I've been working for a couple of days carving another set of stocks for a ledger gun.

In these pics, I just have most of the rough background removed.

Wood is a nice Mahogany.

One reason I like this wood, is that I don't experience the lung and throat irritation that I do with walnut. All the while I carve walnut, I have a nasty acid taste in my mouth and stinging sensation in my throat. Woods are quite different, one to another.

I also like the weight of Mahogany.

Gary

More - added 1-15-09







The carving is progressing. A few more hours and I can sand. Then finish.

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/2009 02:37AM by barnespneumatic.

Looking good! That gun is getting lighter all the time.

Gary, I'm no doctor but if its hurtin' you to breath it in, you probably shouldn't BE breathing it in??
I know dust masks and the like can be a real ball ache(always makes my glasses steam up) but i seem to remember seeing some mighty cute grandsons of yours awhile back.
Make sure you are there to teach them to shoot too pal.

Just to be clear. Thanks for the concern.

I have a shop full of dust masks. I wear them much of the time. Funny, nearly everything I order comes with a ream of paper warnings admonishing you not to use the product. Can't work in a bubble though.

I intended to say that the mahogany is NOT toxic to me. That's one of the reasons I enjoy using it. The walnut is unpleasant WHILE WEARING the dusts mask, etc.

Don't worry, nobody is gonna let me kick off while I have all this work to finish.

Gary

Good to hear it guy Far too many shooters and not enough gifted gunsmiths. We can't afford to lose you

gary , your at it again , nice stick , or at least it will be ,,,, no ,, infact it is now , and it will only get nicer.

Gary,

Looks nice. I can't wait to see the completed project.

BTW - What is the cut out on the butt for?

Keith

Butt reservoir design. The fill nipple appears in that window when assembled.

Gary

Gary,

is that the natural color of mahogany?

Cool orangy color. Does it mellow darker? or is that part of the finishing process?

That's the color Dan.

It "oxidizes" over time, becomes a rich .... "mahogany" color. The finish just keeps looking better and better ... 100% of people viewing it in person go on and on about it. And, everybody declares is looks much better in person. So; that means it must REALLY look like crap on the net ... ... or it just really looks spectatular in person.

I really like it.

Gary

Is there a difference working with the Mahogany versus walnut? (assuming similar chunks of wood....)

Cant wait to see it fully carved out!

Actually, there are many varieties of wood that are toxic to some extent. I recently checked out a woodworking book in our local library that had an extensive list of wood characteristics; it had tables listing origin, grain, density, compressive strength, resistance to decay, etc. What really surprised me is that virtually all exotics and many of the more common hardwoods are known to be irritants or toxic, some even implicated in various cancers and autoimmune diseases. One even had a warning for something like "causes excessive swelling of the scrotum"...yikes!

Everyone that's worked with red or yellow cedar knows that it's resinous oil can be too much of a good thing while you're working or finishing it, but it also turns out that the dust and sap from several other relatively common softwoods are also a health hazard. It's not surprising when you think about it, plants often have some of the most sophisticated chemical defenses in the natural world, and they've had millions of years to develop them. It's a fairly well known gardening fact that you can't plant much underneath a walnut tree, stuff just doesn't grow well even if it's supposed to do well in the shade. Turns out that walnuts and several other types of trees actually poison other plants that try to sprout beneath them through their root systems. Things out in the forest might look peaceful and serene to you and me, but it's a jungle out there. : )

Yes. I testify to that.

Personally, I dislike to work with walnut. Which is a supreme disappointment to everybody I've ever met. Because ... as everybody knows ... on the eight day, God created the Walnut gun stock. Anything else is covered by the eleventh commandment ... "Thou shalt not make a gun stock from anything BUT walnut". Unless it's English Walnut, or French Walnut, or Turkish Walnut, or .....

The dust tastes very acidy to me. Chokes me up even thru dust masks. Bothers my sinus for days. In hot weather, the dust mixes with presp. and dyes my skin. So - I guess it's toxic to my systems. I use it, I just don't like to work with it.

Let's see, I have some new update pics ....

Gary

That's some pretty deep relief carving. Gary, I imagine you have an allergy to walnut, just like I have an allergy to nickel... and to anything with nickel in it. Learned that this green stuff I used to get all over my eyeglass frames was due to that allergy. Switched to titanium, and I haven't had any "green stuff" since. Also, I used to work with composites and related materials, and learned that people can develop allergies to the materials... to the resins and glass fibers used, through frequent exposure. Sometimes, I'd itch, and break out in a rash. Besides, though I consider myself an oak man, I do like mahogany. Though I also like walnuts in my cookies.

By the way, I'm curious how often you get orders with such elaborate carving requests. Not to mention the metalwork engraving I've seen on your work...

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Hi Roose,

Frequently.

What I hear repeatedly, is that people have only experienced that sort of work from old Europe, and for $50k up. While I have a reputation of making "expensive" guns, the relative expense is minimal.

Gary

Trees get rid of their toxins by either putting it in their leaves or their old wood. Trees that make good fence post and outdoor lumber, cedars, walnuts, black locust, teak, osage orange. Yes, black walnuts make good fence post.

I like the smell of red oak but it wouldn't make a good gun stock with it's porous wood.

That's why a lot of tropical plants you have in the house are poisonous. They hold their leaves a long time, which has a build up up of the toxins.

Like Roto was saying. Walnuts put out some of the toxins through their roots. If you ever been driven by a white pine plantation and seen a an area with no pines. It's a good chance theirs a walnut in there. Dory