Project Information
This stock shows the dark ambrosia streaks and worm holes (soon to be filled with sawdust and superglue) of ambrosia maple, with two inner slices of American black walnut and a center slice of wild cherry. The colors that streak and swirl in the maple look like the coat of a wild animal and give the stock a natural camo effect. Every ambrosia maple stock I carve is very different from any other ambrosia stock because the colors and patterns of each board are unique. You never know what you're going to get when using Ambrosia maple. This stock has been sanded to 120 grit and I'll sand it using a couple of finer grades of sandpaper before I ship it to the customer. The next to last photo is my Mauser 96 with the same design in Wild cherry on the outside and one slice of black walnut in the middle. This thumbhole design was created back in the 60's or 70's. The butt of this stock doesn't drop like a regular factory stock and the top of the recoil pad is slightly higher than the center line of the barrel. That means the recoil comes straight back and the muzzle doesn't rise as much as the original stock would. The last photo is a closeup of the bench I used to take these photos. When it's not my gunstock model, it's my dressing bench at the foot of my bed. All the beautiful wood I saw that doesn't make into gunstocks turn out to be benches, tables, bookcases, etc.
The old gnarly maple that's behind the stock is past it's prime and will one day become either gunstocks or hardwood flooring for my farmhouse.
The old gnarly maple that's behind the stock is past it's prime and will one day become either gunstocks or hardwood flooring for my farmhouse.