Gimme a break. Have you read the rest of the posts?!"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder " maybe the guy picked a real beauty ? Some people think the curl and streaks are weak wood .
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Gimme a break. Have you read the rest of the posts?!"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder " maybe the guy picked a real beauty ? Some people think the curl and streaks are weak wood .
Sorry to see and hear this John. It's been my experience over the years that some manufactures will stain there walnut stocks to make them all look similar so that they match the pics on there websites.After seeing a post by another member of his fancy looking HW95N, I thought....gotta get me one. So, I ordered one and asked them to pick me out a really nice one that I could show on the forum. They said they would pick me out something special. Here's what I received.
At first I thought....must be a mistake and they sent a Beech Luxus. I'm still not sure if it isn't one. What I am sure of is for $663.00 ....it's definitely NOT worth the extra money. It's going back immediately. What a joke!! Do yourself a favor and pass on this overpriced POS!
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ScottSorry to see and hear this John. It's been my experience over the years that some manufactures will stain there walnut stocks to make them all look similar so that they match the pics on there websites.
The Huben K1 I just purchased has the same scenario. Brown stain over walnut. I've stripped it down revealing some nice grain. I'll refinish with Maccari RLO and be happy.
Yours may have an oil, top finish, but it sure looks stained to my eye.
Good luck and hope AOA will do you better.
Walnut is often stained to even the color out because people complain if it is not all the same color. Walnut sapwood is naturally white like maple (or beech). I wish furniture makers and gunstock makers would not stain wood to negate it's natural colors but at least in part they are doing what other customers want.The stock in post 5 is attractive but the unusual coloring may be spalting. Or it could just be unusual wood. Spalting is decayed and weakened wood. In the buttstock it is probably not a problem but in the handgrip and forward weakened wood is not at all desirable. I hope that is not what it is. If it is the same hardness as the plain areas then it is not spalted. Figure in general is desired in the buttstock. In a powder burner you do not want figure supporting the action because it is not as stable.
Walnut is often steamed during drying to try and darken the sap wood. Steaming makes walnut a dull grey color and eliminates any natural purple highlights. Walnut is often stained to even the color out because people complain if it is not all the same color. Walnut sapwood is naturally white like maple (or beech). I wish furniture makers and gunstock makers would not stain wood to negate it's natural colors but at least in part they are doing what other customers want.
It is possible the salesperson at AoA did not know what the customer wanted. It would probably have been a good idea to text him (or her) a picture. But they may have all been straight grained relatively unattractive walnut.
The most interesting wood comes from crotch areas and the stump of the tree. Sawyers will often not cut up the stump because of potential damage to their blades from embeded rocks. I saved some wood from the stump of a large oak tree that fell over in my yard and made this stock for my Prod from it. I do not have big enough pieces for a stock for my other guns. Some of this wood is spalted. None of it is stained. It is all from the same tree.
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All Walnut blanks are not going to be equal. This is production not custom one offs, you will only get what they were supplied, some will look much better than others, same with custom stocks. I have yet to win the wood lottery, even with my custom stocks, maybe next time.Basically received different wood, but not any better figure upgrade. I would feel a bit let down also.
Not sure if the distributors is at fault except the part about picking one out. This could have something to do with the way HW purchases their grade of wood... Guess that will be answered as more samples are posted. I have seen a few nice HW100's though.
I say the above because a lot of old tommy and walnut patriots had very-very bland stocks on average. The .25 tommy that was posted does have some figure which helped in that final turnout (nice) . Grades were surely not as nice as say AA or Daystate samples on average. maybe they pay more......