Thread: Matai for a stock?

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 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.