Due to its remarkable characteristics, Circassian walnut has been used in many industries for centuries. Some of the world’s finest guitars, furniture pieces, and many other top-quality products are made of this type of wood. However, it is rifle stocks where Circassian walnut shines in its full glory. The beauty, stability, and durability of these stocks made them very popular with rifle and gun buyers. Add the incredible workability to this, and you can see why Circassian-walnut stock blanks are on high demand as well.
Color of Circassian-walnut stocks varies quite a bit, mostly in relation to its geographical origin. It can be straw (pale yellow), light brown, red, dark brown, or even almost black. However, the color most typical for the Circassian-walnut trees that grow on the Caucasus and other regions around the Black Sea (e.g. Bulgaria) is brown. It is a rich deep shade of brown that gives a distinctive look to any weapon. As this wood polishes very well, the effects of such color get even more impressive. Very fine and tight grains stretch along the entire length of the stock, in perfect harmony with the direction of the line of the barrel.
Circassian walnut trees live very long, often 200 years or more. They can grow over 25 meters (80 feet) tall and reach more than 1.5 meter (5 feet) in diameter. Due to very old age, and due to the harsh cold climate of the Caucasus Mountains from where this tree originated, blanks made from it are very resilient. Strong, compact internal structure, combined with a decent elasticity, makes these rifle stocks very stable and almost impossible to break. Circassian walnut has remarkably fine grain, which results in checkering of up to 32 lines per inch. Result like this is probably impossible to find in any other wood.
Circassian walnut is extremely easy to work with, whether you use hand tools or a machine. Most stock-makers agree that this is the most workable wood you can find. It is easy to cut and carve, and allows a fine finish.
The history of Circassian walnut shows how resilient this species is, and perfectly explains why this wood makes such a great material for rifle blanks. This incredibly tough and resilient tree is native to the Caucasus region, but managed to expand over an unbelievably wide area. To the east, Circassian walnut spread all the way to the Himalayas and northern India. It continued its natural expansion, but people brought it from Asia to different continents as well. Thus, English walnut is essentially the same species as Circassian walnut. Same applies to many other names used all over the world, such as Turkish walnut, Persian walnut, European walnut, Italian walnut, French walnut, Russian walnut, and so on.
Our stock blanks are made from Circassian walnut that grows in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is geographically very close to the Caucasus, from where Circassian walnut originated – both Bulgaria and the Caucasus region lie on the shores of the Black Sea – the Caucasus to the east, and Bulgaria to the west. That explains why the Circassian walnut we use has characteristics identical to the ones of the trees growing on the slopes of the Caucasus Mountains. Furthermore, every piece of wood is carefully selected before processing into stock blanks, and only pieces that have a perfect coloring, grain, and strength are used for producing blanks. Processing wood into stock blanks is performed by using only the best tools, and following the highest quality standards. The result is a perfect stock blank that will allow you to produce the rifle stock you always wanted.