Types of wood used in original production

[dbarn]

How many known types of wood were originally used in the US for M1 carbine production? I have read about and know for sure walnut, birch, and wild/black cherry. Were there others? Seems like mahogany was mentioned at one time. Charlie, with your stock/wood experience would especially like your opinion.

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[imarangemaster]

I don't know about US made mahagony, but heard that some Blue Skies had mahagony. I have seen a cherry USGI stock. It was gorgeous.

[dbarn]

There are some nice ones out there. They just do not seem to come along very often. Sadly, some may have been replaced during rebuild as walnut and birch were preferred.

[Chuckindenver]

what i have seen in the past few years during my restorations.
walnut.
birch.
beech.
mahagony.
cherry.
and lastly the nasty gumwood.. i think the military called it something else.

[dbarn]

It's interesting to note that there was a period of time during carbine production of a perceived Walnut shortage. Perhaps this was the era of the alternative types? Also other weapons were in need of Walnut to include the M1 rifle. My understanding is birch is considered post war for the Garand. I have not heard of alternative wood being used on other WWII weapons.

[Chuckindenver]

mind you the wood i have listed, is accross the board, rebuilds, Korean returns, Italian returns ect...

[phillydude]

during original production, why wasnt oak used?

[dbarn]

Good question. Did a google search and it may be the same reasons Oak is not considered suitable for a gun stock today. Reasons given were too hard, brittle, and the grain is too open.

[imarangemaster]

Is what you refer to as "gumwood" that nasty, dark, punky wood that a lot of the Korean Blue Skies had? That wood was HORRIBLE!

[painter777]

I often wonder if the supposed 'Walnut Shortage' was merely a low stock on hand, while waiting for more walnut to be dried.
The country was still reeling from the depression and most furniture makers were producing very little. In fact the WWII stocks.. ETC contracts saved many from going under.
Even with the combination of kiln and air drying, to make walnut suitable for gunstocks it needs a few years to dry. Most say well over 5 years. Even at this, much of it was rejected. Keep in mind the amount of factory repairs that were expected per stock. IIRC roughly 10% of the labor per stock could have been spent on such repairs. Many were patched during production and shipped as so.

I also wonder since these furniture makers used a lot of maple in the 40's why soft or hard maple wasn't considered. Or was it? Tight grained with both being nearly as dense as walnut. Much tighter than birch. Maybe cost was a factor in it's use.

Oak is to open grained making it hard to seal, has heavy grain lines that easily splintered or cracked. When wet it warps easily. Both white and red oak have very little natural oil in them.

Not taking replacement or post war into account, I've seen......
M1 Carbine Stocks made of....
Eastern Black Walnut....... used by all makers
Birch...used on type III stocks for...Underwoods, Trimble for NPM, and IBM stocks marked SC-B, Stan Pro marked S-HB
Black Cherry...... used on type II Rock-Ola stocks.

M1 Carbine Handguards,
Type III 4 rivet
Birch....... marked HI

You have to remember unlike the hand made stocks prior to WWI, WWII stocks were being mass produced.
The vitals of the pre WWI wood like,
Grain flow, Hardness and closed pores, Over all color, Figure and lengthy curing times were lessoned for the mass production of what was designed as a back lines weapon.

Look closely at the workmanship of pre-WWII stocks and you'll see the WWII stocks were well made but clearly mass produced. The machinery was now available to do so.

JMO,
Charlie-painter777