somethingbenign
Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2017
- Messages
- 944
I recently brought down an ancient (~100 years) burr oak in my front yard. The thing predates the house and while still appearing to be healthy kept dropping large branches so we decided to be proactive. I now have literal tons of nice straight sections of the trunk and major branches in my yard. A buddy is going to help me mill the larger sections into slabs for future projects and it got me thinking what I could do with the wood. One of my thoughts was a gun stock or two. From my research it looks like oak isn't a popular choice but I can't seem to figure out why. It won't be as pretty as a walnut but should be plenty hard enough, I'm guessing there is something else I'm not thinking of. I'm also seeing a recommendation to let the wood air dry for several years so I'll have time to figure out the finer detail and snag the tools I'll be missing. Anyone make their own stocks from a felled tree? What pitfalls should be looking out for when making my cuts and storing the lumber? Recommendations on size I should make the rough cuts so I'll have plenty to work with after it seasons? I'm thinking a prairie dog rifle in a 17 or 22 hornet if that makes a difference.