Guns International #: 100988481

Category - Stocks - Shotgun

Category
Stocks - Shotgun

The highest of High Exhibition Grade English Walnut 2piece shotgun /rifle blank from California Hardwood Company

Description:
First off, I warranty this wood for 1 year and 10 days after I recieve your payment for it. The 10 days accounts for more than enough time for you to recieve this wood, hold it in your hands, The warranty will be stated very clearly in the bill of sale that I will both text you , email you, and send to you with the wood. The Bill of Sale will be notorized. Note that I am an individual, not a company, and this is wood I bought from Calico, and have stored it in climate controlled / humidity controlled conditions and that it has dried a total of 12 years, 3-4 from Calico, the rest by me. 

The significance of this wood coming from California Hardwood Company located in Santa Rosa, CA, is they don't fool around with low quality wood. They don't do anything half-ass. Their wood is the best grades of English Walnut you will find, and it comes as no suprise since 98% of all English Walnut trees in the USA are grown in California. Calico has direct access to the best trees on the planet, and that's a true statement. For years they have been stock suppliers to Weatherby with standard grade and fancy grade one piece gunstocks, and to several other manufacturers as well. However, when you visit their facility, they are intelligent and heart-warming people who love what they do and love their product and they are very proud of it, and rightly so. They are the best and they know it. And they are the only source I use or will use for my gunstock blanks because I have had trouble with other wood suppliers. Gunstock blanks from California Hardwood Company will not loose their figure when the blank gets turned into a gunstock. I had two other rifles made with their exhibition grade blanks and they both turned out Fablous! When you respond to this ad , I want you to ask me to send you photos of guns where I have used wood blanks from California Hardwood Company and you will be AMAZED at how well these blanks turn out. I had a $7,000 Shiloh Sharps Rifle made with mid-exhibition grade English Walnut, same grade as this gunstock, and an 1885 Winchester Highwall made with Exhibition Grade Marble-caked English Walnut. Both guns look FABULOUS! Ask to see the photos, and when I send you this wood it will be warrantied like I stated. 

NOTE: This blank is the best of the best of exhibition grade English Walnut gunstock blanks. This is graded out by Calico as a HIGH EXHIBITION GRADE ENGLISH WALNUT 2 PIECE BLANK. I purchased it in 2010, and it had been air dried 3-4 years already, and its cost was $1200 at that time. Market conditions have changed and a blank like this will cost $1500 and up, if you can find it. I went there to Calico, in Santa Rosa, California, and sifted through about 500 - 1,000 of their exhibition grade blanks , which I have done before. Steve, who was the retail manager at the time, had this blank, it's matching twin, and three other blanks set aside for me by the time I showed up there. I have bought from him before, and he knows how I like the best best blanks. This blank was featured (I believe on the cover) and also in an article in the same  issue of that shotgun magazine. The matching sister blank was there at Calico as well and Steve asked me if I wanted both of them, but I just bought this one, thinking one is enough, and this one had more tightly defined sharper mineral streaking lines in it. That sister blank ended up going onto a Beretta shotgun. 
This blank made the article on the basis of this is as perfect as wood gets. I have shopped at Calico for a few years and have not seen any other blank that looks so perfect in every way, and yes, this blank is a quartersawed blank, the strongest configuration for cutting a tree into a gunstock. So it has all the beauty and the strength to go with it.  Don't ever let anyone tell you "the more figure a stock has, the more likely it will crack or break." That's complete bullshit, coming from someone who knows nothing about wood and can't afford a highly figured gunstock. The fact is, the more figure the wood has, the denser the wood is because the tree is older and stronger. And when you see the feathering and fiddleback in a stock or blank, that is the trees reaction to wind. The darker sections of the feathering and fiddleback are where the wood has formed more dense grain in the form of a bridge to strengthen the tree against the wind, and  the lighter sections between the dark ones are the normal wood density. What is very important about figured wood is this: does the grain run in a straight line through the critical pistol grip area? That's what's important. Any blank Calico puts up for sale has this characteristic because it is necessary for a strong stock, whether it is standard grade wood, exhibition grade wood, or anything in between. So you see, it has nothing to with the figure, but whether or not the layout of the grain is what it should be, and you can clearly see in these photos that it's very tight grained / straight grained through the pistol grip area. 

The buttstock portion is a total of 17 and 7/8, 2 1/4 inches thick all the way down from top to bottom, and the height at the buttplate area is 6 15/16 inches tall. This is all plenty of rooom to cut out a buttstock and get the length of pull and dimensions you need.   

This will be one exceptionally strong, straight, highly figured gunstock and I want to see photos of it when your gun is finished. You have to do that for me. This wood has been my best blank , and the only reason I am selling is I have an expensive move coming up.  This wood is perfection in English Walnut. It does not get any better. I have another blank for sale here on Guns International if the price of this one is higher than budget. It is a mid Exhibition Grade Blank that sells for less because it was bought for less. When you go from mid-Exhibition to High Exhibition, it is a significant price increase, and for the best of the High Exhibition blanks, it is another significant increase from there.   I had a Shiloh Sharps Rifle made from mid-exhibition grade English Walnut, and it was incredibly awesome. Mid-Exhibition Grade English Walnut is the best figure for the money, and I can sell you that one for 725, which is less than what it sells for at Calico. This one is the best there is and it will cost you a cool $1200, which is much more of a bargain than you think. Because now, the High Exhibition Grade English Walnut  goes for $1500 unless they have increased it, and they will only have a couple of them if they have any at all, as big as they are. The very highest of High exhibition grade English is very hard to come by. Remember, this is not just High Exhibition Grade, it truly is the highest of High Exhibiton Grade English Walnut, plus I had the cost of making the trip there. You won't have to do that. Try calling them and asking them what their high exhibition grade English Walnut is selling for, then ask, what about the very best of the high Exhibition Grade English blanks are selling for if they have any available. 

California Hardwood Company (Calico) air dries only their wood for 3-4 years before they put it up for sale, and this exhibition blank is no exception. You won't  have to worry if it's dry enough to turn into a gunstock. It certainly is! 11 years of drying is certainly enough. Plus, I lived in Bend, Oregon at the time and that is high desert with many months , especially winter  month, averaging 0 - 20 percent humidity. And it is common for them to have 20 days or more of 0 percent humidity. I had to leave there because of it, as it caused me to develop excema, which hurts when you get it bad enough.  

Call me with your questions. 971-701-0406.  Jeff

SOLD