# Turkish Walnut & Winchester 94 Stock Job



## HomeBody (Aug 1, 2013)

In another thread, the guy from Turkey was selling wood and Kevin asked about a Turkish walnut rifle blank. Well Kevin, I'm gonna kill you with this one.

I've wanted an English walnut blank to make a stock for a long time. Never wanted to pay the big money for one though. Figured it would be Calif. English, never dreamed I'd find an affordable blank of real Circassian walnut. A friend that's a stockmaker told me to watch ebay seller "Aram" as he was selling Turkish blanks out of Las Vegas for a good price. He represents Hovak Gunstock Co. from Turkey.

First I picked up two 2-piece shotgun blanks for $125 ea., which I thought was a good deal. I spotted this rifle blank one day that opened at $58. It had one bid. I waited a week until 5 seconds left and bid $200. The auction closed and no one else bid. NO ONE! I got this blank for $59, $93 total with shipping. This blank is slab sawn and should show marbling when it's turned. In English walnut, quarter sawn gives you stripes, slab sawn gives you marbling.

Since I won that auction, Hovak now sells their blanks "Buy it Now" only.

In the next few weeks, it gets turned into a M-70 Winchester blank which I will stock my trusty 30-06 with. I'm turning her into a gun safe queen. Gary

Reactions: Like 2 | EyeCandy! 1


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## rdnkmedic (Aug 1, 2013)

What a lucky guy. Sweet deal.


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## Mike1950 (Aug 1, 2013)

Nice chunk of wood and very nice 70!!


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## Graybeard (Aug 1, 2013)

You did good.

Graybeard


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## LSCG (Aug 1, 2013)

great score!! is that a pre 64 model 70?


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## HomeBody (Aug 2, 2013)

LSCG said:


> great score!! is that a pre 64 model 70?



Yes, it was made in 1951. I bought it from the original owner a few years ago. He's a 94 year old WW2 vet and was the Illinois big bore rifle champ 2 years in a row back in the 60's. He's still around and has a ton of rifles. I've thought about going back for more but I have about enough rifles already. He's got a Sako Vixen in .222 that I'd love to own. Gary

Reactions: Like 1


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## Kevin (Aug 3, 2013)

Great find Gary. And I mean GREAT. I was quoted a deep discount for the one I was after and I appreciated it, but it still would have taken three welfare checks to get it. Can't wait to see your finished project.


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## HomeBody (Aug 6, 2013)

I'll post pics as the project progresses. I found a guy with a duplicator that lives less than an hour from me. He's done it for 40 yrs and I've stocked for 30 yrs and we had never met or even heard of each other. I made an appointment to go over several months ago but the day I was to go over he had a heart attack! He had open heart and is now back at it and called me last week. I'll take the blank over in a week or two to get turned I hope. Gary

Reactions: Like 1


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## HomeBody (Oct 26, 2013)

Oops! I found the edit button rip. Gary

Reactions: Like 1


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## HomeBody (Oct 26, 2013)

Kevin said:


> Great find Gary. And I mean GREAT. I was quoted a deep discount for the one I was after and I appreciated it, but it still would have taken three welfare checks to get it. Can't wait to see your finished project.



Still figuring out the new forum posting. No editing of my posts?

The guy with the duplicator finally got ahold of me and I took over the Turkish walnut blank for him to turn. Also took a black walnut blank and 2 forends for another project. Couldn't decide on which forend so will have him turn both. I bought a M-94 30-30 carbine. I'm going to convert it to a rifle. Here's a pic of the 1938 .30-30.


 
Sent it off to get a 26" octagon .38-55 barrel and full length magazine with all forend hardware. I'll restock it with local black walnut I milled myself. Very satisfying to use wood that grew 3mi from here and take it from tree to gunstock, with the time saving help of Sid with the duplicator.

Hopefully, they will both turn okay and I'll have pics of a couple of semi finished stocks in a couple of months. Gary

Reactions: Like 5


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## ripjack13 (Oct 26, 2013)

Nice....

Can you edit your posts now?


