I will be the first to say I am not a wood expert but I found this at the Tulsa gun show today, it looked like a nice piece of wood, it was getting late and according to what I have seen blanks priced at, seemed like a good buy. Not to mention, the longer I fondled it, the cheaper it was getting.


According to the seller, his Dad owned it since 1986 and it was much older than that.

Hopefully I will get some positive feedback and I didn't get hurt to bad.

These are the markings on the blank.

[img][IMG]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d17/Sweet16Owner/Tulsa%20gunshow/tulsagunshowpurchases018.jpg[/img][/img]

I think the spelling below is Teyssier. The stamp is very weak on the RH side

black walnut?

It appears to be a nice piece of French walnut (Juglans regia). The color and figure are quite nice. Congratulations.

+1 French

It dones say French on the blank....

Looks beautiful...I'm not a wood expert by any means but IIRC a heavy kicking rifle needs pretty straight grain in the thin grip area. Yours looks like it still has lots of figure there...

May not be a issue at all, but I'd suggest asking someone about it that does know wood.

Thanks for the positive feedback. When you don't do this for a living, it is basic crapshoot whether you made a reasonable choice.

With the stamp, would it be fairly safe to assume that this blank came from France? If so, would it make it more valuable?

From what I have read, the dark mineral lines seem to command a premium. Are the black lines what is considered mineral lines?

Most places I have looked at grade on a A,AA AAA,AAAA or X,XX,XXX,XXXX scale or percentages of figure 25,50,75,100.

Where on these scales would this blank be considered.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Jeff

Bastonne?(sp?)

Bastogne, perhaps, but French for sure...

It looks great as is. Put some oil on it and I bet it is dynamite. Post some pics of it if you do.

nice stick...ain't much French walnut around

You can count on pics. I have this earmarked for my first ( and most likely last) custom. These things get pricey.

Nice stick of wood. I wouldn't use it for one of the super hard kicking guns as the pistol grip area doesn't look to have the strength to take the recoil. I don't think it is Bastone as I have one stock of that wood and it is totally different in looks. The trouble is that it could be a nice piece of French OR a nice piece of English.
Nevertheless, it is nice looking and I hope you get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

WeimsnKs,

You have a very nice stick of genuine French Walnut. Teyssier was a well know source of French walnut quite a number of years ago. While much of Teyssier walnut that I've seen has not been really outstanding as far as figure goes, it has all be very good wood. No question that it is dry and well seasoned, as, to my knowledge, Teyssier hasn't been in business for several years.

Grading walnut is a very subjective subject and there are no guidelines by which to grade wood. Each dealer establishes his own set of standards to go by. On a X, XX, XXX, XXXX, Exhibition scale, I would grade your blank XXX.

I don't know what you paid for the blank, so have no idea whether you got a good deal or not.

Tom

The figuring is dark like Bastogne...The lines are thick as well...Just a guess though...

Bingo....we have a winner!

Dober

That's what I think it is, Bastogne...

The Guns Of Bastogne an excellent movie, no wait that was the Guns Of Navarone. Any way that is a nice French Walnut blank...

I guess: Pretty. Yep, its pretty wood. . . . .

More importantly, I guess 9.3x62 for the rifle.

BMT

Pretty safe bet it is NOT Bastogne. Bastogne is an American mule and not found in France, the obvious birthplace of the blank based on the stamp. The history from tsquare is dead-on.

Bastogne is a cross between claro, a native CA walnut and any Juglans regia. It is called by a number of names (paradox being second most common) and occasionally refined when intentional crosses are made. It is intentionally crossed to produce non-flowering ornamantal trees which do not make the nut mess walnuts are so bad about.

The blank is going to look better when cut because the marbling is best exposed by board-sawing (which it is) but bland until the rounding exposes the lace...

Structurally it is more than adequate for virtually anything... it is regia... based on the one exposed face, but the flat growth rings tend to indicate very limited lateral run-out, the only other concern.

Pictures of the other face and both edges would be needed to begin to consider a grade. Safe to say it is better than a chunk of firewood.
art

Art:

I knew you could not stay away . . . .

But, I think the most pressing issue is: "Whatcha gonna Build"

I vote Mauser 9.3x62 with a 6x42 Leupold . . . .

BMT

$180 out the door on the blank. I think I will have a stock much nicer than I was going to be able to afford to begin with.

As far as the the rifle, it is a .280 on a Mauser 98 so no big kicker here.

You did very well indeed. The blank is worth considerably more than you paid.

Tom

Glad to see I did ok. Now I think I am going to change my plans and match this wood with a nice polished blue job.

Anyone need a Lilja 7mm 9T blank? As is from Lilja

Throw a little liquid on that bad boy and let's see some pics!

