Thread: Matai for a stock?

Thought I might have a crack at making a stock. Have some Matai well aged.Is this going to be suitable stock material?
Its hard, straight grained ,splits nice and straight and burns good and hot and thats the extent of my knowledge on this timber.

Its nice hard wood + easy to work so could be ok. I would tend to mill a rough inlet into some and see how solid the sides are + maybe try and chequer a panel before investing a lot of time into it.

You could call Stock Doctor Kevin Gaskill or Bryn (?) from Targex and ask their opinions

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Thought I might have a crack at making a stock. Have some Matai well aged.Is this going to be suitable stock material?
Its hard, straight grained ,splits nice and straight and burns good and hot and thats the extent of my knowledge on this timber.

Matai is a nice wood that will look great but I'd be a bit worried about this characteristic.

I'd stick with Walnut it's tried and true.

Splitting was my main concern along with warping tho cant see why it would be any worse than walnut regarding warping.
Didnt they use it as floor boards and table tops in the good old days? I know they used Rimu and that is quite soft in comparison.

Surely with a well aged un split bit it would take some serious abuse to split it?

Matai should be fine

Thats what I wanted to hear, are you some kind of wood geek?. IE Know more about wood than how it goes in the fire

I know nothing about stocks but have used matai flooring by the hundreds of meters. Was impressed with it's strength and finish . The finish looked a bit like oak .

Good enough for me, Its only a bit of wood and a shit load of time
One last question.
Am I better to use heart or out a bit? gonna get it flitched its in thirds at the mo and was about 1.6m dia

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Thats what I wanted to hear, are you some kind of wood geek?. IE Know more about wood than how it goes in the fire

I've repaired a few matai floors and Dad is a chippie from way back (he's 81 now) so he has plenty experience with native timbers.
If it fails you can always buy the stock blank I'm selling on trademe

Use the heart, it will look a much nicer stock when finished and give it some real character. Some of the hard woods people talk about splitting split because of the resin still within them, if it has been aged and dried slowly it should be ok but it is typical of some of the natives to split after being worked due to the air getting in to areas with more resin and drying it quickly etc. Some timbers were kept in streams for a few months before being carved to draw out resin and avoid the finished product splitting after completion

I have some pieces of tiger grained Iron bark I would love to do a stock with, would be heavy though and pretty hard on the tool edges....

Cheers horihunter

I have very old Matai floors in my house, borer love it. I would be worried using it for a full bore gun stock if it splits easily.
Made a shelf from some of this flooring once, and coated it with polyurethane varnish. The varnish bubbled and blistered overnight. Paint shop told me that it was similar to Totara to finish, and needed special Totara primers to stop the blistering. No clear primers were available. Solved the problem by applying the varnish and sanding it back to bare wood between coats. Took about 6 coats to stop the blistering but the finish was never that good. It is a bathroom shelf and water has damaged the finish and stained or bleached the Matai.. In WW2 the government did research into replacement wood for walnut stocked .303 rifles. It's on the www somewhere, but it is a long time since I read it. I think their second choice after Walnut was Southland Beech.

Originally Posted by Barefoot

I've repaired a few matai floors and Dad is a chippie from way back (he's 81 now) so he has plenty experience with native timbers.
If it fails you can always buy the stock blank I'm selling on trademe

Barefoot you never really answered the question. Are you a wood geek or not?

Originally Posted by Moby Duck

I have very old Matai floors in my house, borer love it. I would be worried using it for a full bore gun stock if it splits easily.
Made a shelf from some of this flooring once, and coated it with polyurethane varnish. The varnish bubbled and blistered overnight. Paint shop told me that it was similar to Totara to finish, and needed special Totara primers to stop the blistering. No clear primers were available. Solved the problem by applying the varnish and sanding it back to bare wood between coats. Took about 6 coats to stop the blistering but the finish was never that good. It is a bathroom shelf and water has damaged the finish and stained or bleached the Matai.. In WW2 the government did research into replacement wood for walnut stocked .303 rifles. It's on the www somewhere, but it is a long time since I read it. I think their second choice after Walnut was Southland Beech.

Welcome to the forum Mobyduck.