Thin-shelled walnut, by any other name: English, French, California, etc. The checkering ribbons are the skinniest I've ever seen pulled off about perfectly. Goudy did some of the best and finest checkering in his day. No checkering is "perfect" but by golly, this is very close.
Folks don't realize that when you layout checkering ribbons whatever size you use in the pencil layout the actual size in the finished checkering shrinks by about 50% in the process because your tool cuts on both sides of the ribbon. It get smaller with cutting the diamonds up to the border, then the ribbon gets even smaller, thinner, as you deepen the border lines on each side. And a single over-run would ruin the appearance.
The butt has so much figure it is almost too much to appreciate, lending to the confusion. The other side has even more figure, and is so dense it doesn't look like it is wood. I was confused at first sight. Almost for sure the butt is the root or stump and the grip through forend the trunk of the tree. The butt may even be a graft to black walnut root stock which was commonly done in California. The native Claro grew better in the local soil and the grafted English produced the preferred nut. I've seen whole walnut orchards with all the trees having a lump about 10" off the ground where they had been grafted. I'll make a closer examination when I'm working on the story.
A very fine quality rifle and Goudy, Waldron and Wallace were at the top of their game when this rifle was created.
It is in my safe and I'm planning photos and a story for Sports Afield.
Last edited by SDH-MT; 05/04/25 04:10 PM.
