Hi Albert,
As you know, I've built some pistols. A 1.75" thick blank will work. I actually would avoid blanks much thicker than 2 inches unless you buy one >3.5 inches so you can get 2 stocks side by side. Otherwise, you waste a lot of wood with an over thick stock. Try to find wood from the stump or from limb crotch so the grain has a slight curve to better match the curve of your stock. Flat sawn wood will be fine if the grain follows the stock. Make a stock profile from clear plastic and hold it against the wood so you can see how the grain runs relative to the stock. The really critical areas are the lock panels and the wrist area down to about halfway through the grip. If you can find wood with grain running fairly parallel with those portions of the stock, you will do very well. It is not that important how the grain runs after about the midpoint of the curve of the grip. If you choose walnut, avoid highly figured wood. The figure is mostly wasted on a pistol but more importantly, the wood tends to be weaker and brittle. In contrast, curl in maple is different than typical figure found in walnut or cherry and I don't think it affects strength very much.
good luck,
dave
PS Albert, I tried to respond to your PM a while ago but the reply screen keeps wanting to parse your name into 3 separate addresses (Albert, Afghanus, Rasch).
