Stock project

[Tarp Man]

Well, I am looking to start making my own stock as a project. I think I have a good piece of maple from Ruger's Firewood stack about 36" long, and contained within the outer rings. I figure you cannot use a cross piece of inner and outer grain, but I am lost after that. I realize it needs to cure before I start. Any help is appreciated. I was thinking that it will take a good 9 months to dry.
-Tarp Man

[Rod]

Drying time will be more like 2 years if you are looking for a totally stable piece of wood.

When cutting the billet (rectangular block you will later cut into a rough stock shape) try to get the growth rings running straight up into the area that will later be the barrel channel. This will provide you with more streangth and stability.

Also cut the billet oversize, a good half inch of thickness and a foot of length then put a thick coat of latex paint on the end grain to prevent checking.

I probably have 1000 more tips but with only one coffee so far I cant drag them out :-)

Rod

[ruger#1]

tarp get a hold of fred, he knows some one with a kiln.

[Fred]

Yup, the gent lives in Greendale and that kiln keeps him alive between Hazelnut harvests. Fred

[lip_ripper00]

Yup, the gent lives in Greendale and that kiln keeps him alive between Hazelnut harvests. Fred

What is he a squirrle?:smile:

[tmarschall]

Curing or drying wood, with or without a kiln is a complicated science. It gets worse when drying thick pieces like you are using for your stock. If you put it in the kiln with thinner pieces, your piece will not dry completely. The general rule for air drying is one year for every inch of thickness. in cooler more humid climates it might be more. Painting the end grain is a must.... do it NOW if you haven't done it already. It sounds like you have selected a good piece of wood, from the outer rings of the tree I mean. I will sketch up some examples of what to look for and try to e-mail them to you. Have fun.... Tom

[sealevel]

I have built a few stocks mostly muzzle loaders but paint or put wax on the ends and don`t plan on makeing it for about 3 years . Built yourself some scapers the shape of the barrel . Inletting the barrel and action can be very time consuming but worth it in the long run.

[Fred]

What is he a squirrle?:smile:

He owns a Hazelnut farm Steve and has been doing the kiln thing for a couple of years. Fred

[lip_ripper00]

another trick I have learned is to put it in to a plastic bag, and every few days take it out turn the bag insideout shake moisture off and put back in to bag. I use this method a lot for hard woods I am drying to turn on the lathe;-)

[ratherbefishin]

a guy once told me that the best wood for stocks was the lower stump-where you could cut the the knees formed by roots coming into the trunk.I've never tried it but he said to cut the tree stump about 3 ' from the ground and then wrestle the stump out and cut the stocks from that lower portion-you got good figure and grain

[reloader]

I have seen some of the old boys out here in the flat dry wood for sleigh runners and shafts for restoring buggys and sleighs. They paint the ends and put them in a bin of oats for quite a while before they are dry. Like said earlier an inch a year for thickness.

[ruger#1]

man fishin , getting the roots from those trees you need a high hoe.

[Rod]

Some of the best looking blanks I have ever seen came from the actual root of european walnut trees. Spectacular figure and holographic colors like you would hardly believe.

Being from the root the stuff is hard on tool edges, and carbide checkering tools are the only way to go. In addition the wood has large pours that prevent fine-line checkering but the beauty more than makes up for it.

Cost is a different story, I can get small quantities that have been air dried (most critics say you shouldn't kiln dry stock wood) from finland but at about $500.00 US as a starting price for average looking blocks it's not a poor mans game.

[tmarschall]

Rod... any ideas why they say you should only use air dried wood? My guess is that thick wood is difficult to kiln dry properly. Recently there have been advances in using a vaccuum kiln for thick woods. The idea is to basically "boil" out the water at low pressures. That reduces the temperature needed to boil the water. I think it is the heat of power kilns that cause "stress" to build up in the wood.

It might be a good idea to get several pieces of wood and dry them all at the same time, then use the extra pieces to experiment to see if it has dried properly. The simple test for moisture content, which should be about 8%, is to get a moisture meter, anyone with a kiln should have one. To check for "stress", you will have to rip a piece of the wood. As you cut thru the board, the saw kerf should stay open and not close or open wider as you rip the board. You may have experienced this with other wood, you start ripping the board and the wood binds the balde stopping the saw sometimes. This is a sign of "stress" in the wood. In power kilns, they are supposed to apply higher heat the last few days of the drying cycle to releive this stress. Geting the heat applied evenly to thicker wood is the difficult part. If your "stock project" wood has stress, it will tend to warp as you start carving out for the action and barrel. Selecting wood with grain as in the sketch I sent you will help to minimize warpage regarless. The highly figured woods Rod is speaking about are especially difficult to dry without stress buildup do to the irregular grain of the wood. Some ideas that might help... again... good luck... Tom

[Rod]

Kiln drying is a real science and it actually effects cell structure on a microscopic level. This can have make a big difference in color and if done incorrectly can cause the cell walls to collaps in on the void left when all free water is removed (free water is contained within the cell cavity rather than within the cell walls), air drying on the other hand is much slower and water is allowed to naturally migrate out of the cells slowly.

Mother nature gave wood it's beautifull color after eons of evolution, man made methods of drying don't do the wood any favors.

I have made stocks with kiln dried wood and they worked fine so I'm not saying it will not work but if you are going to the trouble of building a stock from scratch why risk it failing because you rushed the drying process.

Cheers
Rod

[tmarschall]

Rod.... I think the problem you talk about with the cell walls collapsing here is called "honey comb" effect. Red oak is really bad about that, of course it is the commercial kilns that rush the drying process thats are the real reason. Time in the kiln is money!! The board may look perfect on the outside, but almost hollow on the inside, just like a honeycomb.

Finding someone with a "hobby" kiln might be worth while. The vaccuum kiln I mentioned might do well also, just be sure whoever has the kiln really knows how to use it. If not... air drying would definitely be the way to go. If you could get a few chunks to air dry at the same time, then you could use them to check the dryness of the wood to be sure it is ready when the time comes. When the time comes, cut the sample chunk in half and check it with a moisture meter in the middle of the chunk. Then you will know when it is ready. I think you can only get to around 12 or 14 percent dryness with air drying however.... Rod... you have any experience on that?

[Rod]

Moisture content is relative to your location, even kiln dried wood brought down to 3% will not stay that way, it will absorb moisture based on local conditions. From 200% down to about 20% only free water is removed and dimensions remain stable. From that point on as you remove water from cell walls the wood shrinks, doing this too fast causes "case hardened" lumber. (in effect the honeycomb you mentioned)

When working as a full-time gunsmith I built as many as 1 stock per month and ALL were made with air dried wood. My furniture projects have been made with whatever is available but my personal opinion based on experience rather than science is that air dried wood is easier to work as well as more stable.

If 12-14 % is what fits your location then you will have a stable piece of wood. Build a stock from wood at 4% and head to the woods at 25% and by the end of the week your stock is going to absorb water regardless of how it has been finished and therte is a good chance the wood will move.

I an attempt to eliminate accuracy issues due to wood movement I open up the recoil lug area and free float the barrell, the front and sides of the lug are covered with 3-4 layers of electric tape that is later removed to allow for clearance. The barrell channell is opened up quite a bit and left rough, the barrell is taped starting about 2" from the reciever and full length bedded. Once the tape is removed you have a free floated barrell and the wood has been sealed with epoxy.

As much as I hate to use varathane on a gun it probably offers the best moisture barrier just make sure you tape off the channell/recoil lug areas to maintain the perfect fit.

My $0.02 FWIW. This may not be the only way to go or even the best way but it has worked for me.

Rod