Hunting Washington Forum
Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: highhunter on September 10, 2023, 06:39:51 PM
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Looking for advice because I can’t find it through google searches….my family’s property was sold and clear cut. I asked the builder for the front yard walnut and he cut and saved it for me. Right now it’s green, approximately 18” in diameter, 5’ long with perfectly straight grain. Does anyone know of any resources that I could contact about how I should slab, cure, process, etc to make a few gunstocks for myself and family members? It’s sentimental and was cut within the last week. Thank you for any leads. I can’t find any
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I would contact @NOCK NOCK he does a lot of woodworking and slab work. The last time I checked on getting a stock made the walnut was taking about a year to air cure.
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If I recall there was a place that advertised in Tacoma area that you could take your slab and they would put it in their oven to cure it. Not sure if that’s what you need but you could ask them all the details.goggle kiln dried wood in your area and see what comes up.
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Get some of that black stuff that you put on tree branches that you cut, and it is also used when you graft tree branches. Or use plain old tar. Paint on both ends of the wood, put 2 to 3 coats. Now find a dry cool area in which to store that chunk of wood, do not let it sit on the ground. Every so often check the ends and repost as necessary. Leave it in original shape that way if it starts to split/crack you could still use one side or the other. It takes about 4-5 years to dry out a chunk of wood that size. Good luck.
I do not remember what percentage to dry it down to. Hopefully someone here will know.
Smokeploe
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Stack the slabs with spacing between them and let air dry in a cool dry location until less then 20% moisture. After it reaches 20%. This will take a few years. Once below 20% it can be kiln dried until 8-12% moisture. Then it would be safe to work the wood.
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Thank you guys so much for the information. I will try contacting the resources given here and hopefully it’s as easy as sealing both ends and storing for years in a shop. It’s going to be a while but I’ll post the custom guns when they are finished!
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A lot of us that are wood turners , paint the end with plain old latex paint . Seals the ends just as good as anything else. Several coats works best. Slab it out do not leave it in the round.
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It might be tough to get stock blanks from 18 in diameter. I'm assuming that measurement included bark. So, after removing bark and sapwood, maybe 15 in. Then, cutting around the heart, would need to offset a couple inches for plainsawn. With a 3 in slab, the curvature might have the shortest flat of the slab around 4-5 in. For quartersawn, maybe 6 in x3 in. Then add (or subtract in this case) shrinkage during drying.
Can the older, wiser guys say if I'm on the wrong thought?
