My son picked out a fancy burl bank from my wood rack and wanted a custom stock for his Remington Auto. we altered a factory stock for a perfect fitting pattern for him. He shot the gun Sunday and we checked the POI again before I started making the fancy stock for him.
Today I started duplicating the stock on my duplicator. Burl blanks can get real tricky real fast and you never know what you will find as you work. Some turn into real nice blanks others end up almost useless. This one is of the later type. First it as just one or two open burls. No problems I figured that I could fill them. Then a hidden knot that almost went away as I worked. I figured it still might be OK.
Then about a 3/8" from my finished size I hit 20-30 open burls that are rotten.Call it cluster burl ... Just dust and nothing solid for several inches. Right on the face about two inches from the comb and goes back about half of the stock length. 5 1/2" long void that goes almost all the way to the other face side. Might make a nice lamp for his room but will ever be a stock.
Bad day on the duplicator so far and he gets to pick another blank. I think that I will hide all the English blanks. Why waste them on an auto? Might get him to pick a maple or myrtle wood blank. I cannot see them on any double so they seem right for a auto. this make me admire those fancy burl stocks even more. I wonder how many blanks they lost while working them down? I bet a good many.
