Stability of Black Walnut

How stable a wood is Black Walnut? And how good is for machining?

I want to mill some little sticks of walnut to metric dimensions. I need them as step blocks to set the digital scales on my router table. The table is actually a machine called a WoodRat. And because some of my router bits are metric, I need metric step blocks on a flip stop to set:) the center of a cut.

I can't find metrics anywhere, although on eBay I could pay about $160 for a set of steel step blocks. Also called stop gages. My walnut stock is probably at least 5 years old. Can't tell if it is plain sawn or quarter sawn. The 4" blank I have was cut to make a rifle stock.

The little 3" sticks in 3,4,5,6,10mm must hold their dimensions throughout the year.

Gary Curtis
 
gary, walnut machines well and if fairly stable.........BUT it`s wood!......go buy some aluminum and mill your setup blocks from it or use plastic. neither of those will move with humidity swings like any wood will.....
 
Gary, if you need just the one dimension to stay constant, then orient the end grain that way and you'll probably be ok, it doesn't move as much as the other two directions. If that's not accurate enough, try using UHMW plastic or something similar.
 
Gary.....check with a local metals supplier for brass and mill it to spec. Brass could very well be machined to your spec and would remain stable if you are only wanting it for setup. You could have to have a local machine shop mill it for you to your spec.
 
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