doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com 2 different woods?

I've had this 28 gauge hammer gun for awhile. It's a Liege United Arms. Does the stock and forearm appear to be 2 different kinds of wood to anyone else? If so, was it practice back in the day to use a cheaper grade of wood on the stock as opposed to the forearm? I thought maybe the stock was replaced but it appears to be the age of the rest of the gun and it looks like the screws have never been touched. Also, the fit of the locks and tang etc. is very well done. I can't see anyone going to that kind of trouble doing a replacement on a low cost gun. Or am I wrong and the forearm and stock are the same kind of wood only from maybe a different tree? I don't claim to be an expert on wood.

The Buttstock look to be pine to me.
Jim

I see that the forearm wood has what looks like the last 3 digits of the serial number stamped in it.
Have you looked under the trigger guard to see if there is a matching number stamped on the stock?

I took a look under the trigger guard.There is no number there. However, it looks like the wood is aged like it's been there for quite awhile. Also, the trigger guard is very well fit with no gaps of any kind, same as the lock plates are fit. The gun has the old steel buttplate with the "widow's" peak and it fits into the stock very well. The checkering on the wrist has the same type of border as the forearm. As mentioned, my first reaction was somebody replaced the stock. If so, they sure took a lot of time making it fit and cutting the checkering. The checkering is very well done and has the "age appearance" that matches the rest of the gun.

Pine would be too soft and too many marks and dents. Maybe a beech like used on Husquvarnas. It sort of has that look.

I have to agree with Builder, I have a couple of Huskies with stocks that have very similar grain patterns....

Don

Wouldn't pine be a poor type of wood for checkering?
Anyhow, I'm just surprised that it has 2 different kinds of wood. If someone did make a stock for it at some point and decided to go with a lower grade of wood than was on it, I'm surprised that they would go to the trouble of even checkering it let alone fit it as well as they did. The in-letting and checkering is not amateurish.

Nice looking old gun and my guess would be beech, if you look at both sides of the tang there seems to be those small "tigers" typical of beech.
Keep in mind that the plainer the gun the less attempt to match anything so the forearm could be something else. --- John

Yes, I think the forearm is walnut. The forearm is just the spring snap on type so I was wondering if they might have used walnut for it as it has to take the stress of being pulled on to remove as well as house the forend iron and barrel pivot. I'm thinking money was saved by using a cheaper type of wood for the stock. As far as coloring, they managed to get the two looking pretty close and patina seems to be about the same making me think they are from the same time.
One thing for certain is that it is a very petite gun built on a 28 gauge frame.

I agree with John Can. the stock looks like quarter sawn Beech and the forend is just through and through or plank sawn as we say over here. The only Pine I have seen that can take chequering is Parana Pine but it would not be suitable for a gun stock because it has a habit of twisting and not robust enough. Even we Brits used beech on some low cost mass produced Birmingham guns and it has stood the test of time, a good honest basic timber for which we did have a lot for a small island.