Were to find a very hard plain maple blank with good grain thru the wrist

[marcusb]

I am looking for a maple blank for a hunting rifle project. Something with a 7/8ths barrel channel 42" long. I am not real concerned about figure, I just want very good grain thru the wrist and about as hard as maple can get. Is there a vendor out there that could fill that order? I have seen several precarve stocks in person and the grain runout and seemingly soft wood makes me nervous to buy without seeing pics etc.

[smylee grouch]

Wayne Dunlap,Tiger hunt and others that advertise in all the major trade mags.   Gary

[whitebear]

Freddie Harrison, look him up on the internet.  He is a great person to deal with.

[Birddog6]

Call Dick at Pecatonica.  They are also a good sourse for blanks or stocks.

Keith Lisle

[G-Man]

Second on Freddie Harrison - he gets more stump maple than anyone I know of - makes for ideal grain structure through the wrist.  If you do a search of the archives I know his contact information has been posted a few times - I don't have it available at the moment.

Guy

[Gene Carrell]

I agree that Freddie Harrison  is most likely to have what you desire.

[g rummell]

Tiger Hunt Maple, awesome wood.

[Stophel]

I usually buy them 3 at a time from Dunlap.   

[P.W.Berkuta]

I would reconsider your "very hard - as hard as I can get" maple stock because it just MIGHT be VERY brittle.

[rich pierce]

Most stock blanks are plenty strong.  With a 7/8" barrel it should be a pretty light gun, low recoil, so as long as you don't fall out of a tree stand or off a horse, it's fairly hard to break a stock.  When a barrel is heavy it puts a lot of leverage on the wrist.  Hence the long tangs and double bolts on Hawkens.

[keweenaw]

Are you looking for a blank or for a precarved blank?  Freddie and Wayne sell blanks only and you can be sure that anything they sell you will have quite acceptable  grain flow.  I much prefer to pick my own blanks as some are better than others.  Once you have a good blank you can have someone run it for you if you don't want to do all the work by hand.  You'll have much less control over the entire process if you simply buy a precarved blank.  Like you I've seen some that were terrible with regard to grain flow.  Freddie has more quarter sawn blanks than Wayne has, at least in high grades.  That said, I buy most of my blanks from Wayne because he has a lot more selection at Friendship or other shows.

Tom 

[Jim Kibler]

It's nice if the grain flows perfectly down the wrist, but it's not a requirement in a decent piece of wood.  As long as the grain isn't too out of whack, things will likely be just fine. 

[marcusb]

I spoke with both Fred and Wayne about what I was looking for
Both seemed very knowlegable and felt they have what  I am looking for.
I was not aware that hard maple became brittle, thats good to know. My grain worries come from experience making wood bows, that teaches you how important grain orientation is, especially when you start getting into thin sections such as wrists. I guess I should clarify hardeness, the rifles I have and the precarves I have handled seem to have fairly soft wood, dents easy similar to walnut, light brush of a fingernail and I have a line.
I am looking for a blank, I found precarves hard to hold and limiting what I can do. Also it seems like they all look the same if that makes sense.

I am going to go with Fred for this blank, after speaking to him on the phone. I really appreciate the input and advice.

I do have a question, would plain or quartersawn make a diffrence in strength of the stock?

[Jim Kibler]

You won't run into problems with the wood being brittle if it comes from Freddie.  The only wood I've come across that was so hard as to be somewhat brittle was from up North in Michigan.  I still love this type of wood in that it can be carved to very fine detail.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

The hardest piece of maple I've ever acquired came from our own Acre Sacc-o-rum - Tom Curran.  It is going on a .62 cal S. Hawken currently on the bench.

[keweenaw]

Plain or quarter sawn   make little difference unless the grain flow is wrong on the quarter sawn.  Freddie cuts quarter sawn pieces out of stumps so the flow of the grain almost exactly follows the wrist line.  Many of these pieces have good figure in the butt and his less expensive pieces of these stump cut pieces have the figure kinda fading out as you go up the blank.  His really good ones will have tight curl all the way up.

Tom

[Curt Larsen]

Glad you've found a source for your stock blank Marcus.

[Dancy]

Freddie's are kind of expensive for the level of grain you get....but he has to dig out under the stump before he cuts it to get that great grain flow through the wrist and is a lot of work for him. Talked with him about it at the Tennessee show last year. I think it is worth the extra cost to me.

[Dphariss]

I would reconsider your "very hard - as hard as I can get" maple stock because it just MIGHT be VERY brittle.

Its possible but not likely to have brittle maple. Hard maple that has not been damaged by wind, felling etc or improperly dried, is very tough, thats why its used for bowling pins and more recently baseball bats.

I like HARD maple not Red. The harder, denser it is the smoother the cuts will be.

Dan