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Posted: 10/26/2001 11:21:24 AM EDT
[#1]
Well, yeah, it could be duplicated. Anything's possible.
Never saw a complete wood furniture set, just buttstocks, pistolgrips, and thumbhole stocks that combine the two into one piece. The only problem is, the AR wasn't really designed to use wood, and the plastic pieces are rather thin in certain areas, which could be too thin for wood. For example, the tabs on handguards, or the thin top and sides of the buttstock that surround the buffer tube. The direction of grain would just love to split here, I'm thinking. A wooden buttstock could be made stronger in this area by using some sort of reinforcement, such as a metal or plastic tube epoxied in place to give the wood strength and hold the grain together, but then it might be too thick to have clearance for the charging handle. Just a few problems/ideas off the top of my head. AR wasn't designed for wood from the beginning, so its issues never came up. But you could make your own if you had the tools, yeah. The only question is, would they be strong enough to be worth the trouble of making (or buying) them, without worrying about breakage. A thumbhole type stock/pistolgrip would be stronger than two separate pieces but I dunno if you like that sort of thing. I don't know how those wooden buttstocks, thumbholes, and pistolgrips are made, so I can't comment on them myself. I love wood too. |
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Posted: 10/26/2001 11:31:11 AM EDT
[#2]
My AR I'm building will have wood buttstock and wood pistol grips. (when it's done)
Really, pictures and website are coming...it's cause I'm buying stuff as I can. but I think it'll look good. course, there aren't wood forward grips...so that will be steel rods. ('sides, wood wouldn't ventilate too good. No_Expert. |
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Posted: 10/26/2001 11:39:43 AM EDT
[#3]
I think what would be more viable would be sythetic furniture with a wood veneire (sp?).
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Posted: 10/26/2001 11:43:50 AM EDT
[#4]
I think wooden handguards would work fine if they had metal tabs attached to them for retaining.
Ventilate? They would ventilate the same as plastic handguards if they had the same size and number of holes in them. However, wood does insulate pretty well... good for your hands, bad for the barrel if you like to rip off lots of rounds in the shortest time possible. In addition to the holes, you could also add slots between the two halves to improve air circulation (although some might call them "dirt collectors". Sort of like the slots in AK handguards. I'll be waiting for your pics, seems interesting in the novel sense of the word. How are you going to keep the thin part of the stock that fits around the buffer tube from splitting down the grain? It seems to me that it would do so sooner or later unless it was really babied. Are you going to reinforce it or just make it thicker, or something else? |
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Posted: 10/26/2001 11:45:34 AM EDT
[#5]
No_Expert, why couldn't you have someone make you wooden forwards?
Nevermind, I've been beaten to the punch. |
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Posted: 10/26/2001 11:57:10 AM EDT
[#6]
Believe it or not colt actually made a run of SP1 AR-15's in walnut, Pistol grip triangular hand guard and all. It was the spitting image of a conventional AR-15 but in walnut.
I believe they were called comanche's(sp?). I actually saw one used in a local service rifle match. If I see the owner of that rifle again im going to ask HER out on a date too. |
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Posted: 10/26/2001 11:57:27 AM EDT
[#7]
well, partly cause the barrel is free-floated, and making wood grips in a free-float tube would require it to be thicker and therefore require more holes for ventilation...which would weaken the overall structure yet again. rapid fire is not an issue, I am building this as a range (target) gun not a SHTF piece. anyways, I am ordering the last coupel pieces I need this week to make it a "shootable" rifle. the wood furniture will be ordered on a paycheck later to be named (2 -4 weeks) so it will have plastic stocks the first time it goes out. DPMS has a wood stock on their website, but it is considerably more than the one I'm ordering. No_Expert |
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Posted: 10/26/2001 12:11:08 PM EDT
[#8]
You could simply use a metal tube and epoxy it inside a wooden tube, so the metal would be the actual tube itself, while the wood just provided a nice feel and good looks.
Did I say good? Maybe in a weird way. |
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Posted: 10/26/2001 1:35:49 PM EDT
[#9]
I remember a catalog I got some years back(80's).
I don't remember the manufacturer, but it was one of the big guys, Springfield Armory, Federal Ordanance, Rock Island Ordanance, etc..But they had a line of Wooden furniture. they even had it mounted on Bright Nickel AR's. These were presentation grade guns. One was a Vietnam Commemerative, as I remember. Very nice looking Rifles. I was a regular at the gun shows back then, and I can't recall ever seeing one in person. There's bound to be a few collectors out there who have a couple stashed in their safes. back then, AR's(Colts) were selling for $375.00, NIB(Wish I'd have bought a truck load of them). These fancy guns were close to a thousand. But they did look kinda neat. Rich |
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Posted: 10/26/2001 5:51:05 PM EDT
[#10]
This pic was posted by a member a while ago. I saved it because I thought the wood furniture looked great. I apologize for the fact I can't remember who posted it and I hope they don't mind me posting it now. If so let me know and I'll delete it. You have to admit..the wood looks awesome.