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## HomeBody (Oct 27, 2013)

Found it. Thanks. Gary

Reactions: Like 1


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## HomeBody (Mar 23, 2014)

I finally got my wood back. The M70 stock turned out great. One of the M94 forends was milled a little wide in the barrel channel. Time will tell how good he did on the duplicator. I plan on doing the M94 first so the M70 Turkish stock will have to wait for a while. Gary

Reactions: Like 3 | EyeCandy! 3


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## HomeBody (Mar 23, 2014)

Here's the M94 wood. Just slipped it on as far as it would go for a pic. The forend went right on...too much wood removed. You can see my new octagon barrel...barely. Custom barrel might be a bit small dia. than factory. I had him turn two forends. The one that came from the same wood as the butt is pretty plain so I had him do another in fancier wood. I'll fit both and see which one I want to use. I should be starting on stocking this one pretty quick. Gary

Reactions: Like 2 | EyeCandy! 5


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## SENC (Mar 23, 2014)

Those are going to be awesome!

Reactions: Agree 3


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## HomeBody (Apr 9, 2014)

I got the forend fit and started putting truoil on. Here's what it looks like with 2 coats. Good dense crotch wood with small grain so it shouldn't take too many coats.
I fit the butt up to the receiver but still have a little more to go to get it snug. Then I can drill the hole for the stock screw through the tang. I've never fit a steel crescent butt plate so that should be interesting. More to come...
Gary

Reactions: EyeCandy! 4 | Way Cool 4


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## HomeBody (Apr 18, 2014)

I just finished the crescent butt plate. What a PITA. No where to hold onto it so inletting black everywhere. Had to wear a rubber glove. Messiest piece I've ever inletted. Inletting black is just lamp black mixed with oil. You coat the metal piece, lay it down and tap it. Then use a chisel or dremel to remove just the black marks. Repeat over and over. This is how guns have been inletted for 500 yrs. Seems like they would have come up with a better way by now.

Reactions: Like 2


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## HomeBody (Apr 18, 2014)

Now I'm getting black everywhere. Next, coat the metal with wax, then coat the wood with brown bedding epoxy. Screw down the plate and let it dry. When you remove it, you have a perfect fit with no gaps. Sand it down the wood and epoxy flush with the plate...without touching the finished plate. The epoxy will take stain and finish and will be barely noticeable. 
Next I will fit the butt to the receiver the rest of the way and drill the tang hole. Slow progress. Gary


 

Close enough...now epoxy.

Reactions: Like 4 | Way Cool 3


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## Mike1950 (Apr 18, 2014)

Looking good.


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## HomeBody (Apr 22, 2014)

I drilled the stock for the tang screw. Tricky hole to drill but the drill press and a little rigging made it easy. Now I can start the final sanding and then stain and truoil. Yes, I stain walnut! I stain them to make them period correct as Winchester stained most all their stocks. Special translucent stain made from alkanet root and iodine. It will make plain walnut warm and beautiful and it will make highly figured walnut stunning. Gary

Reactions: Like 4


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## Blueglass (Apr 22, 2014)

I guess it might depend on wood color but my dad used red chalkline chalk mixed with oil on a maple stock I saw him do... still messy.


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## barry richardson (Apr 22, 2014)

This is a neat thread Gary, I'm enjoying seeing your stocks take form...


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## HomeBody (Apr 25, 2014)

Butt is fit and epoxy bedded. Final sanding, stain, and a coat of truoil just to see what it looks like on the gun. Now to get the wood finished. If you look at the pic I posted earlier in the thread at the butt with water on it, you will see the difference the stain makes in the end. While alkanet root and iodine are not available anymore, you can get a very close substitute from Laurel Mtn. Forge in Indiana. They have 4 or 5 flavors of stain, and I use the "maple". It doesn't have much to do with maple but that's what it's called. $20 delivered. Once the wood is finished I'll carve it next. The receiver will be the biggie and it will be last. Completely strip, remove barrel, draw file the pits out, polish, then maybe some engraving. This project will last me all summer. Gary

Reactions: EyeCandy! 4 | Way Cool 2


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## Mike1950 (Apr 25, 2014)

Beautiful work Gary.


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## manbuckwal (Apr 25, 2014)

Very nice ! Great project !


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## ironman123 (Apr 25, 2014)

Beauty. Work of a craftsman.

Ray


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## NYWoodturner (Apr 25, 2014)

Gary - Amazing work. The inletting process I found very interesting. 
Question: how did you patina and finish that butt plate? Thats beautiful.


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## HomeBody (Apr 26, 2014)

ironman123 said:


> Beauty. Work of a craftsman.
> 
> Ray


Thanks Ray, but I think this wood is the star of this thread, not me! What you are all drooling over is not so much the wood but the stain. The stain is magic on walnut and it gives it fire. Anyone that makes items from walnut should try this stuff. It's amazing. Gary


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## HomeBody (Apr 26, 2014)

NYWoodturner said:


> Gary - Amazing work. The inletting process I found very interesting.
> Question: how did you patina and finish that butt plate? Thats beautiful.



