figured walnut

[bob hertrich]

I am going to build a black walnut stocked pistol. I was wondering if a highly figured walnut, curly or fiddleback, would be more chippy to carve than a more plain figured wood.

[wormey]

Much more difficult and not for the faint of heart!!  Suggest you go with a relatively plain piece of walnut or maple.   

[smart dog]

Hi Bob,
Figured walnut can be a bit harder to work but if the stock is good and dense, you shouldn't have much trouble.  Unfortunately, highly figured wood is somewhat wasted on a pistol compared with a long gun but it can still show beautifully.  I included a photo of pistols I made using figured black walnut from Goby Walnut in Oregon.  The wood did not present any problems as long as my tools were "scary" sharp.

dave
 

[rsells]

I had the same experience as smart dog.  My daughter wanted me to build her a pistol to keep in the family.  I found a dense piece of burly walnut that I saved for the project.  It took many years before I made the pistol because I was looking for another piece of wood to make a matched set.  Thank goodness I didn't find another piece of walnut to use because of the time it took to buiild the pistol.  The blank was so dense that it turned black from heat when I band sawed it out.  I had to keep my tools extremely sharp when carving to keep small pieces of grain from pulling out of the stock blank from the burl.  Spent a lot of time sharpening tools.  It made a beautiful piece, but it took me two weeks longer working at the bench to get it completed.  I missed my target date to give it to her for a Christmas present.  The end result was great, but it took a while to get there, but I am glad I did the work for her.
                                                            Roger Sells

[Long John]

I agree with Roger and Dave.  Greatness cannot be achieved until great obstacles are encountered!

Avoiding challenging wood only guarantees you will never have the thrill of finishing a gun with drop-dead gorgeous wood that you made, yourself!

Plan your work carefully.  Keep ypur tools scary sharp.  Work slow and take your time.  You can do it!

I am plodding along on a French pistol made from a piece of American walnut crotch wood.  Is it tough going?  Yup!  Is it taking longer than I figured? Yup!  Is it turning out to be a "looker"?  So far - YUP.

Maybe I will muff it at the last step, and crash and burn.  If so I will have learned so much more for having tried.  I urge you to do the same.

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[bob hertrich]

Good advice from all. Great looking pistol, Dave. I was looking at the Goby stocks myself. I think I am going to select a stock that has some figure and hopefully as John says, learn from it.

[Captchee]

 IMO it depends on the piece  you select and if you  have learned to read the wood .
As always , harder is better IMO .  dont rush  it
Sharp tools are a must . No exceptions

[Eric Krewson]

I am building a fowler stocked with figured walnut, beautiful wood, but....... the wood alternates from hard as a rock to so splintery that removing a chip with a very sharp chisel may cause a toothpick sized piece to fall out of the wood, yep, fall out. The wood will change from hard to soft in about 2" then back to hard in about the same distance. 

[Dphariss]

If I had my choice for a walnut pistol stock and did not want European I would try to find a nice piece of Bastogne.
http://www.oldtreegunblanks.com/rifleblanks.html?woodid=5

I have only stocked 2 rifles in it but its very hard and dense as the web page indicates.
Looks very much like Black when finished.
Dan