Undertaking a hobby that’s worth the wait

There are plenty of hobbies out there that are instantly gratifying.

Others take their good, sweet time to provide a payout.

Rocky Troyer’s hobby is definitely the latter.

Troyer took on a hobby that will take more than two years to complete, that being the creation of making a gun stock out of crab apple wood, wood that once harvested will take two years to dry before he can even begin to craft the 18-inch root block into a gun stock.

He’s willing to wait.

“There’s something special about making something with your own two hands,” Troyer said. “And this crab apple stump should be pretty ideal to do what I hope to do.”

Crab apple wood is a type of fruitwood: dense, hard and with a tight grain. Historically, it has been used for tool handles and sometimes fine gun stocks.

Crab apple tree roots are tough and hard and create an attractive figure when properly finished, and the wood takes stain and oil well.

So when Troyer got permission to take apart the crab apple stump in the field across from his childhood home in Berlin to try to craft a gun stock or two out of it, he was pleased.

“Once apple wood is seasoned correctly, it hardly ever warps,” Troyer said.

However, as excited as he was to dig up the roots from the tree, which would provide the wood most dense and perfect for the stock, there was one minor detail that wasn’t quite as pleasing.

Troyer had to dig out the root using hand tools, and on top of that, he had to do so during what had become summer’s hottest days.

For Troyer, this was a new experience, but one he was eager to tackle.

“I’ve never done a rifle gun stock before,” Troyer said, noting he has made pistol grips and a knife handle before.

Growing up across the road from the tree, Troyer said his mom would take him out on the porch and he would gaze at the tree as it grew.

“It does have a great deal of sentimental history for me, so that is a big part of why I wanted to use this wood,” Troyer said.

The tree was cut down in late winter, having started to rot out. Part of it had fallen down, and while the stump itself was useless because of the rot, Troyer believed underneath was a hearty root system.

He was correct, but the hard part was getting that root out.

It took a great deal of effort to dig carefully around the root system, and with only hand tools at his disposal, Troyer labored through some dreadfully hot days to successfully remove the portion of the root needed for the stock.

The large root Troyer sought was semi-covered by another somewhat large root, which made the removal process difficult. In addition, he had to carefully cut through the hard clay surrounding the stump so as not to harm the root.

However, Troyer was persistent and eventually worked his way around the other root, exposing the larger root he wanted. It was an arduous process but one he kept at.

Once removed, the root wood will need seasoned for at least two years before he can remove the sap wood and get to the good stuff that won’t warp.

“I was excited about the challenge, but boy, this has been hard work,” he said.

As far as hobbies go, this type of effort isn’t easy or quick, but one thing Troyer said it will be is satisfying once the job is done, many months from now.

So for Troyer, patience will have to be a virtue.