Good size log for stocks?

[Chunker119]

What is a good size log for stocks?  What is a minimum size for stocks? Thanks

[Dave B]

The logs that we were looking at at the Oregon Gun makers fair a good many years ago were 3 ft across and you could get a couple stocks out of a section of the black walnut logs with out getting into the sap wood.These are the only ones I have seen so I dont know if eastern grown walnut has slimmer section of sap wood vs what we do out here.

[David R. Pennington]

Red maple I had cut into planks for stocks was about 3 ft. dia. at main trunk. I sawed it as close to ground as possible and here it was too thick to cut through with chainsaw. Well let me back up. We sawed it off first as high as we could so when the butt log was sawed off the stump the only weight would be the log itself so it wouldn't split and ruin the butt section. I took one handle off a two man crosscut saw and cut it off the stump at ground level. Took a while. I appreciate how hard those early loggers worked. I just pulled one of the planks out of the stack but haven't sawed into blanks yet. It has air dried in stack for almost three years.

[Chunker119]

So is 12" is too small?

[volatpluvia]

Mountainman,
No, twelve inches is not too small.  You will need it all.  I think I cut a stock out of wild cherry from a fencerow that was maybe ten inches.  But you will get only one stock from it.  You may get two or three out of your twelve inches if you cut very carefully.
Now, other opinions will differ, but do what you can with what you have.  All that you will loose is log.
volatpluvia