African blackwood for Le Paige pistolstocks??

[keweenaw]

Daryl,

Hot darn, a purple pistol stock!  Almost like those pink handguns and 22s that are now on the market.  Wayne Dunlap always has a few purple heart hawk handles at shows.  Most of the people who buy them ask how to keep them purple rather than letting them oxidize to brown.  Go figure.  Purple heart makes great ramrods for English style rifles and guns.

Tom

[Captchee]

  the lePege i just finished was done in purple hart . it wont get brown it will actualy turn a very dark purple .
 

[Daryl]

I understand, Green Heart, another South American wood, is/was used for English ramrods and for double handed fishing rods, the precursors to double handed spey rods.

Both are hard, close grained and would stain black quite easily, I'd think. Just a guess.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I have purchased African ebony several times over the years.  I made the stock for my wheellock from a perfectly black board, and risers for a couple of longbows too.  When I worked for Robinson Firearms Mfg. here in Prince George, Don had a log of African ebony that was about 11" in diameter, and 3 1/2" long.  All  of the sapwood, which is white(ish) had been removed.  We cut a couple of blanks from it that he turned into Mauser stocks - yikes!
My Highland pipes are made from Blackwood, as is my practice chanter.  The bell split on the first one, and was replaced.  It too split, and so I bought a polymer bell. 

[Habu]

Rolf, how large a piece of blackwood do you need for each stock?  I can check a couple of wood hoarders here and see if anything might work. 

[Rolf]

Thank you Habu,
The stock blanks are ruffly "L" shaped.  The long arm (where the barrel fits) is11" long and 2" wide . The short arm(pistol grip) is 6"x 4".
But I must admit I've started to wonder if using Blackwood is such a wise idea. Several wood turners I know, have told me they have had problems with the wood splitting after turning. They think is due to the wood not being properly seasoned.

I have to be sure the blanks I use are stable. I hate it if a stock cracked after spending that much time and money. I've emailed the firm were Captchee bought his ebony. Haven't heard from them jet.

Best regards
Rolf

[Habu]

What thickness do you need?

Blackwood can be tricky.  The best I've found was purchased at an estate sale, and had probably been air-drying for 25-30 years. 

[Rolf]

 

What thickness do you need?
Blackwood can be tricky.  The best I've found was purchased at an estate sale, and had probably been air-drying for 25-30 years. 

2" would be great!

Best regards

Rolf

[Habu]

Rolf, I didn't have any luck finding pieces big enough locally (I did find a chunk of ebony that is close--may have to try to deal him out of it over the winter). 

Then I started calling the luthiers I know.  They all said to have you contact the Gilmer Wood Company in Portland OR http://www.gilmerwood.com/index.php  The thought was that if they don't have it, they will probably know who does.  A couple pieces shown on their website are close.  They should have the ebony if you decide to go that route, too. 

But most of all, the folks suggesting them said it is a good company to deal with.