just as well as any other wood.
 
Depends on what kind of oak you have. One of 'em, red or white, I never remember which one, gets splits in it as it dries. Any tree parts you use will require a fairly long drying period too. At least a year and not outside.
However, oak is very heavy stuff. Really too heavy for rifle stocks. Red oak apparently rots and sucks up moisture too. The white is hard on tooling. Have a look here. Add the W's. .goldenwood.com/ang/products/image.asp?img=Chene_blanc.html
Mind you, all oaks make very good, um, strolling sticks. Have one that is 43.5" long. Weighs 6 pounds. It's about 6 ounces lighter than a 6 foot birch staff I have.
 
I've thought of using red and white oak alternatively for another laminate stock however the negatives mentioned by Blastattack are drawbacks of this genus. If you overcome the thick "pithy" growth rings to avoid frequent slivers, the weight in a target stock would be usefull and weigh it does.

sunray's input is mostly correct: Red oaks, while they will be more prone to end splitting (as will any wood if not dried evenly) than white oaks, neither rot quickly. Both are quite wet before death and retain that moisture for long periods of time: I have seen solid logs of either set in a wood near a swamp for years, and the only rot to occur was of the last few years of growth rings and bark (1.5"-2") They make beautifully grained, and straight boards but will require the longest drying time of any wood - thicker boards require lengthier drying times but once cured, I'd be interested in seeing the result of a stock from this wood - I've never seen it done... (for what reason though??)
 
Only going by a small oak tree I harvested for a centre pole for a tent I made and a bit of internet research. The tent pole has split lengthwise, but not all the way through. Still holds the tent up.
The stick hasn't in over 30 years.
 
Oak isnt a good choice. Its open pored as stated above, which means it will rot if exposed to water quicker then others (thats why you never see it on outdoor furniture). But most importantly oak is acidic! Thats why you need to use coated screws and hardware with it because it corrodes unprotected metals!
 
I've got a white oak staircase that has been in my house for at least twenty years: I feel compelled to examine the steel hardware for any indication of corrosion - I've never heard of oak being abnormally corrosive as woods go.

Anyway, all the negative opinions on the suitability of oak for a stock (not to raise question to the validity and background of those opinions), I also feel compelled to venture alone outside the box to construct a stock from oak if at least just to be the only one who can say "been there, done that!" ;) Who knows, with a few equally unique touches to the finish, the result might be surprising: If that winter project pans out, I'll be eager to share the results here.
 
If you're insisting on using oak and don't like slivers and blackened areas where moisture has discoloured it, then be sure to fill the grain as part of your finishing process. Good luck!
 
there are Oak stocks, the Germans used a lot in WW11. the point is, there is a lot of better wood available . why bother with oak ,even if the wood is free.
 
Forgot to mention an example of the air drying time it'll take to get newly cut oak down to a suitable moisture content for woodworking: times will vary, but I'd play it safe and expect about 1 year per inch of thickness. So if you rough cut a blank at 3" thick, expect to wait 3 years before you can safely make your stock. Use a moisture meter to be sure because depending on your climate, storage conditions and the particular wood structure, drying times will vary. The risk you run working with wood that isn't dry yet is checking, warping and twisting as it dries out. Imagine a thick piece of wood that has dried for a while, but not long enough. As you shape the stock, the surface of the final shape will be a mix of dry and slightly wet wood. The wet areas, being exposed to air for the first time, will dry really fast and you run the risk of problems.
 
jimbo14 said:
Forgot to mention an example of the air drying time it'll take to get newly cut oak down to a suitable moisture content for woodworking: times will vary, but I'd play it safe and expect about 1 year per inch of thickness. So if you rough cut a blank at 3" thick, expect to wait 3 years before you can safely make your stock. Use a moisture meter to be sure because depending on your climate, storage conditions and the particular wood structure, drying times will vary. The risk you run working with wood that isn't dry yet is checking, warping and twisting as it dries out. Imagine a thick piece of wood that has dried for a while, but not long enough. As you shape the stock, the surface of the final shape will be a mix of dry and slightly wet wood. The wet areas, being exposed to air for the first time, will dry really fast and you run the risk of problems.
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You could salt the wood to speed up the drying process.:p
 
This is my 1st attempt at making a stock. This was a piece of eastern maple, seasoned for many years. I didn't know what I was getting into, it was allot more difficult than i thought. I didn't have the proper tools to inlet it properly, so it looks more like it was inletted with a hatchet. I enjoyed the finishing and the checkering more than anything else. Hope you got more tools and patience than I had. Cheers Pete.
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My father was a cabinet maker that did a lot of work with oak, and he always claimed it swelled and shrank with the seasons more than any other hardwood he had used.
 
pete dobinson said:
This is my 1st attempt at making a stock. This was a piece of eastern maple, seasoned for many years. I didn't know what I was getting into, it was allot more difficult than i thought. I didn't have the proper tools to inlet it properly, so it looks more like it was inletted with a hatchet. I enjoyed the finishing and the checkering more than anything else. Hope you got more tools and patience than I had. Cheers Pete.
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for your first stock I think you did a great job.
 
sunray said:
Only going by a small oak tree I harvested for a centre pole for a tent I made and a bit of internet research. The tent pole has split lengthwise, but not all the way through. Still holds the tent up.
The stick hasn't in over 30 years.
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So you simply de-barked the trunk and used that? If that is correct then yes, it's no wonder at all why it has a long full or near full length split. A "round" section of the whole trunk or thicker branches will shrink as it dries in such a manner that the core becomes highly compressed and there's a lot of tension in the circumference. The wood isn't strong enough so it ends up splitting open.

