Walnut Blank

[grabenkater]

My cousin built a saw mill and has been cutting logs to build sheds workshops and whatever soothes his soul. He cut a black walnut blank for me from a tree that died several years ago on our property. He cut the blank 6'X9"x3". Is this too narrow to get an 18th century stock from?

[GANGGREEN]

No, it will probably be fine.  You're going to want the grain to travel through the wrist anyway, so you may end up canting your pattern on the board anyway.  Even if you didn't, I'd think you might still be able to make certain schools of guns with a 9" board.  Figure a 5" buttplate and 3" of drop or so, plus a bit of loss from cutting.  It's not ideal but it might work.  As I said before though, tilt your pattern and you should be able to make any school of 18th century gun on that board.

[Dennis Glazener]

He cut a black walnut blank for me from a tree that died several years ago on our property. He cut the blank 6'X9"x3". Is this too narrow to get an 18th century stock from?

Its going to be close. I figure 9" width is the Min. width I can use for my Gillespie stock blanks and they do not have a lot of drop in them. You can cant the pattern to get enough width/grain flow through the wrist, but you are pretty much going to use up the entire board for the one blank.

Be sure to paint the end grain to keep from splitting. Even though the tree was dead for years it still needs to air dry for a year per inch of thickness (I add 1 yr to be sure). I have used boards cut and racked in a hot barn loft for 20+ years to build our daughter a head board for a bed. 2 weeks in my mother's home waiting for daughter to pick it up, and the headboard had warped something fierce!
Dennis