Puma wood?

[jamesgpobog]

So, I have an early Puma .357 carbine, 16" barrel, no safety, flat blade rear sight. What kind of wood are these guns stocked with? I was looking at the gun today, and the buttstock has some potential, I am seing some significant figure to it, much like the blond Ruger shown below. That was a nasty looking factory stock, blotchy and ugly, until I sanded it down and hit it with Tru-Oil.

I think the Rossi has figure at least that nice. Is it stained birch, or some sort of brown tropical hardwood?

[AJMD429]

Lots of different wood over the years from what I see posted here and elsewhere. Some finishes up very nicely but others are sometimes so bad the owners just paint them...!

If you have an early Rossi like that someone may be able to tell you exactly what it is if you wait a day or so for the experts to check in.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

So, I have an early Puma .357 carbine, 16" barrel, no safety, flat blade rear sight. What kind of wood are these guns stocked with? I was looking at the gun today, and the buttstock has some potential, I am seing some significant figure to it, much like the blond Ruger shown below. That was no good-looking factory stock, blotchy and ugly, until I sanded it down and hit it with Tru-Oil.

I think the Rossi has figure at least that nice. Is it stained birch, or some sort of brown tropical hardwood?

Sounds like you have an early pre-2000 InterArms imported Rossi. They were all done with some sort of Brazillian hardwood. The guns from the 70's to about the late 80's had front and rear wood that somewhat matched. But, from the late 80's to the early 2000's many bof the gun had mis-matched wood that was stained really dark to cover it. Once it was stripped you mighht find a blonde front and a red rear. The current guns, probably from about mid 2000's still have the brazillian hardwood but it matches better and is usually light in color.

[44-40 Willy]

I've always just called it "Brazillian Mystery Wood".

[Hagler]

jamesgpobog,

Here is my EMF/ Rossi Model 92, that was stripped & Tru_Oiled:











Our own Jim Taylor stripped his wood:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/taylor/rossi.htm

"Butt Stock and Forend
The stock was replaced with a crescent stock from a .45 Rossi. A friend had an extra and gave it to me. I prefer the classic look of the crescent stock and while it is more punishing on you with a hard-kicking gun, the .357 does not present that problem.

The original "finish" was stripped off the stock and forend using StrypEze and steel wool. Once down to bare wood the stock and forend were cleaned and dried and then an oil finish was rubbed in. To my eye an oil finish is much nicer. Using a fine wood rasp and sandpaper all the edges of the forend were rounded. For some reason the Rossi comes with sharp edges on the wood. With a little rounding the gun begins to more closely resemble what it was copied from."







Shawn

[jamesgpobog]

Yeah, it's an Interarms. The fore end is pretty much straight grained, but nice, the butt is close to that Tru-oiled one. I think that's the way I'm gonna go.

[Model 52B]

My dad was far more of an expert on wood than I am, but my best guess is that the Rossi/Braztech mystery jungle wood wood is related to basswood. It's a very light, almost white wood, is reasonably hard, fine grained, reasonably lightweight, dimensionally stable, and does not absorb much water or swell in water, dries fast if wetted, and seems to be easy to machine - which all strike me as being consistent with basswood qualities.

So maybe it's a basswood relative - or not.

It's a bear to stain to a satisfactory walnut color and on the current Rossi guns I just apply Tru-oil over the existing finish as it's very porous and also water based (soak if for a couple hours and it will scrub off with a sponge). In that regard I think it's more of a stain than a finish, thus my rationale to just Tru-oil over the top of it. The results look nice:

[jamesgpobog]

My dad was far more of an expert on wood than I am, but my best guess is that the Rossi/Braztech mystery jungle wood wood is related to basswood. It's a very light, almost white wood, is reasonably hard, fine grained, reasonably lightweight, dimensionally stable, and does not absorb much water or swell in water, dries fast if wetted, and seems to be easy to machine - which all strike me as being consistent with basswood qualities.

So maybe it's a basswood relative - or not.

It's a bear to stain to a satisfactory walnut color and on the current Rossi guns I just apply Tru-oil over the existing finish as it's very porous and also water based (soak if for a couple hours and it will scrub off with a sponge). In that regard I think it's more of a stain than a finish, thus my rationale to just Tru-oil over the top of it. The results look nice:

I only have the above Ruger stock to go on, but with it's blotchy looking factory stain, I just had to strip it. If the Rossi wood looks a bit blotchy, will Tru-oil over stain bring out the fiure or will it retain 'blotch'?

[Hagler]

Gents,

Here is some woody truth:

http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... 7&p=409271

The Rossi's I've examined were stocked with what was called "pau louro" (blonde wood) in Brazil. When properly finished it can be quite pretty and it is a very durable wood. Years ago my dad gave me some old fence posts that were laying in a pile for years, exposed to central Brazil's rains and dry seasons. Took them to a friend's shop and he ran them over his plane and came up with some lovely, solid lumber which we then turned into a bed. As NKJ said, it has an acidic odor to it when cut or sanded, but we never had any problems with rust with the cured lumber. I would guess that it was a combination of:

a) improperly dried lumber
b) improperly treated steel
c) ambient humidity at the point of manufacture

All the above combine to provide a recipe for rust. Of course, there may be another explanation. At least they are taking care of you, but it should not have happened in the first place.

Also, remember that Navy Arms' Rossi Model 92s came with walnut stocks. All other Rossi 92s are a mixed bag.

Shawn

[jamesgpobog]

I took the wood off today, cleaned it with Simple Green and started hitting it with Tru-Oil. Oh man, is it gonna be sweet...