African Hardwood for Gunstocks

[skydiver386]

Recently purchased a .458 Lott from another member here and looking at ideas for a new stock. It's a Brno 602, so not all that difficult to find decent wood for it, or synthetic if I go that route.

In the latest issue of Safari Times there was an advertisement for exotic African hardwood and furniture. This set my mind in motion, which is not always a good thing, but made me wonder if any of these woods have been tried as Gunstock material?

The ad listed pink and black mahogany and several others that looked quite dense. After doing some Internet research and calling a few local exotic wood dealers, this is a list of possible candidates for a gunstock.

Acacia
African Walnut (Lovoa Trichilioides)
Utile
African Mahogany
Stinkwood
Kingwood
Ziricote
Imbuia
Bocote
Biore
Blackwood

Wangay and others were listed as possible candidates, but due to rough grain will not take checkering.

Several Internet searches turned up almost nothing in terms of anyone actually going through with such a project. From what little I've been able to gather, it falls into one of 3 potential problems. Strength to withstand heavy recoil, stability in various temperature and humidity environments, and the ability to take checkering. If it turned out that every attempt was met with failure, I could accept that, but so far, nobody has taken it past the idea stage. Nothing that I can find goes beyond the theoretical stage.

I'd like to hear from some of our residents of Africa to see if anyone has ever heard of African woods being used for such a project.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

Babinga?

 

[skydiver386]

This is the grain of African Utile, which looks similar to American Red Oak. Small elements of fiddleback and flame in the grain.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

This is the grain of African Utile, which looks similar to American Red Oak. Small elements of fiddleback and flame in the grain.View attachment 705300

Someone on here knows why these arwn't used. I am going to hazard a guess they are too brittle over time.

 

[skydiver386]

Babinga?

Yes, I failed to list it, but Bubinga is definitely a wood that has beautiful grain. The Heartwood is very straight grained, but the closer you get to the outside of the tree the more character the grain has.

 

[Nhoro]

There is another thread on here somewhere, I think it was a discussion on teak as a possibility- it is too heavy and mopane- high silica and a bit hard and splinters. I think there were some options listed.
Acacia splinters but has been used on old blackpowder rifles. I have heard of stinkwood being used on a low recoil rifle. I think that will be the case with most African woods. Most are very hard, tend to splinter and do not handle recoil well. Something like walnut has a bit of flex, toughness and just about perfect weight. Unfortunately most african woods are missing one of those qualities. Maybe some other African forum members have better info ?

 

[skydiver386]

African Bocote.

 

[Wheels]

You might contact Musgrave to ask what woods they use in their stocks.

I have seen mahogany used.

 

[skydiver386]

Just got a call back from a local wood dealer and we now have an answer for some of those listed.

CITES!

Kingwood, Blackwood and several others are restricted by the CITES Treaty.

 

[rookhawk]

Here's the problem with wood in general:

Burl and figure is structurally weak. Straight grain (ugly) is strong. That is why the obsession for the last 400 years has been Walnut. French Walnut, English Walnut, Spanish Walnut, Turkish Walnut, Bastogne, Claro, Black, etc.

And what about that figure? That comes from 1:1000 pieces of walnut where that ugly, straight grain becomes a stunning burl, marbling, or tiger stripe as the trunk becomes the root. A master gun stocker selects for that perfect straight grain at the head and the wrist, then enjoying the option of a burl where it has no structural necessity in the paddle of the stock.

The exotic woods are through-and-through wacky grain structures for the most part. That is not necessarily a good thing.

Then we go to the economics: the labor to shape a stock, inlet, and checker now runs between $4000-$6500 without wood.

Do you want to use an experimental hardwood, or do you want to spend $1000-$2000 on known-commodity walnut considering the intensive labor is the majority of the cost regardless of the wood selected?

 

[skydiver386]

Here's the problem with wood in general:

Burl and figure is structurally weak. Straight grain (ugly) is strong. That is why the obsession for the last 400 years has been Walnut. French Walnut, English Walnut, Spanish Walnut, Turkish Walnut, Bastogne, Claro, Black, etc.

