What wood & finish is most awesome?

B

BumbleBug

New member
Okay, I'll admit that I'm an old guy & I love wooden stocks. I know in many ways synthetic is superior. But they are not too "glamorous" even if they have a Corvette paint job!

So what wood & finish makes the most beautiful rifles? Curly or birdseye maple - perhaps with an amber stain? Circassian Walnut with lots of crotch & feather? Mesquite? Pistachio? What finishes - oil, epoxy, TrueOil?

To each his own, but most shooters can't help but ogle over a beautiful wood stock!

Any opinions from wood purests?
 
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Yes, wood makes a beautiful stock but I prefer synthetic over wood any day. Right now I'm looking at replacing a nice wooden bel stock on a 700 from 1978.

All the guns with wooden stocks I own have needed bedding work. Synthetic stocks just shoot better.
 
I'm a moodworker. I'd go with figured Walnut. Having just made a chest of Maple, blotching is a nightmare. I finally got the dye job right, but it was really tough to do. Cherry would probably look nice. Mesquite could look nice.

Get yourself a fine grained Walnut with minimum pores.
 
I'm crazy for lovely walnut -- and, not particular re the finish -- like 'em all. It's the walnut !!

.02

David. :)
 
wood v plastic?

I'm with you; there is something classy about a wood gun stock.

I would use Feather Crotch Myrtle.

The finish depends on how you would like the stock to appear; hand rubbed, high gloss; semi-gloss, etc.

My personal favorite is Birchwood Casey stock finish and with a minimum of 10-applications and a good burlap rub and 0000 steel wool rubdown between applications.

Let dry 24-hours between applications.

Have fun~
 
I like nice wood as much as anyone. But I burn wood by the truck load every winter that looks every bit as good as what is on 95% of the wood stocked rifles and shotguns out there. I'll take a quality synthetic any day over average to ugly wood. If you want good wood on a gun expect the price tag to be 5 figures.
 
Walnut plus raw linseed oil is my choice.

I collect military surplus rifles. I'll take a dinged up wooden stock any day over a shiny plastic one. For me synthetic stocks are ugly but functional.
 
I have 7 long guns with wood stocks. They are of various woods and finishes ranging from new (last week) to over 69 years old. As I look at them together, I like the walnut stock with a satin finish the best.
 
Ernest T said:
Walnut plus raw linseed oil is my choice.

I collect military surplus rifles. I'll take a dinged up wooden stock any day over a shiny plastic one. For me synthetic stocks are ugly but functional.
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What he said.
 
Not five figures, 500 Jeffery with some custom work $2900 all in including scope and rings.

Synthetic for Alaska or anywhere else that wet, wood for everything else

 
I do stock work for a living. You can get a lot of really pretty wood if you look around. My favorites are English walnut, French walnut, Bastogne walnut, both really just different wood grain patterns in European walnut.

For strength and beauty, I prefer English walnut. It's lighter in color and very dense, with beautiful grain marbling (not much figure, typically).
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For just sheer awesome grain, stump wood or root wood gets really eye-popping.
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Good old black walnut can be pretty, especially if you get some feather crotch in it.
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Maple can be pretty, and you can stain it however you like to bring out the figure.
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For finish, I prefer an oil finish. I confess, I like wood, too, it just has so much more going for it. Every synthetic stock looks the same, but no two wood stocks are ever the same.
 
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Thanks to everyone for their comments & pictures!

Thanks chuckscap & Scorch for the great pictures! Now that's what I'm talking about, what beautiful rifles! I must admit, that is the most beautiful Savage 99 I've ever seen!

I heard that years ago Weatherby made some stocks out of mesquite. The legend has it that the wood was hard to find without worm holes & the wood was so hard that it dulled the router bit quickly so not cost effective. Would love to see one of those stocks some day!
 
You all are not going far enough back.

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I have a lot of wood stocks, walnut, birch, maple and some I'm not sure on but the Kentucky rifle shown above is the best I think. Synthetic is utilitarian to me and I have several.
 
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Walnut with a hand rubbed oil finish. Nothing looks better on a rifle or shotgun than a nicely figured walnut stock.... preferably without a gloss finish.
 
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