Question English Oak Stock?

[theobencarbine88]

Just wandered if oak has ever been used for a rifle stock. I know it would be heavy, hard to work with e.t.c ... But it would be one solid stock lol I thinking about possibly having a go at making a stock at sum point.. shud be able to get any of the following wood: oak, beech, hazel, horse chestnut, sycamore.

obviuosly beech is a good wood to use but what about any of the others? cheers - Rob

[azzbat2387]

i belive oak corrodes steel unlss you coat it to prevent contact im sure ive read that some where although if im wrong im sure someone will correct me shortly
aaron

[Brownj6709]

That's right mate, it ruins the blueing unless you seal it, you can easily do that with yacht varnish (I'm currently making a thin frame stock for a ratty out of oak (well I'm gonna start it at some point soon hopefully)

[Scaramanga]

A tough wood commonly used for tool handles is ASH.

[DougR]

Just wandered if oak has ever been used for a rifle stock. I know it would be heavy, hard to work with e.t.c ... But it would be one solid stock lol I thinking about possibly having a go at making a stock at sum point.. shud be able to get any of the following wood: oak, beech, hazel, horse chestnut, sycamore.

obviuosly beech is a good wood to use but what about any of the others? cheers - Rob

Oak - a no-no :- loves iron so much it eats it.
Hazel - never seen a bit big enough.
Horse Chestnut - firewood.
Sycamore - cracking stuff - but the ripple (fiddleback) version requires some specialist techniques to avoid tear-out..

N.B. in the USA, "Sycamore" is the tree we call "Plane" - and that's another timber well worth considering - the quarter figure is stunning.

Drop into a BIG timberyard and have a word with the folks - huge range of possible timbers.
http://www.john-boddy-timber.ltd.uk/species_az.htm