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I'm far from an expert on seasoning sticks, but I'll share what I have been told. Most of the time a freshly cut log is sealed in a type of wax to hold the moisture and only allow it to escape slowly. A stick dried too fast will develop checks that render it firewood. I understand that the best way to age the wood is in an environment with a humidity similar to indoors (pretty dry). The wax limits the flow of water out and it typically takes an inch per year or more for very figured wood. Some wood people kiln dry, but I have read enough precautions to decide to avoid taking that route. Srtrax has some really pretty blanks and finished stocks. He helped wind me up on pretty wood, but my budget put the kabosh on really high grade stuff.


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There are whole lot of books written on drying stock wood and none cover the gamut! It is easy to ruin a blank and most do it by drying the wood too rapidly.

Highly-figured areas and end grain are waxed to slow the drying in those areas. If you think of wood as a bundle of very small straws it is easy to visualize the water leaving those areas rapidly. When wood gets to about 35% moisture content (fiber saturation point) it starts to shrink as it dries. Before that the water loss was unbound water loose in the cells and various vessels. The bound water in the cellulose walls holds the wood in a plumped up state.

When the wood is dried too fast the outside dries and can surface check because it shrinks faster than the inside. But worse than that if the surface gets down to about 6% while the inside is still quite wet the surface wood will take a set. It will not shrink much beyond that stretched size.

When the middle dries it will shrink to much smaller than the outside. The internal wood can literally be pulled apart by the "case-hardened" exterior. The damage is usually called collapse or honeycomb.

When looking at blanks lay a straightedge across the grain on one side. If there is a big valley there (especially if there is another just like it on the other side)it is probably a worthless blank. Many sellers plane the outside of their blanks and round the corners. They give all kinds of reasons that sound better than hiding case-hardening...

Kiln drying is never done to produce better wood. It is only done to dry wood faster "with an acceptable level of degrade." Mills cannot afford to stockpile lumber while they wait on it to dry. Getting it out the door is important.

Not everyone agrees on all aspects of drying lumber and MC is just one issue. It is fact that 6% is a point where wood takes a set and reduces the amount of future moving it will do. The more times it cycles down to 6% the more stable the wood will be in service. Most custom stock guys will not consider wood less than 5 years dry and many insist on 10. All prefer old wood.

That said, many use wood all the way up to 12% because that is what it will be after laying around in their shop in the summer. WInter is when the humidity tends to cycle low in most places and do the serious drying for a set. Obviously there are lots of parts of the country that get wetter in the winter and I am talking about indoors with central heat.

Getting the water out rapidly in the beginning and slowing it down when fiber saturation point is neared and then speeding it up again once the wood has done most of its shrinking and is only working on a set is key to making good stock wood as fast as possible.

The rule of thumb about drying for one year per inch of thickness really misses the big issue of low-end cycling. It is a very good idea to stack dry blanks in a wetter area and then bring them back into a very dry area repeatedly if you intend to rush the project. Get it very dry several times over the course of a year and you will likely have wood as good as much older...
art


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Very interesting info and thanks for taking the time to post it. I've messed around with wood making goose decoy upper body and small ducks in hard woods. It sounds like you need to be a wood expert to attempt a stock and not for the rookies. The seasoning part is critical from what I gather and buying a blank conditioned already would probably be the better way to go, the way I read it. Thanks again and have a good day and good luck with the project.


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There are big differences between a blank treated properly and one that has been abused in drying assumiing they started into drying similarly. The chisels taste the difference immediately.

No reason for a rookie to avoid building a stock. It is far from rocket science to start. A little bit of an eye is all that is really needed.

Most folks starting out skip the parts I find most important. Doing a semi-inlet instead of starting from the squared up blank does not give you time to find out anythign about the wood and its condition. Cut it in stages and find out what it is about as you go with none of the limits a semi-inlet imposes.
art


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I'm really interested in tackling a stock in birds eye maple. This is in my opinion one of the most beautiful grained woods in North America. I saw only a few in my lifetime but they are awesome.


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Birdseye is pretty stuff and very serviceable as stock wood, but it is more fun to look at than cut. Every eye has a complete change of grain direction and it messes with chisels when inletting. The true workhorse of stock making, the rasp, cares not what it cuts...
art


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Did you ever try inletting with a dremel? Would it work on the bird's eye maple?


