where to find a "wormy" cherry blank????

[adkmountainken]

going to have a club but fowler or Hudson Valley Fowler made in the near future and would love to find a nice piece of wormy cheery, where would one look?

[Ky-Flinter]

Dunlap Woodcrafts?  http://dunlapwoodcrafts.com/

-Ron

[Marcruger]

I see wormy wood and ask myself, "Are they all dead now?"  This is not a joke.  My parents have a beautiful 2" thick pine table at their house.  Flip it over and there are worm holes and tracks....post finishing.  It has been sprayed to beat the band, but the tracks and holes keep increasing.  The table is 50 years old.  The holes started not long after the table was built.  Something to think about. 

Also, I personally wonder what tunnels and tracks are hidden in high stress areas?  Through the wrist for example, where you cannot see.  If injected with black epoxy, I wouldn't worry much, but how do you inject something you don't know is there?

Signed, Worried (Marc)

[smokinbuck]

Jacky Brown often advertises rifles made with wormy stocks, maybe he has some blanks?
Mark

[Sawfiler]

The few times we have had cherry come off the saw with worms in it they were mostly in the sapwood. Not many holes at all in the heartwood, I guess the wood is just enough denser that they don't like to chew through it. Are you sure you have been looking at worm holes in the cherry? - Some of it has what we call gum pockets and bark inclusions that I have always tried to work around.

I would second the earlier post about being concerned with the structural integrity of the stock, cherry can be brittle to begin with, throw in a few holes in the wrist and you are asking for a broken stock if the grain is not perfectly parallel to the wrist. Could you recreate the look you are after with a small drill bit and some creativity? That way you could just put the weaknesses in a location you plan for.

[Joe S.]

I wouldn't go out a my way to find a "wormy" blank either.Find yourself a quality piece,strong where it needs to be and be creative with both faux worm holes,tracks and some good distessed look and it will look splendid.Take a gander at Mikes cherry stock in the clubfoot thread,you do that and add your worm holes,ect you will have quite the looker.

[54ball]

 

[T*O*F]

Not cherry, but I've got a couple of wormy, extra curly, hard maple stocks that will take up to a 60" barrel.  I had the same idea, but the long original barrel I had turned out to be junk once it was cleaned up.  It would need to be sleeved.

[Dennis Glazener]

I have some wormy cherry but not sure its thick enough for you. How thick do you need it and I will check to see if I have it.
I also have some wormy maple.
Dennis

[Goo]

You can buy really small drill bits say #75's  from jewelry supply between drilling a few holes in select areas and kicking the stock around a gravel driveway it should end up with that warm quaint look one would expect from a barn fresh relic.

[adkmountainken]

after reading the replies I would be a bit nervous now on my end to have one made from a wormy blank, I just liked how they looked.  Mike Brooks posted a picture of a club but fowler in one of my other posts that I absolutely love, is not wormy but has character and is a beauty! 

[Waksupi]

You may want to check on woodworker forums. There is a way of faking the look. I saw many examples around Santa Fe and Taos by individual furniture builders. I asked about it, and was told there was a good demand for old mission style furniture, and supply of worm wood was limited, so they made their own. I didn't succeed in getting anyone to let me in on the method.  I traded into a very nice southern rifle in Santa Fe that had the treatment.