I have stumbled on to a small supplier of Turkish walnut in the Kurdish part of Turkey. He appears to be honest and knowledgeable and has rational prices. My first shipment is in transit. If you contact him at freest13@hotmail.com he will send you pictures and prices His name is Memet and he is a proud, honest Kurd. Give him a try I believe you will be pleased.

bill

I hope you remain so proud...if and when yer first shipment arrives.

Someday, by accident, jOe is going to say something nice and we will all miss it because we ignore him.

He did say something nice once....

He does have a point there.

The better rec would be one given by the satisfied customer post delivery.

There is a similar named individual selling Turkish blanks on Ebay. Fellow has been selling for a few years. His Ebay handle is Freest33. If it is the same fellow I bought a blank from him. Nice blank for the price, but it needed some more seasoning before use.

This seller has been selling blanks on E-bay for awhile. Although I have not bought any, I note he has 100% positive feedback. Some feedback comments report that the wood has excellent figure but high moisture content. The seller does often give drying time and it is often 3 years or less. As with many blank sellers, grain layout is sometimes less than ideal, but you can usually see that in his pictures. Shipping from Turkey is naturally a bit pricy.

Bill, I have interest as I expect to need a good piece of wood soon. Let me know how it turns out. Thanks.

DDA

I have bought several rifle blanks and two shotgun blanks from him on E-bay, look very closely at the pictures before buying.Some of the blanks are less than ideal but two of the rifle blanks were were excellent. Pricing has been fair and all have been shipped immediatly

There's a Turk who deals near Istanbul who sells very nice blanks - he occasionally posts on SGW.

jOe, jOe, jOe... yer so old but yet so cynical...

The guys identifing him as an ebay seller are correct. I strongly recomend you contact him direct because he knows what good stock wood is. He does not put much of it on ebay. He told me that he would send pictures and prices to anyone contacting him direct. I won't say what my blank cost but with freight you could not buy a semi fancy american black walnut for the same money. Claims he has a warehouse of the stuff.
bill

I bought a few blanks from Memet, they were all very good but maybe not as dry as he made out. I finished off the drying and they all produced nice stocks eventually. I think the stuff on ebay is the 'rejects' he has some very nice wood not advertised.
On his 'dry' blanks he is boiling to dry them out so be very aware of this.

I was in Istanbul a few years ago and bought a nice Carpet from one of the dealers in the big market. Needless to say, I was nervous about it when we left. But, about a month later it arrived here in the States. I have never heard of any problems buying in Turkey from friends of mine.

Thanks to Bill for the source, as I'm always on the lookout for blanks. Contacted Memet, and he sent me pics of half a dozen he called "exhibition." Pics make any post more enjoyable/informative, so for your viewing pleasure here is one of the six, 550.00 delivered:

That's a nice-looking piece of wood. I'd like that for an English stock or even a PoW - the flow looks really good. I hope it turns out well for you.

Great looking blank! Better air dry it for a few years. Bobby

Did not intend to imply that I had purchased it- just wanted to get a pic up of an example of his wares.

Mike

The pattern outlined on the blank pictured shows the grain in the head running about forty degrees off perpendicular. This is far from perfect and I think one could do much better for $550.00. This is what I've often seen from this seller in his Ebay auctions, but some are laid out much better. Anyone who has ever taken blanks out of slabs of walnut knows that mother nature isn't necessarily thinking about gunstocks, and most is better suited to other uses ranging from furniture to firewood.

Agree with Kieth. Poor blank.

Nothing wrong with the blank, he has just placed the template incorrectly.
If the template was reversed and turned upside down, you would have proper grain flow thru the wrist and down thru the toe.
Best regards,
JBP

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would be very interested in finding out more about how one arrives at the conclusions you state (though I certainly agree with your last sentence). I'm not being a wiseass, rather, I'm looking to get educated on this. Grain flow and layout for gunstocks has long mystified me.

