wood for gun stock

[greener]

Any of you ever build your own stocks from black walnut? If so, curious to hear how it went for you since I’ve never made a gun stock from scratch. We own a parcel with a somewhat large black walnut tree on it, about 80+ feet tall. Plan to have it removed soon and want to harvest the heartwood. I’ve heard about other types of walnut being best for gun stocks, especially English and Turkish walnut, believe Bastogne is popular as well, but haven’t heard much about black walnut being desirable. Not sure if it’s any good for that purpose. I suppose if it was I’d have heard about it before. Anyway, if you have some insights please share, and thanks in advance.

[DaveTN]

I’d be curious to know also. A friend of mine recently told me he had walnut trees he had cut. I asked him if he could get me a piece of walnut big enough for a rifle stock. I’m a Toolmaker not a wood butcher, but I thought I’d give it a try making one. But it might be another project I never get around to.

[xsubsailor]

 The wood is going to have to dry first and you can figure about 1 year per inch of thickness in a normal atmosphere. You also need to treat the ends to prevent splitting. 

[Quavodus]

Yeah, walnut is nice but, it has to cure good and everybody likes the curly grain but, it can sometimes split bad.

[Sunfish]

Walnut from this part of the world is utility grade. I have some dry stuff in the attic that I could be traded out of. We have too much annual rainfall and this causes the grain to be open. PM me for Pic's of it  

[gregintenn]

Black walnut will make a serviceable gunstock. As others have stated, it first has to be dried. Inletting a stock, particularly for a bolt action rifle, is a long and tedious process unless you have access to a stock duplicating machine.

In short, there’s a helluva lot of work between tree and gunstock.

Edited November 15, 2020 by gregintenn