Upgrade wood?

[Kmcmichael]

I have a Kibler southern mountain kit on order, plain maple. I can probably upgrade the wood. I did not at the time of ordering for the following reasons;
It is my first kit.
I will likely have to put a butt cuff on it to keep from burning my right eye. i sort of resemble an orangutan; not the sexy handsome ones in the zoo but their primitive ancestor.(Please don’t mention my whereabouts to Dr. Leaky.)
I have dabbled in woodworking. Let’s say some of my projects dabbled between rustic yard furniture and firewood.
I am red green colorblind and some of the finishing techniques sort of resemble alchemy in my mind.( I have contemplated walnut for this reason)
I will likely be browning the parts parts.

Pros;
i can sharpen a chisel and I have a small collection of good ones.
I think the fancy maple stocks are beautiful.

What say ye?

Any of you regret getting plain wood or getting fancy upgrade?

[snapper]

I am of the opinion that you  get the best piece of wood you can afford.   Why spend the effort on a plain stock?

Without a doubt people will tell you plain is good.   To each his own.

The fact you are asking means you wanting to upgrade.   

fleener

[Bill Raby]

My opinion is to go with the plain wood if you want to do a lot of carving. Go with fancy wood if you will not be carving.

[Mike Brooks]

"Butt cuff"?

[pilot]

I can certainly understand not wanting to mess up an expensive piece of wood on your first kit.  I've been contemplating the same thing. 
On the other hand, a pretty piece of wood really sets off a long rifle, especially maple.  It seems a shame to not use good wood if you're going to expend the effort. 

Also, a nicely carved stock always looks better with nice wood.  In my opinion, carving won't improve it enough to overcome the plain wood.

I'm thinking strongly of ordering a kit from Kibler sometime this spring.  My first muzzle loader was a very plain walnut stocked poor boy.  That rifle was a hunting tool more than a work of art, obviously.  I will probably go with walnut and hope it isn't all that plain when I get it.   

[Kmcmichael]

"Butt cuff"?

Yes, something to give more LOP.

[AZshot]

In the Southern mountains, they didn't have super fancy wood.  And not much maple. 

[Dennis Glazener]

I would go with plain walnut, beautiful wood and very traditional for a SMR. I seriously doubt you will mess the wood up unless you just go wild with the chisels. My 3 were tight fitting and rather than trying to take a 1/64th sliver of wood off the pre-inlet wood areas, I took it off the metal parts. Much easier to control for me. DON'T force the fit or you may chip out the wood when you go to take the metal parts out. My 2 cents.
Dennis

[borderdogs]

I am red green color blind it never hindered me ..........unless someone asked me what the difference between maroon and red.......
Rob

[smart dog]

Hi,
I would upgrade the wood with figured maple to add interest to the gun.  Plain wood on a plain gun is, well, ....plain.  It is unlikely you will ruin the gun because Jim has done 99.9% of the work for you.

dave

[Tim Ault]

I'm also color blind and have a hard time in the finishing /staining part what I do is call my wife down when I'm trying stuff out  and ask her hey what color is this look like to you . I'm working with walnut now so she won't have to be  called to help

[Craig Wilcox]

Tim, you will probably STILL need some stain!  Black walnut can sometimes have a sort of purple hue to it, so some folks take a bit of yellow aniline stain to kill that weird color.

I got a bottle of it about 2 years ago, used it one time.  Worked well.  And you might try a wee bit of a reddish color added to the finish, or use Alkanet varnish.  It imparts just a tinge of red to the wood.  Someone on here will have the contact web site for ordering some.

I wish you well on your project, and hope all the deer don't know you are color blind - LOL!  Did you know that dogs can't see red too well either?  But the pet shops still sell red balls and pull toys.  They see green pretty good.

[borderdogs]

just to add to the color blind context of this thread, I found that I can pick out animal silhouettes in the woods very quickly as a kid I remember pointing out something and other kids couldn't see. I never understood that until I was tested and found out I was color blind.
Rob

[Marcruger]

I am kind of thinking I agree with Dennis.  For a Appalachian rifle, walnut sure does look nice, especially stained dark. 

That said, my friend once wisely told me, "When someone says a stock is beautiful, what are they referring to?  The wood.  Buy the best wood you can."   I think if I was going maple, I'd buy a really pretty piece.  SMRs often had no carving, so the curl will not fight visually with the carving. 

Just thinking out loud.  God Bless,   Marc

[Dave Marsh]

I would upgrade the maple as well.