Reading through the gun smithing section, I have seen some interesting ideas for painting/treating stocks and I have become interested in trying a few. I am good with my hands but by no means a specialist and was wondering if I could use a cheaper wood (like pine) for an extra stock on a rifle? (All my stocks are currently fine, just want to try some of these ideas without ruining my current stocks and for a cheap price as theres going to be at least a few ideas to try). If pine is fine, what caliber would one think it would be safe up to?
Wood for stock
- Thread starter ggpr
- Start date
This could be a huge topic to discuss for gunstock makers. I will say one thing though. While softwood looks good, a good gunstock it does not make. Hardwood is the way to go.
Stay away from western (BC) hardwoods. An eastern hardwood like walnut, ash, cherry, oak or eastern maple make great stocks. Depends on what you want. Western hardwood is too wet unless you want to take the time to cure it.
The best stock blanks in my opinion are quarter sawed, taken from the bottom 1/4 of the tree. Knots are OK (tiny ones). A burled section is fantastic.
Just my .02
Stay away from western (BC) hardwoods. An eastern hardwood like walnut, ash, cherry, oak or eastern maple make great stocks. Depends on what you want. Western hardwood is too wet unless you want to take the time to cure it.
The best stock blanks in my opinion are quarter sawed, taken from the bottom 1/4 of the tree. Knots are OK (tiny ones). A burled section is fantastic.
Just my .02
Are you talking about making a stock or painting one? Painting one is easy. It's wood. Making one requires a fair bit of skill. Either way, pine is useless for stocks. Too soft.
For wood to teach yourself with, see if you can find some hardwood skids. Not the right size but you can learn the routing etc on the cheap.
Stock blanks, even birch, if you can find a birch blank, are not cheap. Anywhere from a few hundred and up.
For wood to teach yourself with, see if you can find some hardwood skids. Not the right size but you can learn the routing etc on the cheap.
Stock blanks, even birch, if you can find a birch blank, are not cheap. Anywhere from a few hundred and up.
We are clearly talking about a good grade of wood here, not something equivalent to a Best rifle. Call it Marlin grade. Good wood like walnut is very cheap, actually cheaper than Maple in many cases. One has to distinguish between black walnut lumber and various stock species that are harvested just for the gun trade. The "walnut" that ends up on most factory rifles is just a good grade of black walnut, no different in any way than wood used in furniture, veneer, etc... Architectural interest in white woods has driven maple through the roof. 10 years ago I could get maple for $2, cherry for $4-6, and Walnut for $6-8. Now maple is often $10. All prices are for a board foot which is a piece containing 144 cubic inches. If you buy from wholesale sources your proces will run from 0-$2/board foot, for any of the above. The zero being form tree services and other free occasionally free sources. In most cases you will need a few years to dry it. There isn't any difference in the dryig rate for woods by geographic location, except as that affects species.
The basic issue is whether the wood is going to be checkered since it takes a compact wood to take checkering, you could still use cherry, brich, maple, or walnut. Beyond that it's structural. You could probably get away with poplar if you were willing to glass it, same with most lighter species. Glassing is pretty easy, however, getting every nook well bonded in requires a bit more skill than you might imagine. I have seen softwoods used for alpine stocks and stuff like biathalon stocks. It's a tricky business since you have to know how to take the loads off into the light material while maintaining overall strength.
The basic issue is whether the wood is going to be checkered since it takes a compact wood to take checkering, you could still use cherry, brich, maple, or walnut. Beyond that it's structural. You could probably get away with poplar if you were willing to glass it, same with most lighter species. Glassing is pretty easy, however, getting every nook well bonded in requires a bit more skill than you might imagine. I have seen softwoods used for alpine stocks and stuff like biathalon stocks. It's a tricky business since you have to know how to take the loads off into the light material while maintaining overall strength.
"...is very cheap..." Cheap being a relative term. Looked at a length of ash, in a retail lumber shop, for a tent pole about 10 years ago. Rough cut only and about 12' long. They wanted $75 for it. I looted a buddy's wood lot instead.
You can get stock blanks out of the U.S. for about $100 USD. Kind of depends on whether or not you think that's cheap.
You can get stock blanks out of the U.S. for about $100 USD. Kind of depends on whether or not you think that's cheap.
Wrong Way
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Your gonna paint it?
Go to Home depot, buy their "Russian Birch" Playwood, rip it into strips and glue it together to for a blank as thick as you need....voila: Laminate.
Ifyou are just experimenting, I would suggest poplar, or....yes....white pine!
The key thing to remember is if you are going to use pine it IS going to be very soft. You can harden it up by sanding to 100 grit, then soaking the blank in a mixture of 1 part marine epoxy (mixed) to 5 parts acetone. Let is soak overnight, remove and let cure....the epoxy will penetrate long grain to about 1/8" forming a hardened "shell". Then finish sand to 180 (if painting) then paint 'er up.
HTH.
Ryan
Go to Home depot, buy their "Russian Birch" Playwood, rip it into strips and glue it together to for a blank as thick as you need....voila: Laminate.
Ifyou are just experimenting, I would suggest poplar, or....yes....white pine!
The key thing to remember is if you are going to use pine it IS going to be very soft. You can harden it up by sanding to 100 grit, then soaking the blank in a mixture of 1 part marine epoxy (mixed) to 5 parts acetone. Let is soak overnight, remove and let cure....the epoxy will penetrate long grain to about 1/8" forming a hardened "shell". Then finish sand to 180 (if painting) then paint 'er up.
HTH.
Ryan
