Any such thing as pretty FX walnut? I have never handled a walnut stocked FX and to be honest the promo photos from FX and its dealers have been ho hum at best. If you have one I would appreciate a picture or two that hopefully proves me wrong.
FX FX Walnut
- Thread starter rokonman
- Start date
Mine is so-so. However, it's the last FX Royale 400 walnut ever made. I know this because I discussed it with the bunch over in Sweden when I ordered it.
You can see the packing box in the background.
You can see the packing box in the background.
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What you had to go through to get that rifle was incredibly exhausting!
Seemed like a dead end
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I have a post up about my “ grade 2 “ walnut DRS.
Paid way more for this option. Upon opening I was not
impressed.
Paid way more for this option. Upon opening I was not
impressed.
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I was at the range the other day when i saw a beautiful stock that i thought was plastic..it looked too good!
The owner had the wood grain laser enhanced
Do not know if it is something you want to try, but the results were really incredible
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If you want nice walnut on an FX find a used FX Tarantula. They have high grade Turkish walnut, hand checkered, super accurate and consistent with out a reg. Will still hold it's own against today's wonderguns. They're the gun that started the push for 100m back when Yharr in Aus posting his results with it and the BSA Hornet back in the Yellow Forum days.
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High grade walnut is hard to come by anymore. There’s just not much available relative to demand.
Look at the world of PB’s. You don’t see wood stocks hardly at all anymore. Any PB with quality wood on it is either old or a high dollar custom job.
I am not justifying what is being charged for it, just saying what was once mediocre wood is now considered fancy. All due to availability.
Look at the world of PB’s. You don’t see wood stocks hardly at all anymore. Any PB with quality wood on it is either old or a high dollar custom job.
I am not justifying what is being charged for it, just saying what was once mediocre wood is now considered fancy. All due to availability.
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From what I have seen the older FX stocks were much better figure and color etc. The newer models are hit or miss, mostly miss. When I ordered my new Wildcat I almost went with the walnut version but decided to not risk it and picked a laminate.
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The trunk of walnut trees normally goes to make veneer for plywood with the largest demand in Japan. Limbs can be cut up into boards but I think it's unethical since they will not be stable. The stark contrast between the brown heartwood and the white sapwood causes some to steam the wood during kiln drying to darken the sapwood but it turns the heartwood grey. But then dyes and/or stain are used to restore color. The figure we like is not desired in furniture where it is often called blotching. Figure can be in the trunk but it is rare. All trees have figure in crotches and in the Stump. But sawmills do not want to cut the Stump into boards or stock blanks because it has rocks which damage their blade.
These are some reasons walnut stocks cost more and are harder to find.
These are some reasons walnut stocks cost more and are harder to find.
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I almost gave up on the entire project but Mathias in Sweden came over here to the USA to compete in the Nationals and whilst here he got things squared away with Pyramid Air. I have some suspicions regarding the whole matter but can't prove any of it so I'll keep them to myself. The Royale platform is excellent and should have been sustained by FX but it's my opinion that it just got too expensive to manufacture and also probably stole sales away from their other platforms. The only other airgun that I ever had that was close to it is the Taipan Vet.
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Yeah, quality wood for stocks is hard to find and our expectations of good, better, best has had to change. That's hard for an old guy like me to accept sometimes.
As a kid in the 60's I had access to a well equipped workshop and inadvertently became the local airgunsmith.
With all of us growing like weeds, modifying and making stocks was a frequent necessity. Back then is when I learned how critical a properly fitting stock was to consistent shooting.
A friend's father (a doctor) contracted me to make a stock from a blank that he had bought. The wood was French Walnut and under umpteen coats of hand-rubbed linseed oil the swirling grain in the stock was drop-dead gorgeous - it glowed!
I haven't seen a more beautiful piece of wood since. I almost passed out when my friend told me the his dad had paid over $700 for the blank - and that was at the time that you could feed a family of four for $30 a week!
High quality wood is extremely rare/expensive these days and found only on custom stocks. Commercial, mass produced wood stocks are made from plain and lightly figured walnut at best or alternative woods like beech or maple.
Supply and demand controls the market and veneer for furniture companies takes precedence over our little niche of fancy grained wood for stocks.
There's a reason that the laminated stocks are popular. The bold patterns and contrasting colors are man made and readily available. A walnut tree takes a lifetime to grow to harvestable size.
Just saying, it is what it is, what used to be is gone.
Cheers!
As a kid in the 60's I had access to a well equipped workshop and inadvertently became the local airgunsmith.
With all of us growing like weeds, modifying and making stocks was a frequent necessity. Back then is when I learned how critical a properly fitting stock was to consistent shooting.
A friend's father (a doctor) contracted me to make a stock from a blank that he had bought. The wood was French Walnut and under umpteen coats of hand-rubbed linseed oil the swirling grain in the stock was drop-dead gorgeous - it glowed!
I haven't seen a more beautiful piece of wood since. I almost passed out when my friend told me the his dad had paid over $700 for the blank - and that was at the time that you could feed a family of four for $30 a week!
High quality wood is extremely rare/expensive these days and found only on custom stocks. Commercial, mass produced wood stocks are made from plain and lightly figured walnut at best or alternative woods like beech or maple.
Supply and demand controls the market and veneer for furniture companies takes precedence over our little niche of fancy grained wood for stocks.
There's a reason that the laminated stocks are popular. The bold patterns and contrasting colors are man made and readily available. A walnut tree takes a lifetime to grow to harvestable size.
Just saying, it is what it is, what used to be is gone.
Cheers!
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I bought this FX Crown walnut stock from a member only because I suspect that walnut is disappearing from the airgun scene. There are fewer and fewer guns with traditional stocks. Martin R. when he owned RAW provided beautiful walnut stocks on his rifles. When Air Force acquired RAW, the walnut stocks immediately disappeared. All you can get now is plywood. Anyway, when I got this particular stock, it had the usual plain-jane FX finish. After I added three coats of Tru-Oil, the grain popped out nicely. Not the best figure, but acceptable. I may install it on my Crown bumblebee.
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