madrone gun stock

[Hungry Horse]

 I have stocked a muzzleloader from Madrone once before. It is possibly the easiest wood to work with I have ever used. I have another blank that I intend to use on my next build. I was pondering the possibilities of using some sort of acid stain this time, instead of a dye type stain. This wood accepts dye very well, in fact it would very easy to turn it black with a dark spirit type dye. Do any of you have any suggestions?

                      Hungry Horse

[Dogshirt]

I would think the vinegar/iron would work. I don't know that madrone has much tannin, so
I doubt that AF would do it. The lye thing might be worth a try as well.
 I never thought about madrone for a stock, but the is certainly enough growing
on the west side of the state. Many folks consider it a weed. I'd love to see it as a stock.

[Kermit]

Decades back, Steven Dodd Hughes was living in western Oregon and building muzzleloaders. He stocked some in Pacific Madrone. I would e-mail or call him and ask for pointers. SDH has been doing other things than muzzleloaders, but sure is among the best custom gunmakers today. Here is his website, and his e-mail address is right near the top of the first page.

http://www.finegunmaking.com/

Pacific Madrone (Arbutus menziesii) is maybe the most cantankerous wood I've worked with. Drying it is difficult, usually involving steaming. It is prone to warping, twisting, and checking when drying. It would need to be dead stable before setting a tool to it.

[Hungry Horse]

 Steve Hughes, now there's a name I haven't heard in a century. When Steve first started building muzzleloaders, he had a lot of talent, and virtually no knowledge of wood. He met Ted Smalley at a rendezvous, that Ted, and I, were attending. Ted was the plant manager for Cali'Co Hardwoods, in Windsor California. Ted gave Steve a crash course in evaluating, and grading, wood. Steve built Ted a chiefs grade trade gun from a 30" surplus Green River fowler barrel, and a large Siler lock, that shot like a rifle. He built a beautiful longrifle for Clay Bullen, another Cali'Co employee, and one for Ted's brother Dana. Steve also sold a few kits he manufactured, in our area.
 Ted found out that by autoclaving Madrone it lost all its cantankerous properties, and became remarkably free machining. Soon Cali'Co was selling Madrone stocks to many of the major gun manufactures, for their "hardwood stock" lines.
 I'm sure Steve got his Madrone stocks, and knowledge from Cali'Co and Ted.
 Madrone can mimic Cherry, and Walnut, quite easily. You might want to check that old Weatherby, in the gun safe.

                    Hungry Horse

[Hungry Horse]

 Cali'co Hardwoods also made all the early Thompson Center stocks for their muzzleloading rifles, and the Patriot pistols. The breakage problems with the pistols started after TC set up their own shock shop.
 Cali'Co got started with the Madrone stocks through an agreement with a clearcut logging outfit. Their contract, said, they had to take all the hardwood, that the loggers left. That included a lot of Madrone, that at that time was considered nothing but firewood. This morphed into the experiment with autoclaving, that eventually generated the Madrone stock line.
 Madrone doesn't hold relief carving very well ( it isn't quite hard enough), but look good with incise carving, and is quite forgiving.

                  Hungry Horse

[Don Getz]

First time I met Steve was on his first trip to Friendship.   One afternoon had one of those bad thunderstorms.....thunder,
lightning, rain............everybody was cowering back in the corner of gunmakers hall, except,  Steve......he had never seen
such a thing and was out on the front porch.    Dick Miller, who was working on the back porch claimed to have had an uncle
that invented the hand held lightning rod...........Don

[Kermit]

Steve and I had a pleasant campfire chat at Camas Meadows in about the late 70's. He was making a run of a dozen or so of what he called the "Willamette Valley Fowler." I still have the full scale drawing he gave me hanging in my shop. Wasn't he using your barrels, Don? I was young and poor, and there was no way for me to pay $1200 for a gun!

[Hungry Horse]

Kermit;

  You get a gold star for your good memory. You certainly don't have to worry about me challenging you for that honor. The Willamette valley fowler is the kit gun Steve was marketing. i think he made some finished guns as well.

                   Hungry Horse