doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Stock bending question

Is it “ easier” to bend for cast or drop on a straight grip stock?
Stock is perfectly laid out in the wrist ( lengthwise grain alignment).
Thank you in advance,
Best regards,
JBP

In my experience, cast is easier to bend.

No expert but I have been told it's harder to bend up or down.

Totally depends on whether it is slab sawn or quartersawn. Quartersawn bends better for drop. Slab bends better for cast.

It is easier to bend for cast than drop, but usually you need to modify drop a bit less. I just had this bent, got nearly a half inch of difference in drop. The only issue was one screw on the tang needed to be redrilled and the old hole filled.



[[img]https://ibb.co/Z1T5MHQk[/img]

[img]https://ibb.co/CpSGk4rT[/img]]

Bending for cast would often be easiest, simply because the thinnest dimension of the wrist is usually from side to side. Generally, thinner wood bends easier than thicker wood.

However, there is much more to consider that may factor in, and may explain why some stocks bend easily while others may spring back or even fail by cracking.

Woodworkers find that Black Walnut is (usually) the easiest walnut species to bend. Moisture content matters. Old dry wood does not bend as well as newer wood. Wood that has been damaged by de-oiling with harsh organic solvents is more brittle due to degradation of the lignin and cellulose structure.

The cut of the blank and the grain structure makes a difference, as does the presence of knots or inclusions.

That has not been my experience, I find English or thin shell bends easier.

bending stocks, rehardening frames and hot bluing barrels are bad things to do to doublegons.

Not at all surprising that Princess SKB Stevie would contradict me. But he/she is actually contradicting woodworkers with lots of actual experience, as well as lumber experts and botanists who understand that Black Walnut is typically easier to bend because the wood has longer fibers than other walnut species.

However, Princess Stevie has also shown us that he/she was totally unable to tell the difference between a blank of feather crotch black walnut, and a finished stock of thin shell walnut. Even when I specifically pointed out the glaring differences, Princess Stevie insisted they were both from the same piece of wood. So who really knows what species of walnut Princess Stevie has bent, or whether it was actually bent by an employee or sub-contractor???

Here's an old Thread that shows Princess Stevie has a lot to learn about walnut:

Total Stock Blank Transformation: How is it Done???

And another old Thread with Princess Stevie actually admitting being wrong about two distinctly different species of walnut that a blind man could tell apart:

https://doublegunshop.com/forums/ub...;Main=44830&Number=562916#Post562916

How many stocks have you bent Karen?

Continue on rolling in the mud all by yourself, you enjoy it.