European 18th century stock blanks

[Ron Scott]

There have been recent posts regarding stock species and figure types. I thought I would post his example of a Stump cut Circassian blank and the type of structure it was cut from. This blank shows a few eyes (rudimentary roots) in the lower right butt stock. In addition to the root eyes, the butt stock exhibits compression curl and color marbling. These are common features and frequently observed on period  European flintlocks.

The tree being harvested is not a large diameter, but has a massive swell at the base. It is this swell that the butt stock of the blank is located. The tree is quartered vertically and the cants cut like slices of pie from a round. Because of the irregular shape of the root swell, the blanks seldom are perfect quarter sawn.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Ron where was that photo taken?  I like the landscape.

[wapiti22]

How does one go about cutting up a stump that size?

[Ron Scott]

This location is Armenia. I would imagine a very large chainsaw comes into play for the initial  splitting.

[Pukka Bundook]

I'd think back in the 18th century, a good set of wedges would come into play to get it down into workable pieces.
V nice looking wood, Ron.
FWIW,   An awful lot of 18th C British and European stocks on high -end guns were fairly plain compared to later.
Exception being Louis X1V type stuff..

[Joe Wood]

The buttstock of my W H Wilson double flint of London from about 1820. Wonder when this tree was planted—1400?  Probably not far from it.





image upload

[Ron Scott]

I will be obtaining fifty long blanks (45 to 62 inches) from this tree and some larger ones this season. Some will be true birds eye burl butt stock configuration. I have taking requests for special sizing and figure.

[Daryl]

High end wood, for certain. Very pretty.