I'll get that done tonight and see what we have.

Here you go.

[img][IMG]http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d17/Sweet16Owner/stockandbarrel009.jpg[/img][/img]

That looks nice. The right side will look particularly good.

With nearly dead sraight grain and very thin annual rings it will be a dense and subtle thing; a very nice thing, actually.

The blank has no limits for any action, any cartridge, anywhere.

The edge of the blank shows quite a bit of fiddleback, which shows best on the quartersawn plane. It will have lots of stuff going on when cut.

What does it weigh and what are the dimensions so we can get a feel for how dense it is... Looks like a very dense piece. Typical French grown European walnut ran to the dense side of things.

For $180 you should have trouble sleeping nights...
art

The blank weighs 8.10 lbs
OAL is 36.5",butt end is 7", forend is 3" and thickness is 2.6-2.7.

I do have trouble sleeping........but it is because I can't wait to see what this hunk o wood turns out to be.

Now I wish I had the money to pick up the other chunk he had.

Beautiful blank you have!!

Wow!!!

Running some guess numbers at it puts the specific gravity way high! In the world of fancy rosewoods and such. Chances are I guessed quite a bit off on my approximations of size, but even at that my numbers are so high the blank has to be a dense sucker!

Dense is very good in walnut... The stockmaker can do anything with it... making it slim and sleek will leave plenty for strength.

The other thing which cannot be shown on the net is the depth really dense woods have. In good sunshine with a little liquid on top it should look like the light is coming from inside the wood. It is the intangible factor turning a subtle blank into one bringing MUCH more money and confusing those that have not seen the difference. It will only be seen in dense examples however.

While it probably will not hurt it, you should probably stop throwing water on it. Mineral spirits, paint thinner, etc will do the same but will not swell the wood.

The old-time gunmakers got to use blanks like yours and that is how they got away with sanding-in their oil finishes. The pores are so tiny the sanding slurry gets wiped off the top. It is an exceptional blank with incredible potential in a very elegant and subtle way.
art

In addition to the above comments, this blank has a nice reddish tint which is seldom seen in modern woods. Most of the Juglans regia that I have seen in the past few years has a honey or brown color, and one must use a stain to obtain the desirable red color. This blank will finish up superbly. Again, congratulations on a fine purchase.

While it probably will not hurt it, you should probably stop throwing water on it. Mineral spirits, paint thinner, etc will do the same but will not swell the wood.

Hopefully, isopropyl is ok. It seem to dry quite quick.

I took it over to my gunsmith and he mentioned the density as well.
He rated it at XX which suprised me , but again that is all subjective.

I am kinda torn between a dull oil finish or a shiny finish. I can make cases for both types.

I really think this is to nice of wood to use on an old deer rifle but it is mine and I am gonna use it.

Beauteous piece of wood. I still have a can of lighter fluid in the shop that I use to wet unfinished wood. It flashes off and dries fast and I've never had it stain or whisker. It does a great job of showing off the grain and color.

Good acquisition.

Yup, euro blanks cut are different than american blanks cut. typical american blanks are slab cut for max yield with some thought to layout, but not completely.
I've seen more and more blanks go from 2.5 a few years ago to 2.25 and now more and more blanks just a hair over 2". Think 2x4 and what those sizes were and now are-
nice blank, ya done good!

expect something like this
This what it looked like in blank form



this finished, showing same side

Probably should have asked, rather than assuming it was water...

I hate grading systems trying to make every blank fit a particular "rating" as it is entirely too subjective for that. The minute the depth comes into play in a blank reason and grade go completely out the window.

I have an incredible piece of Turkish with subtle black lines and a hint of fiddle. But when a little liquid hits it is like looking into a well.

Thinking we just had major action on the volcano as the house just shook BIG TIME!

Gotta go see what happened...
art rocking

Very nice!

dang it...got 'em backwards, LOL, wanted to show blank to finish

spot on about the finish- literally a couple of coats of oil and the pores are filled.
Theres little chance claro could survive the heavy recoil of a double gun with paper thin fingers as on an action with real sideplates, eh?

Shawingggggg!!!!!!!
I got wood over wood.

Someone here has a sig line that says "Life is to short to hunt with an ugly gun" I guess I won't have to worry about that anymore.

And it will look better when I can get the chekering done.

Well the wood is off to CWG to have him work his magic.

When he is done, I will get pic's up.

Thanks to all who helped me figure out what I bought.

Jeff

I just talked to Claude last week and he is thinking my stock might be ready this week.

Decided to go with flush mounts as I thought it would give the rifle a sleeker look and we decided on a 12.5" LOP

I feel like a kid with Christmas coming up. lol