L61R Stock wood

[mjbmjb]

Hi. I refinished my FinnBear a few years ago due to an old crack repair in the forend needing some attention. Lately I've been wondering 'again' about the wood used for the stock. I darkened the linseed oil a bit so the natural color is much lighter. The year is 67 or 68 if I remember correctly. With the close ups of the grain in the pics can anyone say definitively if it is a birch or walnut stock? Cheers!

 

[icebear]

It doesn't look to me like French walnut, Arctic birch, or beech - which would be the three woods that would come to mind, based on what is most available and popular in Finland. I've long wondered exactly what wood Sako used for most of the L61R, L579, and L461 rifles. Sako used a dark, heavy stain during that era, and the actual wood underneath seldom had much character. I've seen exceptions and I have one L461 with spectacular wood, but attractive wood is unusual in Sakos of that era. Most of the L46 stocks were made of light-colored French walnut, but clearly the wood was changed in the transition to the L461, etc. Maybe one of our members in Finland has some information.

 

[misako50]

It's walnut. Just not a real good stick.

 

[stonecreek]

It's walnut. Just not a real good stick.

I agree.

Sako represented the stocks on the L-series (except for some early versions of the L46) as "European Walnut". This is essentially the same variety as "French Walnut", just grown somewhere outside of France. Sako tended to pay little attention to the grade of walnut they used, other than to -- mostly -- assure that it was free of knots and defects. Many stocks were quite plain while some were "nice" and a few "spectacular". Yours appears to be plain but sturdy walnut, probably sourced from wherever would offer Sako the best price which might be one or more of the countries of the old Soviet Union since Finland did much of their trade in those days with those closely neighboring states.

 

[mjbmjb]

Thanks for the input. I'm kinda with IceBear though. The bare wood before the linseed oil, especially along the grain in the barrel channel, just didn't strike me as walnut. It was almost cream in color. But the grain shown here doesn't look like birch or beech either. But what other wood beside beech, birch, or walnut could it possibly be? It is my hunting rig and I actually find the wood quite nice, but I am curious about it. Guess I'll never know 100%.