Wood type???

[taco650]

Does anyone know what kind of wood Traditions uses in their Kentucky rifle kits? Here's a pic of the stock that came with mine. It's hard but grain is straight.
201467
Another
201468

Thanks in advance,

Taco

[badgeredd]

I would guess it is straight grain maple or possibly beech.

Edd

[flounderman]

I would guess birch, I can't see the grain that well.

[mooman76]

In the past they used Beech allot. Don't know about now but kind of looks like it from the photo but hard to tell.

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

It's beech. Use a good alcohol or water based stain like Laural mountain forge ( alcohol ) or birchwood casey walnut/rusty walnut ( water based ) they do an excellent job with the beech stocks.
201473

This may help you along the way with things to look out for.
http://www.frontiermuzzleloading.com/t10471-traditions-st-louis-hawken-build

[taco650]

I would guess birch, I can't see the grain that well.

In the lower photo, the diagonal lines are the grain. FYI, the cheek piece is merely an experiment and since taking the pic I've decided to make the top and bottom lines of it more parallel as on Lancaster County rifles. This is my first foray into carving so give me some grace LOL!

[taco650]

It's beech. Use a good alcohol or water based stain like Laural mountain forge ( alcohol ) or birchwood casey walnut/rusty walnut ( water based ) they do an excellent job with the beech stocks.
201473

This may help you along the way with things to look out for.
http://www.frontiermuzzleloading.com/t10471-traditions-st-louis-hawken-build

Thanks for the link. I've read a couple others that start with that are using higher end parts or kits and getting some good info from all of them. I glanced at yours just briefly and the up-close pics are nice.

[Bazoo]

I believe it is beech from the pictures. Those little dark grain lines similar to oak is a dead giveaway. I hear tell it shrinks a bunch, But I aint worked with enough of it to remember.

[taco650]

I believe it is beech from the pictures. Those little dark grain lines similar to oak is a dead giveaway. I hear tell it shrinks a bunch, But I aint worked with enough of it to remember.

I wondered if it was white oak but I've never heard of anyone making stocks out of oak.

[archeryrob]

Looks like beech or birch. Oak would have large pin holes in the spring growth and easy to spot. It would also be noticeably heavier

[bedbugbilly]

As Bazoo points out,the dark grain streaks are typical of Beech. Beech is considered a "cheap" hardwood,i.e. - not a hight priced hardwood such as walnut, curly maple, butternut, etc. It is dense and for the most part, stable and machines fairly well.

There are a number of oak species - red, white, pin, etc. White oak is know for its rot resistance (heartwood) and I have seen it used for many things where moisture can be an issue. It is a "harder" (generally) species to work as opposed to red oak. As far as usage as a gun stock - never say never. I have seen white oak used for gun stocks - had an acquaintance who is now gone, use if for a beautiful full stock flintlock build. I turned out great. I at one time, had an original Austrian Lorenz rifle (rifled musket) with Ohio stampings that was imported and used during the Civil War that had an oak stock of some unidentified species (European species). It had "62" stampings indicating that it ws produced in 1862. It was a 54 caliber rifle but to say it was heavy would be an understatement - I can't imagine having to carry it all day long. I have also seen White Ash used. White Ash is a pleasure to work with and I make many custom cabinets and furniture out of it. It machines well and to the untrained eye, it is often mistaken for oak. I have also seen a number of nice customer built muzzleloaders utilizing ash that could best be described as "curly ash". I have two full stock blanks in my stock blanks that are Persimmon. I picked them up at Friendship many years ago as I had never run across any. Bought them from a fellow from Tennessee. I bought one and before I got to the end of the sheep sheds, I turned around and went back and bought the other as I considered them unusual enough. It's very dense and straight grand. Some refer to it as "the poor man's ebony" as it can be stained to look like ebony and the grain is very tight. Baltic Birch is used as well.

I have seen Frontier's pictures before of his kit builds and they look great. The trick is to find the right stain for the right wood and he obviously got it narrowed down perfectly. IF, you end up with a kit that has a birch stock, just remember that birch takes stain very differently than other various hardwood species. Birch, for want of a better word, when stained can end up "muddy" looking. It takes stain very much like the whitewoods such as basswood, yellow poplar, etc.

Birch has been sued for building cabinets, furniture, etc. for many years - not only solid but veneered plywood as well. I had a guy show up at my shop one time with a birch gunstock that he had stained and you couldn't detect any grain pattern at all - it looked like it had beens tainted with mud. He was upset as he liked how his birch kitchen cabinets looked and couldn't figure out why his gunstock had turned out like it did. What many folds don't realize is that no two pieces of wood of the same species will take stain the same. Red oak is a perfect example. On cabinets/furniture, they are usually stained and then sprayed with a "toner". A toner is a very thinned down version of a stain that is transparent that allows the grain pattern to show through and at the same time, covers up the differrences in the shades of the various pieces of wood used in the product - example would be a panel in a raised panel door that is glued up out of several different pieces that are not from the same board.

The use of cheaper species of wood in the less expensive kits doesn't mean that the stock isn't going to hold up - it's a cost reduction feature of the kit. And, the density of a beech stock can actually be a plus for a rifle that is going to get used a lot in terms of dents and knocks that goes along with using a gun in the woods. The only Traditions I have ever owned was one of the Crockett .32 rifles - I got it in a trade and thad a beautiful beech stock on it and looked sharp. Unfortunately, I got "took". The transaction was done by mail and when I got the rifle, it appeared to be in good shape. Only after a few rounds through it I discovered that the barrel had a slight budge halfway down and long story short, it turned into a big mess. It was too far down to shorten the barrel and no fix so I destroyed the barrel and sold the stock/parts.

Look like your kit is coming along fine Taco - hope you'll post som more photos of it as it goes along as it's fun to see such projects. Good luck and enjoy!

[swheeler]

yep looks like Beech to me.

[Eddie2002]

Looks like Beech, Birch has less definition in the grain and can be a pain to get an even stain on.

[OverMax]

Being made on a different continent its hard to say what the stock is made from?

[taco650]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Since Bedbugbilly brought it up, I may start a build thread as I get further along. I have been documenting the most but not all changes as I've went along. I can only work on it a little at a time due to my work schedule. So far, I've found the project fun, especially after reading build stories and watching video from guys on youtube like Dualist1954.

[JWT]

Looks like beech or birch. Oak would have large pin holes in the spring growth and easy to spot. It would also be noticeably heavier

Oak also turns black when in contact with iron or steel in the presence of moisture. Oak would be a crummy stock material.