Im curiouse what everyone thinks. If you were to have a custom wood rifle stock made, what wood would you want it to be made out of. Im thinking about building a custom mauser 98, and im thinking of some real nice english walnut with shiny blueing. It wouldnt be a gun you would beat the brush with. More of a project that will take a while. What wood are you in love with?

Of all the woods I've seen made into a rifle stock, I'd have to say mesquite.
But the right piece of walnut, with the grain straight where it needs to be and lots of color and figure is the classic choice. E

Don't know if it's a good wood for stocks or not,but Zebra wood would be really pretty.

A nice piece of walnut, hand rubbed satin finish is always my favorite.

Waterfall bubinga

Hard to beat that.

I have a couple of nice Walnut and Ebony ornamented riflestocks that I really like as well as one that is Walnut and Rosewood accented. But the stock that most folks OHHH and AHHH over in my safe is well figured Maple with Rosewood grip cap and forend tip.

Answer is: Whatever YOU like the best and makes YOU the happiest. Classic or flashy, I like them both.

A hand rubbed piece of English Walnut has always been my favorite.

Here is English on my son's 257 Roberts.

ddj

Here is some black Walnut with pewter and a red recoil pad, Ebony forend tip, my 416 Rigby and stockwork done by Karnis here at 24hrcf:









Here is the MAuser 220 Swift with MAple and Rosewood. Different, and kind of flashy, but for a flashy cartridge like the 220 Swift (and maybe soon to become a 220 Weatherby Rocket) I think it fits. I like it, anyway...





More Walnut, my 7mm MAshburn Super, in a true classic underdone elegance style. Buttplate and grip cap are checkered steel, no contrasting wood accents or add ons, just Walnut and Steel:

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/Owensrefurbed20gaplusmoreMauser7mm020.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/Custom7mmcheekpiece003.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/CustomMAuser7mm002.jpg[/img]
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Walnut and Rosewood again in a distinctively NON traditional style, kind of a Weatherby meets the thumbhole stock or Harry Lawson style riflestock. Again, not everyone's cup 'o tea but I like it and it is a great shooter with its Liljs 3 groove barrel in 223. A terrific stock and rifle for blasting rodents from a benchrest, its sole purpose for being :

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/Guncollectionasof08-07-2010063.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/Guncollectionasof08-07-2010064.jpg[/img]

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[img]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a7/safariman416/Guncollectionasof08-07-2010068.jpg[/img]

Yep, walnut is NEVER wrong. But ya know, we just put down $50k worth of mesquite wood flooring in our house last year. The stuff is gorgeous and highly figured with lots of contrasting grain.

I may just stock my next rifle project with a nice blank of mesquite.

I don't think I have ever seen a mesquite riflestock. Do you have an example or picture to show? Anyone here?

If you have the budget for it, a good piece of Turkish or French Walnut is very hard to beat for an exhibition grade rifle. Maybe even too nice to want to hunt with it.
On the outside of my budget, but probably the nicest I'll ever be able to afford is a XXX or Exhibition grade piece of English Walnut.
Someday soon I will build a rifle with a nice piece of English on it just so I can hunt with it a few times before my times afield are over.

Bob

If you look closely at the pretty stocks on my rifles posted above, you will see dings and marks from hunting use. I absolutely hunt my nice looking rifles.

No offense intended Safariman, but most guys I know get a little squirmish about hunting with rifles that have a piece of wood that starts at $1,000 or more before a cut is put to it....

BTW, you rifles are beautiful. I have a few like that I love to hunt with, but that is just me. I'm looking for a nice piece of English walnut for my next rifle now.

Bob

No offense taken at all. I have seen many rifles that were built as showpieces much like the show cars we see and 4 wheel drives with huge tires that never see any dirt. Such is just not a part of my physche, but that sure doesn't mean that it is wrong in any way.

I keep going back to what I read on here many years ago.....

To paraphrase-

"If you were married to a supermodel, you wouldn't just look at her would you."

I'm with safariman, gotta like a nice piece of tortoiseshell quilted maple. It is something you don't see every day. Here's one of my favorite blanks that's about to get cut.

Walnut or perhaps maple with a lot of lace. One needs deep pockets just to buy some of the finer planks. Last summer I found two boards that floated my boat. $700 each, so they are still there.

I have to admit here that I have never had the money, or perhpas been willing to SPEND themoney is more accurate, to build a rifle as nice as the ones I own. They are all someone elses build/investment with the exception of the Rigby and KArnis gave me a terrific deal on refinishing my CZ stock, which came out far nicer than anyone could have imagined. The others all came into my possesion for well under $1,000 each, total. That amount should not really have even bought the wood on any of these so I consider myself a very fortunate caretaker of these fine arms.

Tough to beat a decent piece of California English IMO.

There is a real nice piece of maple in the classifieds. My stainless 300saum will wear a fiddleback maple stock eventually.

It's my opinion that walnut should be used for a wooden rifle stock just as much as leather should be used for baseball gloves. Having said that, you guys should see the wood that some custom recurve/longbow makers use.

For that route, cocobolo and myrtle go together like peanut butter and jelly.

I think I would be a happy man to own ANY of the stunningly beautiful examples shown in this post. Make s me want one.....amagine that! Goodshot

EdM - Did Biesen build that rifle also?


ddj

I've had a long lived fetish for both claro walnut and burl maple.
I stocked a Mini Mark in .223 for a friend in burl that was nearly a twin for the butt on my A5.