To avoid that you should have started with a bigger diameter section and split away a wedge then removed the bark and sap wood from the outside and a little of the center heartwood. The remaining stick would have remained stable and, with care in the drying, not have split along the length.

It's been my experience that red oak, the stuff most commonly found in the lumber stores, is too brittle and splits quite easily. And with the small details and thin sections around the actions in a rifle I'd expect any rifle other than a rimfire done in this wood to end up splitting out the small parts or splitting the whole stock in the area of the recoil plate or pin. The more traditional woods such as maple, walnut beech and the like are far more resilient with enough spring to them to be tough and split resistant to a much higher degree.

Not to mention that it would make for a heavy stock.
 
gaff said:
there are Oak stocks, the Germans used a lot in WW11. the point is, there is a lot of better wood available . why bother with oak ,even if the wood is free.
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The stocks you are talking about, were Elm, not Oak. Other nations used Elm as well.


As far as Oak for a stock goes, it will work fine, as long as it has been dried evenly and sealed properly. The same goes for any wood.

I had a Lyman 50 cal Plains Rifle stocked in Oak. Yes, the thing was very heavy. It was stable though. It also made for a very steady hold on targets at the Rendezvous. Especially with the off hand targets. There is a lot to be said for a heavy rifle at certain times. I never did hunt with that rifle. I wonder where it is now. When I decided to get into Hunter Bench Rest, I sold it to help fund my first rifle.

Another wood that is frowned upon for a rifle stock is Cedar. Well, I can tell you from personal experience, it makes for a very light and tough, stable stock. Just depends on how you finish it. Back in the early sixties, I was given a half dozen 22 Cooeys. Every one of them, especially the Rangers had broken stocks.

In those days, one of the local sawmills used to allow anyone that wanted to take the time and go through the effort to root through their discard piles. The rough cut boards were OK for firewood and many people heated their homes and cooked their food with it. The planed and dry kilned wood burned well but didn't throw any heat. Most of the liquids had been evaporated out of it, which also created the wood gas that created most of the heat when burned.

There was some very nice pieces of wood in those piles. They cut a lot of Birch and even some Willow and huge Cottonwood on special order. There was a lot of it in the country in those days. The Willow and Cottonwood went to a special Linear Planer in Kelowna. Everything was planed on the quarter grain so that the grain would stand out for paneling and furniture. They only wanted certain sections of the trees for those purposes and about 70% of the log was scrap.

Cedar, was mostly considered to be junk wood and only the dark heart wood was considered valuable. Most of it was for export.

Some of the second growth Cedar had lovely light and dark lines through it that were naturally occurring. All beautifully straight grained and above all else, easy to carve with the limited tools available to the hands of a teen.

The first 22s I carved new stocks for were of kiln dried Cedar. The rifles they went on were a dream to carry but damaged easily. A neighbor, asked me why I didn't apply clear coats of fiberglass resin to the wood. I had never used the stuff on anything and honestly, didn't know where to start, let alone know how to apply it or where to get it.

Being the good fellow he was, he took me under his wing and when he was putting a coat of resin on one of the gorgeous Cedar row boats he made as a hobby, he called me over to apply the first coat on the stock I was just finishing. That stock was bone dry. It soaked up the resin like a sponge. Even though the stock had been sanded smooth, as the resin cured, the wood feathered. A quick sanding fixed that but of course, the finish was ruined. This meant another coat of resin. I have no idea where that resin went, but it didn't even look like it had been applied. Two coats and sandings later and it started to look pretty good. The fifth coat was extremely thin. When it dried, it was almost but not quite shiny. Perfect.

It was also tough. The finish on those stocks would take a lot of abuse and wouldn't dent. They scratched of course but that was easily fixed. The stocks were almost as good as the later fiberglass shell models that were either filled with foam or left hollow.

I still see a few of those stocks around. My stepson whom I gave one of the rifles to at 10, still has his today and he is now 45. The stock is scratched and battered but still tough and perfectly usable.

Oak leaves a lot to be desired as a stock wood, but if you take care to finish it properly, it will do a yeoman's job.

As far as rot goes, I have a White Oak table, made out of old 3inX8in boards from scrap machinery pallets. It is untreated and out in the weather. It has been there for close to 40 years. It is gray, covered in saw cuts and hard as a piece of steel. Not a sign of rot. It is on a concrete slab though and I do believe if it were on the ground, it would likely be rotted away a long time ago.

Willow and Cottonwood can also be very good, as long as the grain is straight. They both have some incredibly lovely grain and they have to be very carefully cured before using. If you think that Cedar soaked up resin, the Willow and Cottonwood take up twice as much.
 
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