Drying stock wood

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  • Last Post 27 December 2013
Mnshooter posted this 10 April 2008

I have posted this on the Longrifle web site and thought this might be fun for discussion.  I recently cut down a  large birch tree and split out stock blanks from the stump part to make a ML shotgun.  I had to pay all of $5.00 for the barrel and have decided to see how cheap I can go with all the parts I have on hand from previous projects.  The “Traditional Bowyers Bible"  gave a recipe for quick drying woods, but everyone seems to tell me I should wait two to three years for air dry.  Stock blanks are Kiln dried.  Been a fun little experiment.  I choose the birch because we do not have any walnut,  Few maples of stock wood size and so forth.  Birch are practically weeds where I live so I chose birch.  As I burn tons of firewood I have noticed excellent figure in a variety of trees when I split them out so am going to try different woods.  Have an old plastic stocked 16 ga that could use wood.

Mnshooter

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CB posted this 13 April 2008

I have chunked up a couple of walnuts and a maple to make stocks and grips from in the past, and had problems with the wood splitting as it air dried.

An old BP shooter I know that does a lot of stock work says to get all of the bark off and then coat it with varnish.. Dont know if that actually works.

Are you getting splitting aif you kiln dry it? Birch would make a neat looking stock, be sure to post some pic's of the process if you can.

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Mnshooter posted this 13 April 2008

At this time I do not have the camera to post, but may be able to come up with a way.  So far so good on the heat box.  I have painted both ends.  I plan on getting several blanks this spring, after the April snows melt off so I can get out.  The bow staves that I have gathered haven't checked.  My plan is to have enough blanks such that I can have good ones.  Air drying does not give complete drying.  Track advertises their stocks at 6%-8% moisture.  You would be lucky to get 10% air dryed.  A hot box is nice for finishing off a blank if one wants a stock to dry to a lower level and can be used during the building process.  However,  I am willing to bet the originals were air dried.

Mnshooter.

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CB posted this 13 April 2008

I've also cut bow stave blanks. They have dried in the attic (still there) and a couple have still split with wax sealed ends, natural wood stress finding a home. I think the best way to make a wood stock would be to slice out decent 1/2” thick planks from among the checks and laminated the wood. The laminates I think would make a stronger stock, dead ending any further memory stresses in the wood............Dan

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Mnshooter posted this 14 April 2008

For certain types of stocks I think lamination would work great.  I have a16 gauge with a cast off stock I need to fix as I shoot left handed.  For ML's I will stay with a unlaminated stock.  Different woods also check badly.  Iron wood makes great bows but you have to leave the bark on for curing.  Some check some don't, I hope to collect enough that don't. 

Mnshooter

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NITROTRIP posted this 03 May 2008

Morning Guy's

I have just aquired some 4' X 18” southwest desert fine grained black walnut sections. I heard that for slow dry'ing one trick to keep it from splitting is to mill out your blanks the way you want them then coat the ends with the thin Brownell's acra-glass while it is dry'ing. The glass soaks in and keeps the splits from getting started. I have never tried this bit all the guy's I know that do fine woodwork said that is what they would do. I am not a woodworker, I am a machinist/metalworker by trade.That wood stuff cuts kinda fast for me. What my question is how to cut your blanks out for the type of grain and strength you want to make stocks. Two peice to muzzle loader style. This tree died about a year ago and was just dropped. It is now blocked in 4' sections and is very dense and heavy. I have access to a bandsaw mill,just don't know how to cut out the blanks for dry'ing. The wood guy's I know are not shure about stock blanks.

Thank You for any help or ideas.

Rick

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Mnshooter posted this 06 June 2008

I haven't checked in like I should.  Cutting wood for Mls or other stocks is usually done with an eye to following the grain through the wrist so as not to get a cross grained section in that weak area.  Commonly that is best achieved by using the barrel channel from the center of the tree and the buttstock from the outside. 

Mnshooter

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Magnum Wheel Man posted this 04 September 2008

I guess we've always done it the old fashoned, slow way... my father in law had been cureing wood for years before he died... by rough cutting on a band saw mill, & stacking & slatting in an old out building... yes, lots split, but we made 4 pieces of small furniture from the 3/4” walnut... there are 3-4 walnut stock blanks that are now 10 years or so out in the shed, that are dried & un split ( I think the stacking allows for slower drying, & less splitting ??? )

anyway, I used up all his cut wood a couple years ago ( except those rifle stock blanks )... we have literally tons of black walnut I could cut up any time, & I've been planting lots of the maple that throws birds eye & flame maple board stock, the 1st ones will be ready to cut down some time in the next few years... I plan on trying to do a few handgun grips myself this winter, starting with something simple like the NAA mini in my avitar ( I don't like those black plastic grips )... I'd like to get to the point of being able to do a rifle stock... someday

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canalupo posted this 04 September 2008

I am currently into making laminated longbows using cherry and fiberglass. I have found a way that works for me. I take a log usually 18 to 24 inches in diameter and about 7 ft long, split it with wedges into 8 pieshaped sections. I try to split from root end of trunk towards top of tree keeps checks and splits to a minimum, this allows wood to dry evenly (my opinion). I stand it in a corner rootside down hopefully it will split or check less than if it is laying flat . I check it for dryness in a year. A small breeze through the barn helps a little. Goodluck if push comes to shove it still works in the wood stove.