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Posted: 10/27/2001 2:13:32 AM EDT
[#11]
I researched this topic about a year ago.I looked high and low for a wood furniture set.Here's what I found out----
1.Nobody makes a complete wood furniture set anymore.The best you can hope for is to find a old Springfield set. 2.DPMS has a walnut buttstock and pistol grip listed on their website.That's great but to me it's going to look stupid with a black,plastic handguard. 3.I contacted 2 different people who make custom stocks for AK's & FN's---they both said they could do it but they were worried about the strength of the handguards since they would have to be relatively thin.The price for a complete set of furniture was like $350 So that ended my quest for wood furniture.If anybody started making them they would sell like hotcakes.Try this,a company called Ironwood Designs makes beautiful wood furniture for FN's.Go to the FNFAL forums and see if you can find a website for them.Put a bug in their ear about AR's and keep us posted.I'd still love to have wood. www.fnfal.com Good Luck |
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Posted: 10/27/2001 5:14:45 AM EDT
[#12]
Why wouldn't metal end caps and fiberglass reinforcing work? If the hand guards would be thin anyway a layer of fiberglass matte and resin wouldn't add that much weight. I'm not sure how much heat they would stand though.
Or an aluminum inner skin much like the heat shield with wood inlay. |
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Posted: 10/28/2001 5:10:16 PM EDT
[#13]
Thanks for all of your information, guys. There was more than I expected! I forgot to mention, I have even found a wood stock set for my HK 91 clone. Looks like a CETME, really.
On the DPMS site, I found the Walnut Tac-Grip www.shooterstore.com/acb/showprod.cfm?&DID=90&CATID=494&ObjectGroup_ID=1360 but could not find a wood butt-stock. Have I missed it? No_Expert, from where are you ordering your stock set? Please post a picture on this thread when you're done! Striker, WOW!!! Thanks for that picture. I sure hope that the owner of that gun chimes in and give us some information. Because of GreyGhost's suggestion, I think that I will go and check with Ironwood Designs. I will come back and post any positive results that I get. Thanks again. |
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Posted: 10/28/2001 5:14:33 PM EDT
[#14]
From what I can remember..I think a family member bought a colt SP1 that came with the plastic stocks and the wood set. They sold them this way for a short period of time. I could be way off but I think it was something like that.
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Posted: 10/28/2001 9:00:52 PM EDT
[#15]
Nice pic Striker ! I just had to leach it myself .
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Posted: 10/31/2001 6:36:31 AM EDT
[#16]
I wrote to Ironwood Designs & and pointed out this thread to them. Got a reply from a real congenial guy named Matt. This is his reply;
Thank you for your inquiry. I have had a few requests for AR 15 stock sets over the last few months. Currently we are reworking our business so that we can build such creatures. We have been building AK and FAL stocks in large quantities over the last 3 1/2 years. We have spent the last few weeks digging into our CAD software learning the the capabilities and limitations of doing pure CNC cut stocks. In the past we have used a copy lathe to profile and sand the part, then our CNC router to do the inletting and fitting cuts. This process is cost effective if you are doing 100 unit minimum runs, but not effective doing smaller custom runs. Over the next few months we will be doing some prototype runs of various stock sets. We are planning on programming numerous stocks for popular military style rifles. Our goal is to set up so that we are capable of building, and keeping in inventory, numerous styles in smaller quantities. Less set up and production time, more product available at a lower production cost. I do have a web site www.Ironwooddesigns.com you can take a look at what we do, and the variety of products that we build. I anticipate at least a few months before we have the system in place and are producing at random new models such as the AR stocks. I am confident that we will achieve this goal as we are already making incredible progress in our programming capabilities. Check back with me from time to time as well as keeping your eye on the site. Once again, thank you for the inquiry. We will have many new innovative products and reproduction parts available throughout the coming 6 months. Matt IWD Sounds promising, huh? I know I'll be watching. |
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Posted: 10/31/2001 8:44:37 AM EDT
[#17]
Not to knock Ironwood, but you could be waiting for a while - even when they do start getting the tooling set up for AR furniture. IIRC it was quite a few months people were waiting over on the FAL board for Ironwood to begin production.
