woods for a gun stock

[Daniel]

Maybe a dumb question but , What woods are good to use for gun stocks and which are not ?
I figure silver maple a no no.  Ash, maple, walnut, oak, hackberry etc .


Daniel

[Dennis Glazener]

Sugar Maple, red maple, hard black walnut, English walnut, cherry, apple, pear and to some degree ash and butternut (for southern rifles) are the ones I am most familiar with.
Dennis

[Daniel]

Thanks Dennis.  I wish I would have known apple.  We lost a big one about a year ago.
I saw somewhere a man built one using hackberry.

[galamb]

Beech and Birch have also been used (some flame birch looks pretty awesome).

[WadePatton]

The species gets  you into the ballpark of grain-structure and density, but each tree is different and you can have too soft a wood in about any of them.  Black Cherry, American Walnut, Ash, Sugar/Hard Maple are what i look at for Southern guns.  And am growing more now, as i just sold a few logs.

North side of the hill/mountain trees grow better this far South as they don't suffer as much in drought.

Wonder if any of those underwater recovered logs (of old growth-very high ring count) ever got themselves shaped into gunstocks?

[Hessian]

Sugar Maple, red maple, hard black walnut, English walnut, cherry, apple, pear and to some degree ash and butternut (for southern rifles) are the ones I am most familiar with.
Dennis

I have 4 big butternut trees that were cut years ago off my grandfathers land. Perhaps I can get them slabbed up for a gunstock or two. They have been lying in a pile for about 10 years. We were just going to cut them up for firewood.
Hessian

[Don Stith]

Would rather have a bag of good butternuts to eat. I have used butternut for modern rimfire gunstocks.  Never had big enough piece for a ML

[Mike Brooks]

I have had a piece of butternut laying around for 30 years. If all goes well it will be used for a .32 squirrel rifle, POOR boy style for myself to hunt with, maybe by next season. Not much fun hunting the varmints with a .22.

[WadePatton]

Butternut grows on my place, but it cankers and is generally ratty like Black Locust.  Doubt i'll ever get a "native" piece big enough for gunstock.  Appears to rot quickly too, very UNlike Walnut.  Butternut is also known as "White Walnut".

[woodman]

Can/has American Chestnut been used? Most likely from recovered beams as that is the only source.

[Mike Brooks]

Butternut grows on my place, but it cankers and is generally ratty like Black Locust.  Doubt i'll ever get a "native" piece big enough for gunstock.  Appears to rot quickly too, very UNlike Walnut.  Butternut is also known as "White Walnut".

I wouldn't use butternut for a large caliber gun, and I guess I wouldn't use it to build a customers gun from. But. I have had this piece of wood for ever and since it's just going to be a poor boy squirrel gun for me I'll use it just to satisfy my own curiosity. I expect it to be soft and punky......

[Hessian]

Just a thought,
Has anybody ever entertained the idea of making a gunstock out of yellow locust?
Too heavy? Stringy? I bet it would be hard enough but it would probably wear you out sharpening,  if not ruin your tools. Wouldn't have to worry about it rotting though.

[WadePatton]

Just a thought,
Has anybody ever entertained the idea of making a gunstock out of yellow locust?
Too heavy? Stringy? I bet it would be hard enough but it would probably wear you out sharpening,  if not ruin your tools. Wouldn't have to worry about it rotting though.

Sounds like Black Locust to me-Robinia pseudoacacia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinia_pseudoacacia) 

Getting a sound slab would be the toughest part, and then it's going to be quite heavy. Great when weight is no issue or a plus.  Maybe for a miniature or half-stock or pistol? 

Hard and tough and dense like Osage, if you can work Osage, then you can work Locust.

[Mike Brooks]

Had a friend make a gun out of locust. Nasty ugly wood. Turns brown all on it's own and very heavy.