Types of wood used in original production

[dbarn]

Thanks Charlie, your expertise is greatly appreciated.

Information

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[frankderrico]

Charlie, that was a geat disertation on stocks.
The family that homesteaded my farm told me that the father (a logger) sold all of the yellow birch from the woods, and it went to make mounts for pom-pom guns on board ships. Does that sound right?
Do you know of any pictures of the stock making facilities during the war? It would be interesting to see them in mass production. I remember being at Harpers Ferry and seeing the stock makeing room. Seems I remember some sort of jig to make about 20 at a time, that then needed hand finishing. I would think there wasn't time available for that in WWII. Thanks again.....Frank

[DaveHH]

in Santa Rosa, Cali Co Hardwoods. They used to sell their scraps for firewood and what I noticed about good walnut was that it stayed the way it was cut, no twisting and a very oily wood. You could have a dinner plate sized chip maybe 3-4" thick and this thing had been sitting outside in the rain and weather for years, it was exactly as cut and burned great because of all that oil. Most woods like cedar twist like crazy when you dry them. Gumwood, real eucalyptus, is so dense that a small round can be aged for several years and still be sopping wet inside. Great firewood. I would bet that you could kiln dry a good piece of redwood or white pine and CNC cut it into a stock and make it work. The problem is strength, army rifles take a lot of abuse, but I've got to think that a redwood stock would last as well as an M16 stock. You have to be able to beat a person to death with a gunstock and you sure aren't going to do that with an M16. But a Garand? Absolutely. Good walnut was very pricey in the 70s and 80s good logs properly sealed would fetch thousands and thousands. In the 90s the Japanese paid $35K for a single on the stump Cedar tree. Our big old growth redwoods out here, say a 300 foot one would probably fetch $75K on the stump. But we're talking about a tree that is 20' across at the base.

[dbarn]

Here's a pretty good website to illustrate some of the characteristics of current production of wild/black cherry wood.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/person...ics/cherry.htm

From what I've read, cherry continues to darken or develop a patina with contact of sunlight to a reddish brown color. If cherry is cut across the grain, the rays or ray flecking of the wood is exposed. If the wood is scratched, it shows a pinkish/salmon color. The example below, Rock-Ola 4546450 has a type 2 cherry stock and handguard that was produced by cutting across the grain. The ray flecking is very evident in bright light. Through the years the exterior has turned a redish brown, however where the stock has been scratched shows a pink salmon color. This is also evident in the sling well that has not been exposed to sunlight. My avitar is also of the Rock-Ola and shows the color of the wood outside in bright sunlight. The final picture was taken with regular room light.

[frankderrico]

David, simply gorgeous. Beutiful carbine, beutiful wood.
I have to find a cherry wood stock. Thanks for sharing.....Frank

[dnikkor]

My Standard Products "bring back" has a SH-B Walnut stock that must be partially sapwood, so the right side is noticeably lighter than the left. the handguard looks perfect on the left, but stands out like a worn thumb on the right. Such is life.

[dbarn]

P.291 of WB, Ordnance Inspector Ellis Lenz at Standard Products had this to say:

"Walnut unquestionably was the best wood, although it's quality could vary greatly, particularly the difference in density. Birch ran a close second to walnut. Wild cherry however, was a poor substitute and was frequently rejected and ultimately discontinued by Standard Products..Experimental use was also made of Brazilan mahogany."

I'm with Charlie. Maple would seem a viable alternative. Perhaps it was too expensive.

[painter777]

Cherry much like Maple will continue to darken as it ages.
Sun light will speed up the darkening, but even areas that don't receive sun light will naturally darken.
When finishing custom cabinets....etc. We've found that the puttys made up for nail holes have to be about 1/3 darker than the woods finished color.
Have had customers get nervous about the puttied areas standing out, but given 6-8 months or so they see the match will be right on.
Learned that the hard way........Use to match putty to new finish, only to see the puttied areas stand out badly later on.

UV rays are a factor along with the woods oils and natural drying.

I do love that RMC David. It surely looks like 1/4 cut cherry. Handguard straight cut from a blank. Really lucky with the matching grain flow.

If I can't tell the cut from looking under the buttplate, looking down the stocks' comb can give you a pretty good idea of the cut.
I think this RMC I cut was a straight cut. But this can get confusing with the way grain flows. I married the wood shop teachers daughter, but to embarrased to ask him............


Thanks for the share,
Charlie

[dbarn]

Remember reading some where that cherry take a while to properly dry. That if it was not given a certain period, warpage would occur. If it was properly dried then it became stable. Maybe this was problem in the use of cherry in WWII.

[painter777]

I'm surprised poplar was never tried.
It nearly equal to walnut in hardness. But soft enough to take dings and bumps without splitting. Used quite often on marine vessels.
Plus withstands exterior conditions for long periods of time without warping.
It was then and still is very abundant. Pretty easy to work with and takes color very well when prepped correctly.
Maybe the fact that it would have had to be stained was it's demise. As it does take a number of steps before stainning to protect against a blotchy finish color.

Charlie-painter777