Cutting your own Gun Stock Blank
- Thread starter BABz58
- Start date
He only needs an inch or less thickness for the project. Drying it correctly is key.
See if you can find a local guy with a Wood Mizer or similar portable band saw mill. Take your log to him. One of my brothers had one. We felled trees and sawed thousands of board feet for years. Tons of white pine, oaks, and poplar, mostly. But anything and everything too.
Ripping boards with a chain saw wastes way too much wood. The kerf is too wide.
Saw up an extra piece first to get some idea how the grain lays and what cut you want. Plank sawn, quarter sawn, etc.
Have fun.
See if you can find a local guy with a Wood Mizer or similar portable band saw mill. Take your log to him. One of my brothers had one. We felled trees and sawed thousands of board feet for years. Tons of white pine, oaks, and poplar, mostly. But anything and everything too.
Ripping boards with a chain saw wastes way too much wood. The kerf is too wide.
Saw up an extra piece first to get some idea how the grain lays and what cut you want. Plank sawn, quarter sawn, etc.
Have fun.
Upvote 0
The normal rule of thumb is a year for every inch of thickness for drying time.
I've made 5 stocks so far for my 3 P35s. Two were left over 8/4 cherry from other projects. The latest one has a little figure and is the end of a board most of which went into a bed for my oldest grandson. One was my first and was a 2x6 bandsawed in half with a piece of softwood shelving in the middle. I have a jointer so I can get the pieces flat for decent glue lines. The other two are made of laminated pieces of old church pews. Traditionally they would be mahagony but I am pretty sure this stuff is luan. But it is still a nice dark redish color. I should probably ask for some 8/4 walnut sometime I am out buying wood. They guy I'm buying from would not charge extra for figured pieces and I might get lucky.
The first picture is my latest cherry stock with a figured oak nosepiece. The second is my second luan stock with a figured oak nose piece. The last is my Prod stock which is all figured oak from my deceased killing tree.
I've made 5 stocks so far for my 3 P35s. Two were left over 8/4 cherry from other projects. The latest one has a little figure and is the end of a board most of which went into a bed for my oldest grandson. One was my first and was a 2x6 bandsawed in half with a piece of softwood shelving in the middle. I have a jointer so I can get the pieces flat for decent glue lines. The other two are made of laminated pieces of old church pews. Traditionally they would be mahagony but I am pretty sure this stuff is luan. But it is still a nice dark redish color. I should probably ask for some 8/4 walnut sometime I am out buying wood. They guy I'm buying from would not charge extra for figured pieces and I might get lucky.
The first picture is my latest cherry stock with a figured oak nosepiece. The second is my second luan stock with a figured oak nose piece. The last is my Prod stock which is all figured oak from my deceased killing tree.
Upvote 0
ThomasT
Member
- Apr 25, 2021
- 3,894
- 5,669
- 83
Hello @BABz58
Go to Wood Barter Forum ( https://woodbarter.com ), there are folks on this Forum that are experts and are super nice and willing to help. You can also find just about any wood for sale, I have purchased many rare pieces.
ThomasT
Upvote 0
This is some of the Mahogany or maybe it’s Paduc? Either way. It will be used in the stock.
It’s very dense , hard and heavy.
It’s very dense , hard and heavy.
Upvote 0
It's a heck of a lot easier on a blade and saw if you cut it green. You loose some dimension but it dries faster.
Here it's best to dry whole or it dries too fast and checks and warps. It's best to let it check and cut around them.
Bodark (osage) will be super tough to cut dry. Lots of guys won't tackle it. If they do they will cuss. Offer them a new blade and a handfull of brazing rods.
Use PVA on it. It really helps checking and warping. Here it's almost mandatory. If you don't slather it with PVA you have nothing left to work with. In a more hospitable environment it dries slower and makes less difference. Still its worth it. You'll save more crazy patterns. Those always split easily.
Bugs are always a problem drying. Depending on the wood you might have to cover it and/or keep it dusted with diatomaceous earth. It's a heartbreaker to spend a bunch of time and money just to find shotholes in your wood. If borers get in it it's basically good for firewood. It takes years for them all to emerge once they dig in. If you finish a project and even one is in there a half dozen will dig out and leave holes. Even stabilized and laminated with a heavy epoxy finish some will survive.
Bark it first so bugs can't hide under it no matter how you plan on drying it.it will be easier to jig up to cut and easier on the blade too. And you can see the nails easier. Run a metal detector over it to make sure there's no nails you can't see. It's pretty common to find a few in an old log and that will really spoil a blade.
Here it's best to dry whole or it dries too fast and checks and warps. It's best to let it check and cut around them.
Bodark (osage) will be super tough to cut dry. Lots of guys won't tackle it. If they do they will cuss. Offer them a new blade and a handfull of brazing rods.
Use PVA on it. It really helps checking and warping. Here it's almost mandatory. If you don't slather it with PVA you have nothing left to work with. In a more hospitable environment it dries slower and makes less difference. Still its worth it. You'll save more crazy patterns. Those always split easily.
Bugs are always a problem drying. Depending on the wood you might have to cover it and/or keep it dusted with diatomaceous earth. It's a heartbreaker to spend a bunch of time and money just to find shotholes in your wood. If borers get in it it's basically good for firewood. It takes years for them all to emerge once they dig in. If you finish a project and even one is in there a half dozen will dig out and leave holes. Even stabilized and laminated with a heavy epoxy finish some will survive.
Bark it first so bugs can't hide under it no matter how you plan on drying it.it will be easier to jig up to cut and easier on the blade too. And you can see the nails easier. Run a metal detector over it to make sure there's no nails you can't see. It's pretty common to find a few in an old log and that will really spoil a blade.
Last edited:
Upvote 0
+1 on being nice to whoever you can talk into cutting the bois d’arc for you. It’s a tough piece of wood to work with.
Dave
Dave
Upvote 0
There's a lot to unpack in that song...
The line "....like an ol' bodark fence post you could hang a pipe rail gate from" that I associate with osage. When I heard that I laughed my butt off. Its pure redneck poetry. It stuck with me. Now whenever someone mentions Osage I'm jamming to that song.
Now we're whittling a gunstock out of it. That works on a couple different levels...
The line "....like an ol' bodark fence post you could hang a pipe rail gate from" that I associate with osage. When I heard that I laughed my butt off. Its pure redneck poetry. It stuck with me. Now whenever someone mentions Osage I'm jamming to that song.
Now we're whittling a gunstock out of it. That works on a couple different levels...
Last edited:
Upvote 0
My dad has a corner fence post (yes, an actual fence post, lol) that was there when he bought the place. The fella he bought the place from said it was there as long as he could remember. Dad bought the place in 1970’ish. That post is still there, doing its job. And you still can’t drive a steeple in it.
Dave
Dave
Upvote 0