Maple is a strong and durable wood, comparable in weight to Walnut and is generally light in color and is highly prized for gun-stocks due to its bright fiddleback and quilt figure.
English Walnut has, for centuries, been the choice of top gunmakers when it came to using the best wood available. In the excellent 1941 book The Modern Gunsmith, author and gunmaker James Howe makes his preference clearly known: “The wood par excellence is walnut, and there is no substitute.”
There are many different types of woods used for gunstocks. However, Walnut has proved itself the best for the job. There are four main types of walnut; Black(Juglans Nigra), English(Juglans regia), Claro(Juglans Hindsii), and Bastogne(Juglans x paradox).
If you want a lighter colored board go with Maple, and if you want a darker board go with Walnut. Maple is a slightly higher quality wood with many benefits. Still, despite that, it is a less expensive end product though Walnut offers its own advantages.
Iron nitrate is a favored stain for maple gunstocks. It imparts a traditional, durable, and beautifully rich color.
Staining maple can be difficult for both beginners and experts. The naturally tight grain pattern and density variation of the wood makes it more challenging for the stain to absorb evenly, leaving a blotchy result. However, by preparing the wood and taking your time, you can enjoy an even result.
While walnut is the favored gunstock wood, many other woods are used, including maple, myrtle, birch, and mesquite.
Both Maple and Hickory are among the denser hardwoods used in flooring, but Hickory is the clear winner here. According to the NWFA, Maple has a Janka hardness rating of 1450 while Hickory clocks in at 1820, making it the hardest of the domestic hardwoods.
That being said, maple is a slightly stronger hardwood product than oak. Maple is one of the strongest and most durable natural wood options available. It holds up well resisting significant dents or dings. We'll use the Janka scale of hardness as reference.
As you may have guessed by now, maple wood is strong! In fact, maple wood is second in hardness only to hickory wood. This makes it a natural choice for many, many different types of flooring. Maple is the second most popular choice for hardwood floors in the United States, just behind Oak.
Synthetic stocks are stronger than any wood stock. They're made of a solid, thick and dense material, which will provide you with stability when you're shooting. They are also easier to mold to your shoulder, which will put the shooter in a more comfortable position and lead to a better shot.
TTI Glock 34: Wick uses a Glock 34 pistol as his primary weapon in the first film.
Birch has been used as a source of gunstocks in Europe, and our native yellow birch has been used to supply machine gun butts and stocks for nonmilitary guns. Its use for this purpose has, however, been restricted by the freezing of this species for aircraft veneer.
Maple is a strong and durable wood, comparable in weight to Walnut and is generally light in color and is highly prized for gun-stocks due to its bright fiddleback and quilt figure.
Oak is not popular for gun stocks simply because, though it is hard enough…. and a strong wood, grain variability is very great…
Most blanks will average 2-1/4" to 2-1/2", although there are some that are thicker. If you are ordering a blank that is going to have a cheek piece or any kind of cast-off stock, this will require some of our thicker blanks.
Oak is generally slightly more expensive than Maple, the cost of the floored depends on the width and length of the floorboards, the grade of the lumber and several other factors.
What is the hardest wood in North America? Of locally available woods, Black Ironwood is typically the strongest type of wood you can find in America. It's found in Florida and has a 3,660 lbf (16,280 N) Janka rating. Other strong North American woods include species of hickory, maples, oaks, walnuts, and beeches.
The higher the rating, the harder the wood species is. Maple has an impressive hardness rating of roughly 1450, while walnut measures at a still respectable 1010.
Hickory wood will be more expensive than maple due to its increased structural integrity and resistance. So while maple is cheaper, hickory has a lower rate of shrinkage, which means it can withstand changes in humidity better than maple.
The hardest wood is Quebracho with a Janka hardiness rating of 4,570 foot pounds. In comparison, one of the hardest woods we have in North America is Osage orange with a rating of 2,620 foot pounds.
Most experts are of the opinion that the Australian Buloke, which is an ironwood tree, provides the hardest wood in the world, with a Janka hardness rating of 5,060 lbf. Others argue that Quebracho (which translates to 'ax-breaker' in Spanish) is the tree with the hardest wood in the world.
Alloy Steels
A popular example and perennial favorite in the U.S. is called SAE 4140 chrome-molybdenum or "chrome-moly" steel. In Europe, vanadium and nickel-steel alloys are preferred. Most standard barrels are made with alloy steels, as they offer an excellent balance of strength and cost.
Walnut is hard, dense, and resilient. It resists warping, suffers little shrinkage and isn't prone to splitting, which is important when working with something as lively as a shotgun. It's easy to work and takes fine chequering exceptionally well.
Good rifle stocks also should provide rock-solid support of the rifle's receiver and either have just enough support of the barrel to dampen its accuracy-depriving vibrations, or allow the barrel to vibrate freely and repeatedly.