The stocks do look fantastic however, so it may just be worth the wait.  |
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Posted: 10/31/2001 9:46:08 AM EDT
[#18]
These sets look nice, but the Sprinfields are beautiful. There is an outfit that uses woodgrain tape on float tubes, but they are just too gross.
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Posted: 10/31/2001 11:36:13 AM EDT
[#19]
Stokes, that's a good looking rifle, is it yours?
(I love Diamonds!) |
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Posted: 10/31/2001 12:15:07 PM EDT
[#20]
Yeah, I sell the wood and the recievers, so I keep one set up just for show.
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Posted: 10/31/2001 12:54:58 PM EDT
[#21]
I have to admit that looks nice with the wood. |
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Posted: 10/31/2001 6:30:18 PM EDT
[#22]
DPMS has both pieces, buttstock and pistol grip... separately... have not found anyone with fore ends yet. will post pictures when I get them. I will be ordering from FAC, they are a bit cheaper, and most of the stuff they sell is from DPMS. No_Expert |
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Posted: 11/1/2001 6:21:45 AM EDT
[#23]
No_Expert, in my previous post, I said,
Has anyone been able to find it on their site? And does anyone have anything other than the sniper style grip? |
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Posted: 11/1/2001 5:52:54 PM EDT
[#24]
Sorry, I guess I was vague. here are two links for DPMS wood stocks, the second is their thumbhole one, and no, I've never seen a "standard" wood grip, just the "sniper" www.shooterstore.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=90&Product_ID=11056&CATID=494 and www.shooterstore.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=90&Product_ID=6245&CATID=494 No_Expert (sorry the links aren't active) |
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Posted: 11/2/2001 9:12:54 AM EDT
[#25]
Neat discussion--
I think that the best solution to the forend would be overlaying a free float tube or A1 foreend with wood veneer. I am pretty sure that if Bear archery was able to back wood core limbs with aluminum (albeit unsuccessfully) back in the 60s, it would be totally possible to successfully glue veneer to metal or fibreglass backing for a STATIC application. Isocyanate/urethane glues would be the best bet in this application, and there are now some some readily available consumer glues of this type (Gorilla Glue and Elmer's even has a line now). I don't know how to lay the veneer to perfectly contour the underlying foreend, but you could soften the wood chemically, or via heat/steam. A vacuum bag like what they use for fancy furniture projects, or simply binding the work with elastic straps would probably provide the pressure needed for good bond between veneer and substrate. Veneer 1/16" or smaller would be better, but for dressy wood, that's the thickness range you're likely to encounter anyway. There are woodcraft books out there that would be very helpful. Veneer-related books from Taunton Press would be a good start. http://www.wood-veneers.com/ was a site I had on file for veneers. Haven't checked it out for a while. |
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Posted: 11/2/2001 5:44:01 PM EDT
[#26]
This is an old ad
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Posted: 11/2/2001 8:22:43 PM EDT
[#27]
An old friend who was in the 82d Airborne in the late sixties-early seventies said that their honor guard had M16s with wooden furniture. He thought that they were hand made by the Division Carpentry shop.
My guess is that it could be done, but might not be very practical (at least for the handguards). |
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Posted: 11/3/2001 7:18:22 AM EDT
[#28]
Thanks for the links, No_Expert. I couldn't find those to save my life.
Derek45, that looks better than I had imagined. I suppose that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to me that's beautiful! Thanks a bunch for posting that! 
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Posted: 11/3/2001 8:07:35 AM EDT
[#29]
Holy cow, I never thought wood would look so good on an AR. Sign me up, my DPMS Hbar would look great with that stuff. I wouldnt do the stock and grip though unless I could find the handguards too. Dont let this one go guys, we need a wood forend.
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Posted: 11/3/2001 8:34:23 AM EDT
[#30]
Did a search of the Springfield site for the wooden furniture. I couldn't find it.
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Posted: 11/3/2001 6:16:19 PM EDT
[#31]
STRIKER,
I don't mind you posting the pic. As a matter of fact, here's an updated pic featuring Harris bipod and leather sling to compliment the wood furniture.  For those interested, this is factory Colt wood furniture from an old early 80's AR. This was the era when Nam movies were the big thing. My step dad bought an AR (I don't know which model) and it came with both the plastic and wood stocks. We put on the plastic, as was appropriate at the time and put the wood in the closet. We forgot all about it, and I came accross it few years later after both he and the AR were gone. I saved it just incase I sould ever buy an AR. 15+ years later, I got introduced to AR15.com and the rest is history. I now have the Colt HBAR pictured plus and LEGP and a M4gery in the works. In those 15+ years, I have never seen another set of wood furniture and consider this rifle my 15 year dream toy. |
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Posted: 11/3/2001 6:30:13 PM EDT
[#32]
Yeah, put me on the list too. Those shots make them too good to pass up.
