Prepping walnut for stocks

[wonderwolf]

Got a walnut log and looking at cutting some blocks out specifically for revolver grips and some forearms in the next few years?


Thinking do a bees wax dip for the blocks and let them rest for a few years? I've taken up woodworking since I got married 2+ years ago and usually I use anchor seal on the ends but that's on a whole log and I let that sit for months before milling.

[LAGS]

Many many years ago.
I worked for a company and we got a contract to clear 600 acres of land in California for them to build houses.
The land had many Walnut trees.
So I kept tons of the logs.
My intent was to cut them into blanks , and sell them to places like Weatherbys or other gun manufactures.
They told me that the wood had to be cut into blanks and the ends sealed with wax.
Then the blanks had to be stacked flat and sit for like two years and restacked about every three months.
Then the blanks could be milled to the proper thickness for cutting into stock blanks.
We had no place to store as much wood as we had for two years.
And there was no miller on the West Coast that would mill hardwood.
So we cut up those logs into firewood and sold it.
There was enough wood split up to cover a football field.
But I am sure that if you have a fresh cut tree.
You can let it dry out for a year and turn it into a blank that you can make a stock out of.
I have made some stocks out of tree wood from my yard that had been dried for about a year.
But it was not Walnut.

[JimB..]

Really just cut it into thick planks and sticker it. Paint the ends plus a couple inches. Cover it to keep off the rain and sunlight. If you get a lot of wind, figure out how to block some without cutting off all circulation. Best cut in winter, wood is naturally drier so saves time, and summer bugs are less inclined to get into the drier wood. As LAGS said, rotating it is good, helps to get the whole stack to a consistent moisture level, but it isn’t really critical.

For pistol stocks I’d treat them like turning blanks, just cut them large and cover with anchorseal or wax then wait a few years. I’d probably cut these from places with really interesting grain, places with a lot of stress.

Another thing to remember is that wood moves differently depending upon how it’s cut. I think you’d do best with quartersawn planks for stocks, but not sure. Worth thinking about before you start milling.

FWIW, I love walnut, but there is a lot of unattractive walnut best used for firewood. If you’re going to invest the time in this, make sure that you like the figure of the wood.

[sukivel]

What thickness would be ideal? I could store several select pieces in my barn for a few years.


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[JimB..]

What thickness would be ideal? I could store several select pieces in my barn for a few years.


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I’m sure there is a formula, but normally rough cut at 1” yields a finished board at about 3/4” so for a finished gunstock maybe add an inch to the finished dimension, more if you aren’t going to use some weight/pressure to keep it mostly flat while drying.

[Rockindaddy]

I have had a saw mill for many years here on the farm. My house is trimmed in cherry. But if you want American Black Walnut for gunstocks you must fall the tree about 4' above the ground. If there is a crotch up in the trunk you must cut out the crotch out. All the figured high quality gunstock blanks come from the root ball wood and the crotch. Saw the sap wood off and carefully pick your cuts of the heart wood. Blanks should be 2"~3 1/2" inches in width. The ends can be painted with old oil base paint to retard rapid drying. I use a small John Deere 550C dozer to ease the walnut butt out of the ground. I pressure wash as much dirt off of the root ball and trim it up with a chain saw. Then take it to the saw mill deck. If you don't want figured wood just saw your gunstocks out of the straight crate lumber. But nicely figured gunstocks take some care and prep to get a XXX blank.

[StrawHat]

Too bad you don’t live closer. I have a kiln not being used.

Kevin

[ulav8r]

Finished thickness needs to be a minimum of 2 1/4 inches for a rifle stock with cheekpiece. A Monte Carlo with rollover will require more. As the wood dries it will shrink so more allowance will be needed. For a rifle stock I would recommend starting with a 3 inch thickness, while watching grain orientation. For pistol grips the blanks can be much thinner but one too thin for a 1 piece peacemaker stock could make 2 sets of slabs for a 1911.

Thoroughly seal the endgrain and allow one year of air drying for each inch thickness of the blanks.

[fourarmed]

For pistol grips, I prefer to cut the blanks thick enough so they can be split down the middle, turned out, and the grain "book matched" on the two sides. For simple auto pistol scales an inch would be enough. For target stocks with thumbrest and palm shelf, at least 3".