And what about that figure? That comes from 1:1000 pieces of walnut where that ugly, straight grain becomes a stunning burl, marbling, or tiger stripe as the trunk becomes the root. A master gun stocker selects for that perfect straight grain at the head and the wrist, then enjoying the option of a burl where it has no structural necessity in the paddle of the stock.

The exotic woods are through-and-through wacky grain structures for the most part. That is not necessarily a good thing.

Then we go to the economics: the labor to shape a stock, inlet, and checker now runs between $4000-$6500 without wood.

Do you want to use an experimental hardwood, or do you want to spend $1000-$2000 on known-commodity walnut considering the intensive labor is the majority of the cost regardless of the wood selected?

Taking the safe bet makes sense from an economic standpoint, but as you stated, any wood is an unknown until you have the finished product in use for a period of time.

Also, the labor can vary widely in cost. A machine shaped and rough inlet stock can cost 1/20th of what a handmade stock would be.

The wisest route would be to find a relatively straight grained piece large enough for a blank, then send it to be rough shaped, inlet, sanded, beded and checkered by a company that mass produces gunstocks. Several Stock makers are willing to work with any blank you provide, with the agreement that once it leaves their shop, you're on your own.

Even with the cost of a blank, our cost may be less than $500.

Keep in mind, it's a BRNO, not a Westley Richards.

 

[FlyGuy]

Recently saw two rifles stocked with African hardwoods.
The first was Black Monkey Thorn. (Senegalia Burkei)
Second was Weeping Boer-Bean (Schotia Brachypetala)

Both were absolutely stunning!!!!!

 

[skydiver386]

Black Monkey Thorn.

 

[skydiver386]

Recently saw two rifles stocked with African hardwoods.
The first was Black Monkey Thorn. (Senegalia Burkei)
Second was Weeping Boer-Bean (Schotia Brachypetala)

Both were absolutely stunning!!!!!

The Weeping Boer Bean is very close to Walnut in most respects. Since it is a relatively small tree, the difficulty would be getting a piece large enough for a Rifle blank.

 

[skydiver386]

Two that one stock maker has informed me that he has used successfully are Matumi and Sapele.

This is straight grained African Sapele.

This is a beautiful piece of Matumi from the the website advertised in the Safari Times. Absolutely stunning grain, but as you can see in the picture, very prone to check cracks. Adds character in a tabletop, but not in a gunstock.

 

[DLSJR]

Colt Sauer was using Bubinga wood to stock their dangerous game rifles. I had a 458 Winchester in that rifle & stock. It was beautiful wood, dense. I shot loads that were, at that time, very hot and I managed to develop a small crack in the tang of the stock.

 

[CJNJ]

African Bocote.
View attachment 705302

I have Bocote custom grips on my Ruger GP-100, but that doesn't mean it could work as a gun stock.

 

[JvW]

The problem with many African woods is that they oxidize very quickly. They look pretty for a month or so after the stock is finished but quickly turn dull again and needs to be refinished frequently. Some are too dense (heavy) as well. Walnut remains king.

 

[Grandpa Moose]

Have worked with Gabon black wood it is very brittle sands well but any checkering would wear poorly

 

[skydiver386]

The more I research this subject, the more I believe it's entirely possible to create a fine gunstock from African Hardwood, but there are a lot of obstacles to overcome.

The first is that many of the best tree's are endangered, and therefore protected. That narrows my list from about 20 to 15 possible candidates.

The next big hurdle is finding a suitable blank. Most of the African hardwood available in the U.S. is meant for exotic furniture, and has knot's, wild shapes and irregular grain structures. The exact opposite of what we need in a gunstock. The other source is thin cut flooring, which is obviously to small for the intended purpose.

Next in the elimination process is anything oily that won't finish well. Also anything that can't be checkered or stippled.

Finding so little information on this subject motivates me to experiment on these woods and see the end result. I'm going to narrow things down to the top 5 and have stocks shaped and inlet for my barreled action. I'll bed the stocks and bring them to a shootable condition, but no finish or checkering. I'll test each stock to see if it can withstand the recoil of the CZ in the 458 Lott chambering, then sanding, checkering and oil finish. I have a very Plain Jane walnut blank to use as a reference that's been under my reloading bench for years, so it'll finally be put to good use.