Hickory blanks/with layout question

[rich pierce]

Hillbilly (Ronnie Lail) was driving his big rig through my town and happened to have a couple of hefty hickory planks in the back.  We met at a rest stop and stuffed them into my little car somehow.  Now I'm seeing how many gunstocks I can lay out from the 2 planks.  They are nice, pretty clear and a full 2" thick, which is enough for the Hickory Bucks County rifle I want to make.  One plank is about 8" wide, the other, 10", and both are long.  I weighed them and will monitor weight loss to see how they are drying.  I know one of you fellas has dibs on any extra hickory blanks I have after getting one of my own out of it.

[alex e.]

Neat. 

 Not to change the subject too much,but this got me to think.
I use a moisture meter on jobs to check the moisture content/% of wood sub floors & the wood flooring to be installed.  would the same device work for monitoring said blanks? It works by stabbing into the surface by means of a probe /s.On a 2-3" plank would it still be accurate?

Alex...

[J.D.]

It's my understanding that moisture meters only measure the moisture at the surface of a blank. IMHO, the moisture content deep in the core of that plank might be several, to many times higher than moisture at the surface.

We also have to understand that Rich is dealing with hickory. Hickory will lose moisture to about 11-12 %, if I remember correctly, but will also soak up ambient moisture like a sponge. Might have to apply Massey finish to seal those stocks. 

[rich pierce]

St. Louis has high humidity for sure and lots of bowmakers use a hot box to get their hickory moisture down to improve performance.  We'll see how much it swells and shrinks with moisture changes.  Maybe hickory stocks are rare for a reason unrelated to the hardness and plain jane grain.  I'll find out.

[J.D.]

This issue with hickory bows is that hickory will absorb ambient moisture to  the point that the action of the bow becomes mushy and takes a set. That is not an issue with a rifle stock. However, hickory will not release that moisture back into the air.

Hickory is so bad a absorbing and retaining ambient moisture that Jay Massey came up with a epoxy finish, thinned with acetone for application, to adequately seal  hickory bows against ambient moisture. The Massey finish is tough enough to prevent a bow from picking up moisture even when submerged in water for several hours.

I certainly would hesitate to use an epoxy finish on a nice longrifle and only mention this to impress upon Rich that hickory needs to be sealed very, very well.

God bless,
J.D.

[rich pierce]

So far my only hickory bow has maybe 1" of set and shoots great.  It's New Jersey hickory, which is special, I hear (inside joke).


Back to guns:  With hickory in a plain-sawn plank, can I use this approach to get 2 stocks or do I need to align gran better with the wrists (tip the blanks some)?



Next question: should I let it dry more in the plank before sawing out the gun blanks so as to avoid twisting and warpage?

[Dennis Glazener]

Next question: should I let it dry more in the plank before sawing out the gun blanks so as to avoid twisting and warpage?

I am no expert here but I would definitely leave it in plank form! I have cut and air dried quite a bit of walnut. Even with well painted ends I have had many boards that twisted greatly. Several boards also have splint from the ends several inches.

I have one nice crotch grain pistol blank that cracked from either end (I had painted all end grain with 2 coats of paint). I had cut it too close to the pattern size that I can not use it for the pistol pattern I intended.

I don't know about hickory but you might consider painting the entire blank with a mix of water soluble glue. I have a friend that turns large wooden bowls of all types of wood. He said the only way he has been able to keep them from splitting is to rough turn them while green then paint the entire piece of wood with glue thinned with water. He said he still sometimes gets a crack.

Dennis

[tim crowe]

Rich,

I have had good results leaving it in board form and sealing all 6 sides and laying  it where no Sun will shine on it. DONOT put it in your garage as the summer heat will crack the board quickly. I prefer Logseal from Rocklers as the best sealer.

 On real narrow boards say 6-8" tall , I will cut the boards straight and steam them then clamp and let sit for a week then cut the rough stock out after it is dry. All this happens after the board is seasoned. It gives me grain that runs with the wrist and no run off.

TIM

[keweenaw]

Thick hickory planks will crack from the sides if dried too quickly.  I would not only seal the ends but would put a coat of water carried varnish on the sides too.  The layout you show will give two bad blanks.  Align them so the wrist runs along the  length of the blank with the forestocks diagonal across the plank with their tops together.  Your plank will probably need to be at least 8" wide and 8' long to get two blanks out of it in the proper orientation.  Thick planks also have a tendency to twist as they dry.  Make sure you stack them with an adequate number of stickers between them - at least one every two feet with successive ones lined up - and put a lot of weight on the top of the stack - I would use at least 5 cement blocks.

Tom

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

Once you get it dried and get the gun stained ready to finish I would suggest that you thoroughly seal with shellac. When you are ready to put the finish on; sand or scrape it back to bare wood. The shellac that soaked in will greatly reduce the wood's propensity to absorb humidity. Your oil varnish finish will work well over the shellac seal as long as you have sanded back to bare stained wood.  Too much shellac on the surface can mess up your finish.