Gunstock build?

Has anyone on here built/carved their own stock? I'm wondering about some good resources (booksetc.) That you may recommend. I have a little woodworking knowledge and play around in my basement shop. I was lucky to snag some awesome curly maple Thanksgiving morning and the first thing that popped in my mind was a gun stock. Have enough to make several. Willing to trade for an apprenticeship even. Thanks for any references!

No modern gun experience, but that would look awesome on a longrifle. That kind of figure would like right at home with a 46 inch swamped barrel, a nice flint lock and some relief carving.

Yep have carved a few and inletted many. Nice figure in that maple. One thing is absolutely mandatory the wood
must be DRY. Most custom stock makers won’t work on a blank that hasn’t air dried for 10 years minimum. I have three in the works (Bastogne walnut) that were sawn into blanks in 1994. Pm me if you want a few pointers.

Wax the ends and put up in an attic or even hay loft for a few yrs and see if it checks.
Was it quarter sawn?

I've made a dozen or so but haven't done one since moving here. In the states I had a great mentor nearby and had a guy in Oregon who could do semi-inletted stock carving on his replicating machine.

cmcf is spot on. The wood has to be dried for years to be worth all the time and effort you'll be putting into it. If it is for a rifle, grain direction will be incredibly important in the barrel channel part of the blank. Figured maple can also be a tough mistress due to wood pullouts and is not the easiest to checker. A dry piece of walnut might be a better choice for your first go as well, even if it is plain grained. You can get all the tools necessary from Brownell's and some you can make yourself.

The three best books I ever saw were:

"Stockmaking" by Alvin Linden
"Professional Stockmaking" by David Wesbrook
"Checkering and Carving of Gunstocks" by Monty Kennedy

I've only worked with walnut, but maple can make an interesting stock as well. Al Linden "the wood butcher" , as he called himself, built a lot of maple stocks as he liked flaming figured walnut for a darker finished look. The Wesbrook book has incredible photography and the guy is a fanatic for clean work and sharp tools. The Kennedy book highlights some of America's finest stockmakers back in the day and will give you tons of ideas for stock shapes and checkering/carving patterns.

If your wood is dry, I would recommend getting a semi inletted blank for your first go. There will still be plenty of work to do for inletting not to mention finishing and checkering. Then you can do the next one from scratch. I've done 3 from scratch but I'm glad my first one was a semi-inlet.

Good luck.

Pete

Thanks guys! The wood has been kiln dried. It will be air drying for a bit longer. Not sure of the moisture content so I'll be getting a meter. I will be looking into those books. Thanks swift.

Many years ago...................When I was in gunsmith school we had to make at least one stock from a blank.

Later I went to work at Bishops in Warsaw, MO. I worked in there custom shop doing rifles then moved to double barrels and O/U's.

Lots of good info in the posts above

I was told that even in an attic or barn, wood will never get below 11% humidity. I had some oak in a steel barn for 10 years. The fellow I took it to said it had to be Kiln dried to reach furniture grade which I think is about 6-8%. Yours should be good to go .It's a beautiful piece.

If you check with a water damage restoration company like Service Masters, ServPro or a local company they will likely have a moisture meter and will check your wood for little or nothing. The meter looks like a voltage meter with two probes and a scale. 8% or lower is where you want to be. To much moisture will result in warp and dry check. traprjohn is correct on dipping the ends in wax. Don’t know if you have low enough humidity in PA but Kiln drying is frowned upon in gunstock applications. A few tools that you may not have but need are stockmakers screws, bbl chanel rasp, farrier hoof rasp and a SHARP set of chiseles. A set of wood carving chisels is very handy as well. If time is money, and your wood is dry you can send it to Donnie At Showme Gunstocks In Warsaw Missouri tell him which action you have and he can put your wood on the panograph machine and send you back a. “stock” that is 95% inletted and roughed to shape for about $150 money we’ll spent. There will still be a ton of work for you to do. The odds of getting a good result go way up. Best of luck and don’t forget the acra glass. It makes the action area stronger and might turn the rifle into a tack driver.

As cmcf said Donnie Geemes, Show Me Gunstocks, is the man. One of my shooting partners has sent him several blanks valued between $800 to $1200. They always come back perfectly executed needing just finish sanding, finish, and checkering. And done in a timely manner.