The butt plate is case hardened. A very old process of hardening metal that leaves the mottled blue brown and grey colors. It was nearly a lost art for quite some time, but now they figured out how to do it better than ever. The colors are part of a hard, thin skin put on the part by heating in a crucible packed with organic material...bone charcoal usually. The part is heated then quenched a certain way and some of the organic material somehow makes the mottled appearance. It's a mystery to me. I've never seen it done but have had lots of parts done that way in the past. The hard skin lasts forever but the colors will fade with wear and use. I put a coat of clear gloss Krylon on this one to protect it a little. Gary

Reactions: Informative 1


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## RayBell (Apr 27, 2014)

Beautiful work. The diversity on WB amazes me.


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## brown down (Sep 30, 2014)

insane work.. that forearm piece has a lot going on! love older firearms, made way better than the newer ones imo

Reactions: Agree 1


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## DavidDobbs (Sep 30, 2014)

Very nice work Gary.


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## HomeBody (Oct 5, 2014)

Here's the latest on my Model 94. I took it out to test fire it after stocking and it didn't feed right. I had it converted from 30-30 to 38-55 and the CTG guides needed tweeked. Sent it back and had that done, also had him anneal the lever and hammer. They were case hardened from the factory. Even though the colors were long gone, the thin skin of high carbon steel was still there. Annealing removes it. I can now engrave them and then send them back for more case hardening and colors. 

Tweeking the CTG guides, annealing parts, disassemble rifle including barrel...$120.

The next step is polishing everything. The 1938 mfg. receiver is pitted but not terrible. I'll still have to use a file on it and will post pics of the filing/polishing process. This will be a good winter project...and probably beyond. I've got a warm basement with lots of light and like working down there in the winter. I can stay at home and not leave for a couple of weeks at a time. Gary

Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 1


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## ripjack13 (Oct 5, 2014)

Wow....that is surely going to be a time consuming project. I'm looking forward to seeing the filing process...

What's the receiver made from? is it possible to add metal (no idea) by brazing it and then filing it?


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## LSCG (Oct 5, 2014)

I can't wait to see this finished!


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## HomeBody (Oct 6, 2014)

The receiver is good quality steel. Made in '38, you can bet this is made from steel that came from iron ore, not the recycled garbage steel that we have today. No, you can't braze and fill pits on a gun. I've never heard of it anyway. They have to be filed out, all the way to the bottom. Brazing the receiver would take the temper out of it and make it too soft.
Yep, time consuming. I've done dozens of them so it isn't really that hard, just takes time. Most people freak out when they see you put a file on a gun. Flat bastard file first, then second cut, then a smooth cut mill file. It's all in the wrist! Gary

Reactions: Like 1


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## HomeBody (Oct 7, 2014)

Here's one I started a while back. This is a M12 Winchester Trap gun made in 1916. The recoil lug is worn out and it will never shoot again. Thousands of heavy trap loads did it in. Just a practice piece now. After the pits are filed out you remove the file marks with a finer file, then switch to grey paper wrapped around the file. I took this one to 600. Gary

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | EyeCandy! 1 | Way Cool 2


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## ripjack13 (Oct 7, 2014)

God morning! That looks amazing! I would love to see the process of blueing. Do you use paste or liquid? I tried the liquid on my ithaca but it seemed to just turn to rust...idk what I did wrong....

Great pics of the process though!


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## HomeBody (Oct 8, 2014)

No bluing on this piece yet. Just the old blue you see that I didn't bother to remove and the bare metal side I polished. I don't do bluing. Way too messy and a really hot job. I send them out to the pros. Hot dip bluing is quick and makes a shiny black finish. Rust bluing takes forever and gives it a more soft bluish finish. Hot blue = cheap. Rust blue = VERY expensive. Gary

Reactions: Like 1


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## ripjack13 (Oct 8, 2014)

Anyone particular you use for the blue?


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## woodtickgreg (Oct 8, 2014)

Don't know how I missed this thread but I am sure glad I found it, Great work and very interesting.


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## GeauxGameCalls (Oct 8, 2014)

Subscribed!


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## HomeBody (Oct 9, 2014)

I usually send my stuff to Simmons in Olathe KS for blue. They've been in business since the early 50's and know their stuff. They specialize in Winchesters and putting vent ribs on shotguns. Gary

Reactions: Like 1


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