Long time project

[pmangelos]

I’ve always wanted to have a rifle stocked in Olive wood, I’m Greek and in September 2016 I traveled back to the island that we’re from. I visited a cabinet maker in hopes of getting a blank to turn into a stock as olive wood pieces here stateside are virtually nonexistent in the size needed for a rifle. Here’s a picture of the said cabinet maker cutting down a piece of wood from a recently harvested olive tree.

 

[pmangelos]

Many years later I came arias a great deal on a Cooper 17hmr that I thought would be appropriate for the olive wood, as olive isn’t a traditional stock making wood I didn’t want a rifle that would test its recoil absorbing ability. So I sent the stock out for inletting and once it returned I finished the stock and had it checkered. I’m pretty pleased with the results. Olive wood does have its quirks that prevent it from being really proper for this sort of project, there were a lot of inclusions in the wood so I had to fill those with epoxy, but overall most people wouldn’t notice. So goes my decade long project.

 

[Altitude sickness]

The character is gorgeous. Great work

 

[Grumpy gumpy]

I’ve worked with a few pieces of olive in the past, nothing as large as a stock blank, it’s got beautiful grain and tends to be solid. That is something to be proud of
Gumpy

 

[Firebird]

Beautiful and a great back story. Congratulations!

 

[steve white]

I agree that olive wood is beautiful. What I don't know is how resistant it is to splitting under recoil. If it were mine, I would have a hidden metal rod to shore up the pistol grip area against splitting and maybe even a cross bolt just behind the recoil lug, like on a heavy rifle--all just for a little insurance and peace of mind.
Lovely idea which has crossed my mind in the past. Glad to see you have done it!

 

[BayouRobert]

That is fantastic.