doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT - spalted myrtle

Good morning all -

I have a customer that will be providing a spalted
myrtle blank for a custom rifle stock. From the
pictures it doesn't seem to have any serious flaws.

I've never worked with this variety, anybody
have any experience with it - pro's/con's,
precautions?

Thanks in advance.

Dan

Dan, as you well know anything spalted is from a fungus and usually has a soft spot somewhere, maybe deep inside. What type of guarantee do you give on something like this?

JDW -

The customer bought the blank at an auction and wants me to
use it for a custom mannlicher style rifle. I can see the
punky wood in a photo he provided but have no idea how far
down it goes. I have heard that some of these blanks are
stabilized with a penetrating resin of some sort and the
"rotten" portion is used as well.

To be honest, I'm feeling a little anxious about putting
any time into this blank. Any experience with the "unspalted"
myrtle?

Try this link:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=90989542

Dan, I have never worked with Myrtle. I have used some spalted maple but nothing in gunstocks, only furniture.
If that is the blank and if you get it, I would ckeck by light probing to see if there are any soft spots.
The spalting seems to be at the ckeek piece. I hope it is not for a heavy caliber.
Good luck and keep us posted.
David

Thanks, David. I will. The grain flow is pretty lousy for a pistol grip as well.

I would rough turn the blank in a duplicator and see how strong the wood fibers are then. If they are easily dented by your thumb nail the wood would be improved by stabilization. But that is costly and can add a ton of weight to the stock. Minor areas can be treated with a very thin super glue too make it stronger. Large areas must be stabilized by acrylic resins under high pressure.

I have turned a hundreds stabilized wood pen blanks on a lathe. It gets into a "plastic wood combo" that can get very strong but also brittle at the same time. If you have to have the blank stabilized you pay by the pound for the finished product. Water will no longer be absorbed by the stock. All the air space is filled with resins. Porous woods can almost double in weight when treated. Try that on a long rifle stock and you could add three or four extra pounds to the project.

Check with Randy McCune (RMC) on this BBS. His brother, Glen, does butt extensions with spalted wood. See the thread from a few days ago for some discussion and pics.

For stabilization of the punky areas, talk with Abatron in Chicago. They manufacture a product called Liquid Wood that is very versatile and may be suitable for your project. I have used it a lot on old house and furniture restoration projects. Any resin stabilization will affect the wood's abilty to take color and finish consistently, but if your customer likes a clear finish with no stain, Abatron has various epoxy varnishes that are fully compatible with Liquid Wood. That would allow you to use the Liquid Wood only on the punky areas, and still get a consistent finish on the final product without adding a lot of weight to the stock. And, it will be waterproof.

I have built several stocks of Myrtle woood, as I live close to where it is grown. Even not spalted, myrtle has a tendency to have soft spots. One in particular, was built for a 700 7/mm. Because of the soft spots, the stock eventually broke, even though it was glass bedded.

I would let some other stock maker do the job, as I personally would not risk losing the time.

What caliber rifle is the stock for?