DIM - here is a great source of information on blank selection and stockmaking:

Double Guns and Custom Gunsmithing, Steven Dodd Hughes

The problem with too many stock layout by sellers is that they are laid out to catch the eye, not withstand normal, or worse, abnormal use. Do not just look at the fancy grain in the side of the stock and not look at minor fact that both ends are a crack waiting to happen.

When I buy a stock I want to see all six views. Often what looks like a good stock from both faces will have very bad grain flow from above or below. If the grain flow is side to side in the grip area leave it alone. It just will crack later. The grain flow needs to be straight along the both faces and above an below. Do not fall in love with a pretty face. A stock with perfect face grain flow and bad grain flow on the top or bottom is still a bad blank.

I also want to see the end views to see if the nice grain goes all the way across the blank. I have seen many blanks with heavy marbling on the face with almost no marbling in the center. Might just be on the face or you could end up with a exhibition blank that gets very ordinary after shaping. Sometimes you find a blank that gets better in the center or if kept to one side.

Most stocks on EBay have a decent side and if lucky a slightly less than decent side in their layout. Guys, you need to remember that you are buying stocks that have been picked over by several others and this is the inventory that was left over. The best has been cherry picked, the next level has been bought if deemed workable at a reduced price. Most of what you see on EBay is the bottom third of what is cut. There may be a few exceptions but not many.

It took me about 50 stocks, bought over the net, before I learn what to buy and what to avoid. After my education I ended up with about a dozen keepers out of the lot. If you like you can come over to see my wood rack and see the mistakes and the non mistakes.

Another major mistake was buying green wood. Do not buy green wood and age it. Let the seller take the risk of all the checking, cracks and warping. Out of the ten crotch walnut blanks maybe two dried into stocks that can be used. Wax, paint, sealers, all lessen checking but it still happens. My best solution was to dip the entire stock in wax and let it dry two years, then remove the wax and let it dry two more years. Lot easier to buy a dry stock in the first place.

And last no stock is dry until you own it for years and keep it dry. "Dry" is not stable. Wood needs to be dried, then allowed to stabilize and remain stable before use. Sellers who dry wood in a kiln, or boil it to speed drying are not to be bought from. Air dried, left for several years after the wood has been dried and then kept in your local for a year or two.

Think this is over kill? No. Cut a blank in humid Oregon or out of a heavily irrigated area in CA, dry it it Vegas or some other desert climate, buy it and send it to a stocker in CA or PA, and then have it delivered to semi humid KY. I can tell you for a certain fact it will not be a perfect restock job after a few months or a year. I had a Smith restocked with just such wood. It had been cut, dried for several years, verified that moisture content was "perfect" by the stocker, then shaped and fit to my gun. After one year it had to be reinletted. The stocker figured the wood was in fact over dried along the way. I was never happy with the job and ended up selling it for a major loss. Lesson learned, good wood takes time and needs to age before use.

Hi Jon:


Great post!

Your experience mirrors mine in every detail!

Thanks for posting.
Franchi

The USDA requires that insects be killed by heat on imported wood. It is my understanding that is the reason for blanks being heated with steam or boiling water.
bill

This is a two-way street and we cannot export to the EU unless the wood is treated. However, I do not think the regs apply to hardwood - they largely involve shipping pallets and containers. Pressedwood and plywood are also not involved since they are insect-free.

Antiques dealers and museums use a dry heat to kill worm infestation.

There are lengthy regulations about this that you can Google.

This is consistent with my experience trying to ship a blank to Spain. Others here and on other forums, however, have indicated that they have been able to ship blanks abroad without treatment (methyl bromide - which is not a cheap process).

This particular seller has sold some very nice high grade wood on Ebay over the years. However, the current wood being sold by this seller isn't near the quality (or the price) of what he sold in the past. These are indeed the picked over pieces that not many folks want/need. I did note for a period of time that many of the blanks were listed as being steamed. That's not a good thing for sure.