Bob D

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RicinYakima posted this 04 September 2008

FWIW guys, I have lived in a logging town for 36 years now. The guys at the mill tell me the way to reduce splits is to paint/varnish the end grains. This forces the wood to dry evenly from the sides and reduces splits. Even when they kiln dry wood, they paint the ends with oil based paint. HTH, Ric

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CWME posted this 13 January 2009

The idea behind painting the ends is to slow the drying process from those points. You want the whole piece to dry at the same rate. The water comes out the ends or “with the grain” faster than across the grain. The splitting comes from the stresses involved from sections shrinking at different rates.

You also want to avoid the pith or center of the tree.

Kiln dried wood will absorb water untill it reaches an equilibirum with it's surroundings. It's not nessesarily better than air dried. Just takes longer to get the wood to it's equilibrium point.

I just finished a Kitchen job out of Birch. I will never voluntarily work with the stuff again. Run a piece across the jointer and then the planer and then cut it to width and BAM, it twists while on the table saw. To heck with that stuff. Not what I would want for a gun stock with all the moving around it does...

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trap shooter posted this 13 January 2009

wax the end's keep it out of the sun drys one year per inch ben in custom wood working for years

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Bad Water Bill posted this 03 February 2010

At that rate of drying you would retire before a long rifle blank dried.

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RicinYakima posted this 03 February 2010

Inches of thickness, not length.

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Bad Water Bill posted this 04 February 2010

Thanks for clearing that up. I must be getting to old to understand .

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sabbatus posted this 11 February 2010

dont know how this could apply here but its neat none the less. a trick that i learned while studying 1700's fly rod building is that they hung the wood inside a chimney to dry it. for fishing rods it reduced splitting and warping and also the smoke adds some amazing color

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Clod Hopper posted this 11 February 2010

Roy Underhill describes how they used to do gun stocks in one of his books. If I remember correctly, they cut the stock blank out of a root leading up into the trunk that was the right shape. It was a lot of work. Drying did take several years. I do know that you have to do it exactly right and am not sure whether kiln dried or air dried would be best. If I find it, I will post the details.

Dale M. Lock

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CB posted this 12 February 2010

As a guy that hobby builds stocks (remember the hobby part)I use walnut that has been kiln dried and is stocked standing on its end. I have found that for the average joe stock this works well. I have been to a place where they stock exotic stock woods as well as exotic walnuts for at least 40 years for some of them. The prices are commeriserate with how long they have been stored. (saw one for 3500 dollars) which is a little to rich for my blood. I make them to go hunting with not sit in the gun cabinet for show and blow.

Jim

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Reg posted this 27 December 2013

Have made a number of stocks through the years and have put up a fair amount of wood for stocks and furniture work. Usually try to drop the tree in the winter, most of the sap will be in the roots. Using a chain saw we then cut into various lengths and thickness's according to what we intend to do with it. Immediately coat the ends with any heavy varnish. You might have to give it another coat as you want that wood to dry from the sides, not the ends. The chain saw is slow on linear cuts but will work. Most stock wood we cut 3 inches thick. On highly figured wood you really have to keep an eye on it since it will start cracking for no apparent reason. I usually check at least weekly. If you see a crack starting, fill with accraglass, that will usually stop it but there is just some you will lose no matter what. After about 6 to 8 months it seems to stabilize and you can relax a bit on the checking.We put the wood up in the top of the barn and leave it for at least 7 years, more if thicker than 3 inches. Pile it in a cris cross way with lots of open air spaces. Most figure tends to be in crotch branches where they join the trunk and in the roots. Slow process but it has worked well for the last 40 some odd years with walnut and cherry.

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grouch posted this 27 December 2013

I've made several stocks from birch. The birch where I lived was hard, strong(maybe brittle) and very stable. It was slow to dry, but an old timers' rule of thumb was 1 year for every inch thick. For what it's worth, I'd take a good look at what thickness is required for the stocks you want to make. Usually 10/4(2 1/2") is plenty. Any thicker is a lot more unnecessary work. It's my understanding that the European gun makers used to quarter saw their stock material. North American custom was to flat saw stock blanks to accentuate fancy grain. I'm not real sure that there's much advantage to splitting the wood. Hope some of this helps. Grouch

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