doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Question about stock finish

I'd have to agree with both David and Mike on this. I've had both experiences. The softer sanding side grain will bellie a bit with sanding. Only a hard back will work well with fiddleback to minimize it.

I've also had the stock be flat upon finishing, only to have it show wavyness years later.

Thanks guys for sharing your experiences. I've never owned a gun with this kind of figure and didn't really know if what I was seeing was normal or not. Seems like the consensus is that it is. Thank you for sharing your expertise with me.

Here are some more pictures of the gun.

I have seen this figure result in ripples on some very high end guns from Piotti. I work in curly sugar maple building American Longrifles as a hobby. It is very difficult to achieve a flat finish on great curl by sanding because a carefully as you try the sandpaper sort of grabs the soft portion even with a hard stiff backer. On curly maple using a steel scraper diagonally across the curls works much better but even then! Fortunately in longrifles the antiques have the ripple and it is considered authentic. In the curly woods a change in humidity/moisture content can change a perfectly flat finish to the ripple. Traditionally European makers seem to have avoided highly figured wood, probably because it was harder to work the curls.

Oh David, you poor man. How can you look at a gun like that with all that figure in the wood. The waves will never go away unless you accept my help and send it to me. If I can make the waves go away, I will return it, post haste! Just don't wait by the mailbox though waiting for the return, you will be there a very long time.

The very reason your gunstock is fiddleback is because it is comprized of hard and even harder timber, the tree has been compressed with age due to its own wieght,yes you could have a glass like flat finish, but this wood take alott longer and therefore cost a lot more,and proberly only stay that way in the temperiture and humidity it was created, I have been doing gun stocks for forty years and from your pictures I would say you have a gun to be proud of so look arfter it,regards JDT gunsmith

Hi All:

I think that Chuck H. is correct on this question! In the past,I too have had wood with a lot of tigre stripe turn out to be wavy. I learned that it was caused by NOT using sandpaper tht had a very hard backing when used.

The sandpaper must not be permitted to "drop" down into the softer wood and remove more of it than the wood that is harder! This takes a lot more time and skill than just sanding until the wood is smooth. While I like tigre striped wood, I find it to be more time consuming to finish!

Stay well,

Franchi

Unless you are sanding in intricate places, it should always be backed-up by either a block or the sponge type sandpaper and since a stock has many different curves, doing so by just using the sandpaper is hard and especially with across the grain figure.

On furniture, especially tables, sandpaper is not the way to go near the end, the only way to get a great finish to to use scrapers like stated earlier, but they must be burnished correctly.

Absolutely right! A block is required to avoid this problem. A flat surface can, and should be achieved.