expensive wood

[elk killer]

if you had a very expensive blank and sent it to Mr. Kibler , would that make the rifle worth more or would it still just have the same worth as the normal kit with nice wood? i mean like a $800 or a $1000 piece of maple. i know wood can and be in the eye of the beholder

[snapper]

Without a doubt the piece of wood helps drive the price of the rifle.

I have and do pay more for a nice piece of wood vs plain.

Will a $1,000 piece of wood make the rifle worth 1K more?   Might, might not.   All you got to find is one person that likes it for that price.

Fleener

[T*O*F]

There is no piece of maple that is worth $1k, just too many people with too much disposable income.

[J. Talbert]

Just my take, but if I had $1000 piece of wood I would be more inclined to commission a top-notch builder to use it, rather than putting it into a kit gun.
I don’t know how Jim’s price structure works exactly, but I’m guessing you can get a pretty nice piece of wood from him for a few hundred dollar premium on the price of the kit.


Jeff

[Eric Kettenburg]

Holy cr ap just wait and let me go get some popcorn and a six before this goes further. 

[Bigmon]

While hunting this week I finally got to see a rifle a friend had made from one of Mr Kibler's kits.  The wood was just great.  I do not know how much more beautiful a pc could get to cost $1000, than this pc he got from Jim.?

[Dave Marsh]

Holy cr ap just wait and let me go get some popcorn and a six before this goes further. 

I'd make it a bunch of popcorn and two 12's. 

[mjohnson]

I just ordered a 50 cal Woodsrunner kit from Kibler. I selected the extra fancy maple. This is my second kit gun having finished a Jim Chambers Lancaster 58 cal gun some years ago. From what I have seen on this forum and from YouTube videos, I have no doubt that Jim's wood selection will be great. I have several 1874 Sharps BPCR's from Shiloh Sharps. Their wood always looks better than the quality I paid for. From what I have seen, the same follows for Kibler.

[Bill Raby]

If you are looking to turn a profit, it is probably not worth it. If you want a nice piece of wood for your own rifle, spend what you want. $1000 is not even at the starting point for nice walnut.

[Top Jaw]

Kits have their place.  The value of a kit gun, no matter how nice the wood, seems to have a ceiling on it at resale time from what I’ve seen on this site and others. It appears folks are willing to spend more on a custom gun made from a blank with the builder’s personal talent and touches, than the same artist finishing a CNC kit, even with their own touches.   There may be a very limited number of notable exceptions, but that has been my observation.  If it were mine, I would save such wood for a custom project with a reputable builder.  You would never recoup it at resale time otherwise, in my opinion. 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Putting $40K into your house with renos does not mean you can add $40K to the value of your house.  It might mean it will be easier to sell, but you cannot expect to recoup the $40K.  At least that is my observation.  Same holds true with wood and nice rifles.
I once tried to explain to a potential buyer that I had re-stocked a rifle with a $500 piece of walnut, and so I wanted that value added to the value of the original rifle.  It was pointed out to me that I spent too much on the upgrade, and no, it can't be added to the original price/value.

[mountainman]

If you supply your own wood to get a kit made, they give you as much credit as would be per shipping, which I believe is $55- , no matter how valuable your wood is, if you keep it, that's all you would save, but then if you decide to sell your rifle, you can up your own price range.

[RAT]

Would Jim even accept the liability of mounting a $1,000 piece of wood in his CNC equipment? Things happen, and I certainly wouldn't want a customer screaming at me if something comes loose and the stock is marred.

And... no... it wouldn't increase the value by the full cost of the wood.

[Dphariss]

Without a doubt the piece of wood helps drive the price of the rifle.

I have and do pay more for a nice piece of wood vs plain.

Will a $1,000 piece of wood make the rifle worth 1K more?   Might, might not.   All you got to find is one person that likes it for that price.

Fleener

Good wood helps. The the way its finished and how the rifle is done will have more impact. Its package and I would NEVER give that much for a piece of wood. You don’t know whats gonna happen when its shaped. Might have a nasty, bark inclusion etc.
Decent wood is all you need unless you WANT really nice wood. And I LIKE really curly maple. But thinking ipaying 1000 for a blank going to make a 2000 dollar rifle worth 3000 is pretty shaky ground. But it might.
But it does make it possible to ask a higher price.
This was a just under 300 dollar 1/2 stock blank. Its a pain to work but it should be REALLY nice, if I ever get it done . Right now I am armpit deep in honey dos.

[Fly Navy]

I have always been a fan of nice wood and I don't mind paying extra to get it. Plus Bill is right, nice walnut comes at a high cost.

[elk killer]

Wasnt something i was going to do, just was only a question, wood can make or brake a rifle, in reality how many people could really tell the difference of a $1000 piece or a nice $400 piece of wood...

[rich pierce]

Now and then I see an older TC Hawken with really fine walnut. Just the luck of the draw I guess.

Some of the custom guns most appealing to me have plain wood. I can think of some by Kibler, Allen Martin, Brad Emig, David Dodds, EK, and others.

[Clowdis]

A nice piece of wood will certainly help the sale of a gun if the gun is made by a great gunmaker. You can use a $1,000 piece of wood on a rifle and have it made by a lesser gunsmith and only have a $1,500 gun with pretty wood. I have seen so many rifles over the years with top notch engraving, relief carving, etc., but the basic foundations of gun design, stock building and inletting have been ignored. A great gunmaker can take a plain piece of maple and make a simple longrifle and have it sell for a huge sum of money by doing nothing more than great stock lines, great inletting and finishing. Let me say that I am a great proponent of beautiful wood, love it, but I am more vested in great gunsmithing.

[t.caster]

After reading this I guess it is time to double the price of all my wood. I know everything has gone up in price since the Covid pandemic, but $500-1000! Come on, man!
I won't spend crazy money like that on a "spec" gun, but if a customer sees a piece he "has to have" and is willing to pay for it, that is fine.
I have a wild marbled piece of cherry here right now that my customer sent me to build with.  know it wasn't cheap but he bought it!

[Eric Kettenburg]

I always thought expensive wood was the end result of one's wife uncovering an illicit dalliance.

[Mike Brooks]

I always thought expensive wood was the end result of one's wife uncovering an illicit dalliance.

Comments like that are likely to bring me out of retirement.

[Eric Kettenburg]

I'm just waiting for the slap on the wrist.  I tried to word it carefully...

[Daryl]

Consider yourself slapped. Funny, though.

[bob in the woods]

IMO, the difference between a $400 and a $1000 piece of wood has  more to do with who's selling it and who's buying it than any difference in the wood itself. There are a few exceptions, but not many

[Bill Raby]

These are some $2500+ Turkish walnut blanks sized for modern shotgun stocks. Likely over double the price if you want something like this for a longrifle size stock blank. Maple is quite a lot cheaper. $1000 to $2000 for a maple blank is going to be an extremely nice piece of birdseye maple. It will not look anything like a $400 blank.