Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors fancy English walnut vs fancy American walnut

so just curious what you folks prefer. fancy English walnut or fancy American walnut? I have both in my collection but would like to hear your thoughts. keeping in mind English walnut was $5.00 more than American walnut in 1905 aprox. I don't want that to sway your votes however. this may be a case of round barrel vs octagon barrel and we all know which one wins that race. but this i expect will be intetesting. cheers

I wish I knew.

I like the caramel color of english and some claro over american which is usually gray brown, but claro grain is too open. the most figure in American comes in crotch wood and I don't care for that look. I prefer strips over wild grain.

Is this English on the top 1899A and American on the 99K on the bottom? You asked who liked which. Personally I like both but think the1899A is prettier.

Yes please.

i will gladly give you two hamburgers Wednesday for one each today!
the 1899A has what i have always seen as Claro. as Roy says. yes please!

No preference. Pretty wood is pretty wood, whether American, English, French or Turkish.

I like reddish brown vs caramel. Each piece of wood is different. Some I like more than others whatever type.

The only english walnut stocked rifle i have is a 1881 marlin.


heres a couple of 1899 savages in american walnut.








Heres a couple of "OFF" brands

I only have one fancy rifle that I commissioned, and it's in American walnut. I have no desire to acknowledge previous enemies.

oh my!

Sort of like redheads, blondes, and brunettes. I like them all!

I couldn't say I like one more than the other.

In general, I like darker wood with interesting grain. If the wood is too dark it's hard to see the grain.

which ever is in your hands at the time (blondes,redheads,brunettes)

Some more fancy stocks. Is the top one English walnut and the bottom Circassian?

Which fancy is it??

Out here we have a lot of english walnut orchards with trees grown on black walnut root stock. I like all nice woods used for gunstocks from fancy multi-X grades down to good solid straight grain. English makes up into a nice stock but for me I have to give a nod to black walnut.

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Great Thread!

Loaded with Lot's of Eye Candy!

I'm Loving it!

HS58

Some more to look at, something to do on a cold day, wipe down some guns -

Clarification: There are really only two species of walnut. Black walnut (juglans nigra) and thin shelled walnut (juglans regia). Thin shell walnut, think the kind of walnuts you crack at Christmas time. Thin shell walnut is called a bunch of different names, pretty much harking to where in the world it's harvested, but it's the same species. Claro is, as Jeff said, of black walnut root stock with thin shell walnut cuttings grafted on.

Black walnut: generally softer and with larger more open pores than thin shell. Figured black walnut (fiddleback, crotch, etc.) has a charm all it's own, and is my personal favorite.

Thin shell walnut: generally harder, with smaller tighter pores than black walnut. One reason it's favored is because of its ability to take and hold checkering better.

You can't differentiate based on color. The color range is pretty identical across the board.

One way to muck up the beauty of any walnut is to use a straight oil finish. Straight linseed oil has the tendency to darken with age. Another way to foil the beauty of walnut is to stain it with an oil-based stain.

There is also (juglans cinera) which we call Butternut in my neck of the woods. It can be difficult to tell the forest trees from Black Walnut, but Butternut usually has a terminal leaflet and Black Walnut not.

It's wood is softer than Black Walnut and easily worked. It can have very pretty and interesting grain. I have never heard of it being used for gunstocks, mostly furniture. Perhaps Gary or others have worked with it before? I have not.

Yeah, I was once gifted some planks of butternut and used them to build a couple dovetailed chests.

some awesome pics folks, and some great examples of English walnut and american. this one i have letters with English walnut, the English walnut appears to be a lighter wood with very distinct dark thick grain.

Thanks, this does a lot to clarify the subject for me.

Not Walnut but like the look of Myrtlewood on my Rem 760

So I have to follow up on my earlier comment. I prefer black walnut on rifles unless we're talking flintlocks. Then its curly maple all the way. For anyone interested, here's a good video on gunstock wood:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHA7XWXn6Gg

A very good source of information regarding walnut is a book written by Michael MacIntosh titled "Shotguns and Shooting. "English" walnut is a misnomer as it doesn't come from England at all. Two world wars in Europe has been detrimental to what was once a huge never ending supply. English has a few clear advantages over the others...it has a little spring to it so it will move a little before it will crack. English checkers way better than the rest, black walnut is harder and will crack, but you can get a decent checker on it. Claro, Bastogne, etc., all fuzz up when you checker it. It certainly can be checkered, just not as easy or as perfectly as English.

Edit: sorry guys, I should clarify that the book mentioned above, "Shotguns and Shooting" is out of print, but you can still find it used on ebay or Amazon reasonable. Also, he wrote like four in the series. The first one is the best and has the most info on gun woods.

Fancy English Walnut stock:

https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...age-high-power.cfm?gun_id=100807166#lg-6





Fancy American Walnut stock:

https://www.rockislandauction.com/d...ity-savage-model-1899-lever-action-rifle




Fancy American Walnut stock:

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/76/158