Wavy Curly Hard Maple 

Wavy Curly Hard Maple

MAPLE GUN STOCKS

Fresh Cut Birdseye 

Quilted Curly Hard Maple

Wavy Curly Hard Maple

Maple vs Walnut 

Big Leaf Maple/Curly Hard Maple

I have heard many discussions of what is the best wood for gun stocks maple or walnut.  Some people mention that maple is brittle and not as strong or stable  as walnut.  This is far from the truth!   We build custom guitars our neck woods are exclusively curly hard maple or Birdseye maple and so many manufacturers of some of the best guitars in the world as well as violins, cellos and other stringed instruments make there necks bodies and tops out of maple not walnut because maple is far superior in stability and hardness as well as tone.  It holds checkering and carvings extremely well.  The only drawback is that it is heavier in weight than walnut and because it is harder work ability is not as easy as walnut.

 This is not exclusive to all maples though  in the picture on this page you will see 2 samples.  The top is Western Big Leaf Maple which is 5 to 6 growth rings per inch then you have curly hard maple from the Northern climates which is 22 to 25 growth rings per inch. The one maple with the tighter growth rings is definitely heavier and more stable.  Walnut is very beautiful and comes in many different kinds of sub  species the same is true with maple whether Western Big Leaf, Eastern Red Maple or Hard Maple.  Birdseye maple in blank form has become some of the rarest and hard to get species of wood in the Western Hemisphere a lot less common than any of the Walnuts.  If you look for walnut gun stock blanks you can find many on the internet however Birdseye maple blanks there is usually none or very few.  Many maples come in one of a kind figure whether Fiddleback, curly, Birdseye, Quilted, Flame, Burl and many of there variations.  Figured maples when properly finished can be literally spectacular looking.