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Posted: 11/3/2001 6:31:43 PM EDT
[#33]
Thanks az-gunner. That is one gorgeous rifle. I sure hope someone gets a line on a manufacturer that makes them.
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Posted: 11/3/2001 6:32:06 PM EDT
[#34]
BASS AKWORDS!
The wood really dose look great but it's funny to me. I see guys all the time at the range talking abou there new cool stock set for there AK,SKS,10/22,mini14/30,ect and it's never wood they want cuz thats what the gun comes with. Now here we are looking at wood stocks like it's something new |
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Posted: 11/3/2001 8:16:14 PM EDT
[#35]
That wood looks good!
It's true about so many of us taking the stock wood off of our guns to make them black (my favorite color for guns IS black), but, the AR15 with wood is kind of a novel "new look". Have you seen the DSA FAL with wood? It's very nice. Even though the link is to the "Kalifornia" model with the fixed mag and stripper clip guide, you can see how nice the lines of the rifle go with wood furniture. www.dsarms.com/SA58_T48_Replica.htm |
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Posted: 11/4/2001 4:28:42 AM EDT
[#36]
az-gunner,
When I started this post, I thought that I was the only one who thought this might look good. Thanks for sharing your story with us. I was looking forward to hearing the story behind the gun in the picture that Striker posted...NOW SELL IT TO ME! |
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Posted: 11/4/2001 7:21:47 AM EDT
[#37]
777,
It was kinda' like digging your dad's old mustang ouf of the garage after sitting for 10-20 years and getting restored and running. It was a long time coming, but sure is purdy. Sorry, but she ain't goin' no where.
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Posted: 11/4/2001 10:46:37 AM EDT
[#38]
Can I be in your will? I NEEEEEDDD that wood set!
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Posted: 11/4/2001 4:34:21 PM EDT
[#39]
No problem, they were not where you would THINK they would be...under stocks and grips. they were under assemblies or shot $#!+ like that. My rifle will have wood buttstock and pistol grip in about a month, I am having the steel rod free-float tube installed right now. couldn't find a wood fore end, so I'm going with stell as a contrasting complement to the wood. if nothing it will be unique. No_Expert |
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Posted: 11/4/2001 6:08:25 PM EDT
[#40]
az-gunner, for those do-it-yourselfers who might be interested, would you be able to post some pictures of the wood?
I mean pics that show the structure of it, such as the underside and ends of the foreend pieces, and the exposed end and buffer tube hole of the buttstock. Things like that. I'm sure quite a few of the woodworker types would be very interested! |
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Posted: 11/5/2001 7:49:42 AM EDT
[#41]
I'll second that, a few shots of how the handguards are built would be great. Might have my sis build a set. Once again AZ-gunner that is one sharp looking AR!
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Posted: 11/5/2001 8:21:01 AM EDT
[#42]
Am I missing something? If the NM free float tubes can hold regular handguards, why can't a wood handguard assembly be made in one peice and slid on from the front? Is this just too expensive to do, or is there some other reason it won't work?
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Posted: 11/12/2001 9:18:35 PM EDT
[#43]
Give me some some time. I'm looking into purchasing the wood working equipment to make the furniture. We'll see how it works out.
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Posted: 10/29/2002 5:50:16 PM EDT
[#44]
An old post revisited, has anyone here made any progress on locating wood handguards? The stock and a pistol grip are available but the handguards are still elusive. I'd like to have something made up for a free float tube as well as standard handguards.
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Posted: 10/29/2002 7:32:59 PM EDT
[#45]
I would be interested as well, keep us posted.
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Posted: 10/30/2002 8:07:21 PM EDT
[#46]
I contacted Matt last year about this, too.
The story was much the same. Would using 'wood' furniture on the next AR15.com Special Edition maybe be enough to get Ironwood Design to make the set for us? It looks 'so' right on this rifle. Even if the forend had to be a bit beefier and oversized to make it work, it still would be a knockout! I don't know where on the web I got these pictures. No infringement intended by using the pics, they were just "there". Now, they're here... There was another one somewhere that was a great profile of the one Striker showed. NICE. |
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Posted: 10/31/2002 4:03:59 PM EDT
[#47]
That Springfield ad just makes me drool everytime I see it!
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Posted: 10/31/2002 4:40:32 PM EDT
[#48]
I got wood...
I mean I like the way that wood looks... Wait, the AR (you perverts)! I mean I got wood from looking at that wood... Dammit, I mean I want one. [/sexually confusing rant] |
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