Been driving by this place in Council Bluffs, IA for years looking at all the black walnut logs in their yard. I'd always heard they made paneling but out of curiosity I finally checked their website and saw that they sold gun stock blanks. I see that they have other Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri locations as well. Wondering if anyone had ever purchased anything from them?
Thanks
Kirk

http://midwestwalnut.com/dimensional-products/gunstock-dimensional-market/

I didn't see any pricing or individual blank selection of their website. I also noticed that they utilize kiln drying. That can be OK if done correctly, but I'd want to purchase any blanks far in advance to let them season for a few more years. In that event, they might not be very willing to permit any returns if you found any bad internal defects during the stock making process.

Walnut blanks are not scarce, but it gets tougher when you look for the combination of proper grain layout, fair pricing, and being dry enough to use it when you need it. The absolute best deals I've found are buying freshly cut slabs from trunks, crotches, and root sections, and then drying them and band sawing them into blanks myself. But you need a minimum of 6-8 years depending upon the thickness of the blank. I split the cost of hiring a band- sawmill last year to cut up a fairly large English Walnut tree my grandfather planted. I have a number of large slabs stacked and stickered and air drying in my garage now. I hope the wood will be ready to use for gun stocks about the time I retire.

Not up to date info., but back in the late 70s or early 80s I purchased a couple of blanks from Midwest Walnut in Council Bluffs by mail. They sent me two gorgeous two piece sets. Price was under $20 each. Times have changed. Here's one of them.

I’m 99.9123% sure Midwest walnut in CB Iowa provided all of the wood to SKB (at least the GU imported guns), the Miroku built Brownings and USRAC.

Daryl, beautiful piece of wood. What is the gun? What I can see looks really nice.
Kirk

Beautiful work.

Kirk, it is a Model 21 Winchester skeet 16 ga.

A 21 Daryl? Is it converted to pinfire?

Tell me, who among us isn't attacted to beautiful wood like that. Not always my first consideration for a shotgun, but I sure like it.
Karl

Bryndon, this gun was done long before my discovery of pinfires. I saw it at a small gun show north of Anchorage. I think the price was $1100. I could not resist, although not being a Model 21 fan. As I was walking away with the gun, the seller came after me. I cringed as I thought something was wrong. But, he said that I forgot the case, a fine leg-o-mutton from Winchester, originally fitted to the gun.

Engraver, Sam Welch, was an Alaska friend at that time, and he soon moved to Moab, Ut. I longed for a gun to be done by Sam and could not think of a better canvas for him to work on. His work, my Midwest wood, and the help of a stocker I cannot remember at the moment, turned the Skeet gun into a personal treasure. Too bad the Skeet guys do not have a game for 16 gauges. I love it.

Of course I'm only teasing a little! One of my "try to get it" guns of the moment is a 21 20ga a friend of mine has. A sweet little double trigger / extractor gun.

That piece of wood is perfect for a 21!

Calico Hardwoods supplied a bunch of walnut to Miroku to build their low wall rifles. Lots of Claro. SKB/Weatherby also used Calico in the 1980's as I was at the factory in Japan and saw tons of it waiting for machining.