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Sitka deer, would you recommend a book on stockmaking? Is it really something a layman can do?

"If there is a big valley there (especially if there is another just like it on the other side)it is probably a worthless blank. "

This is causing me some concern. The really figured part of my blank is a valley (about 1/4" shallower than the rest). I just assumed it was really dense when it dehydrated. The valley is large enough to swallow my entire stock. Any way to determine if it's ruined?



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Inletting with a die grinder, Foredom, Dremel, whatever is fine for coarse work and I use it a lot when glass bedding stocks. But it will not replace chisels and it probably is no faster. It is harder to develop flat surfaces and keep them straight with machine work.

The tear-out issue with the eyes is there whether cut with a chisel or grinder.
art


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Stockmaking in very straight forward work with obvious steps and directions. There is no reason it cannot be done by anyone. Most newbies leave more wood on the stock than there should be and that is easy to fix... Grayling built his first stock (pump shotgun) at 10 and it is a pretty thing that he shoots quite well.

There are a bunch of videos and quite a few books that do a decent job of explaining the process. Monty Kennedy's book "Checkering and Carving of Gunstocks" is the classic and still very useable.

Lay a straight edge on each side of your blank and post a picture of the gap. It will be fairly easy to ses how bad it is.
art





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Lay a straight edge on each side of your blank and post a picture of the gap. It will be fairly easy to ses how bad it is.


Thanks. I will, but we are about to leave for 8jr's bday party. I will try to get those picts up tonight.

Just in case it matters, the stock is for a Ruger #1 RSI. I don't know if it matters that it's a two piece.


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After closer examination I see I have a problem. frown I don't know why I didn't spot it immediately.

warp



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Sad to say, but that is an example of what can go very wrong. It is not actually warp by definition, but rather, collapse.

The end grain irregularities show a pretty big problem. Even if the wood inside did not seperate (collapse technically) it is highly stressed due to the enlarged edges and the skinny middle reach.

If it is long dry it is probably history from a blank perspective. If not too old you could plane it straight and true on all 4 sides and cut the ends off clean and straight. Monitor it for warping at that point because some of the stresses will have been relieved and the wood will likely move a lot.

If it is not a pretty special piece of wood I would not consider building a stock with it. However, the demands on a two-piece are vastly easier to meet than a one-piece.
art


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Well, that a bummer Art (but I appreciate the info). I wonder if it would do any good to put it through a circuit of humidity/dry acclimations. There are some checks, but not where I imagined the heel/toe zone (which is in the picture). I will square it up and wait to see. I hate to spend a ton of time inletting and shaping by hand to see it destroyed from the inside out. Would using your epoxy method to seal it from the elements make a difference? How about poly stabilizing. I have heard people say it ruins the reflective qualities.


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Good knife handle material.


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Stablizing is a no go... Too much weight added if done right and penetration is achieved. Not enough effect if weight is not affected.

The stock bolt hole will reduce a lot of stress and knocking the skin off will also. But the sad fact is there will be a lot of walking going on in the wood for a long time, particularly if the wood gets wet.
art


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Prostate8: Bummer, sorry for your loss, i know how hard it can be on a person to lose one that is so dear to the heart! BUT, GUESS WHAT? When your through greving, maybe we can do some window shopping and come up with just the thing you really want, may take some time, but remember, everything happens for a reason. May god be with you and yours untill a replacement comes around! LOL, Lets look around.

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My comments about possible salvation are based on the assumption there are no internal cracks... Possible, but I would not bet on it...


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One of my favorite pieces looks the same way, but mine is a two piece and nothing i can do about it, small not good sized like yours. I had a stockmaker friend who is very around dry and green wood tell me to remove the wax off the sides to let it breath. Guess it was too soon because it did the same thing!Thankfully, i didnt do the others that way, hope all works out.

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Put yer hanky away Steve. I just got off the horn with VO, and their sending me a free truck rifle (break down Swede). Well....I think they are, I didn't understand a word those guys said. Now that I think about it, I kinda doubt they will send that rifle. I forgot to give 'em my address.

I wish I hopped on that stock on e-bay you pointed me to. It was wild and sold for a song.

There are plenty of sticks in the sea. Pass the whiskey. I feel like a country song.


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