Help With Finish Selection

Down to choosing finish on a build....and have decided to go lighter on this one. Here's a couple pictures of where I want to end up and I have a piece of wood very much on par with the top picture. Any advice on options to get me to this finish. I want to stay away from reds and really bring the natural tone of the wood out like these. Even the second picture is a bit redder than I want. Thanks.

As a just sorta handy guy with the woods. I have taken a liking to the acid stains for fancy maple. Experience has taught me I am very good at screwing up projects. :redface: The acid stains allow diluting and repeated applications until the desired degree of darkness is achieved. Some testing is necessary as the wet stain will appear darker than when it dries. Of course neutralizing quickly to stop the acid action is necessary. Nearly goof proof. Tell us what you decide and show pics of final results. Good luck.

Take a look at LMF Honey Maple on TOW website.

Here's the stock I'm using....unfortunately very early on and roughed out. Yes....it had cheekpieces for a left or right build when I found it :grin: Just to give an idea of the actual piece in question.

That's some great looking wood! I know that from looking at Keith's (birddog6) website he's got a great looking rifle finished as you've mentioned. I know he likes Dangler's stains, but it might be worth shooting him a PT about it. He's always a great help to me!

Great looking wood! Where did you get it? How much did it cost?

Bought it off an auction site just as you see it there. It was a consignment item and barrel channel was already cut at 1". I was getting ready to do a big-bore for larger game so it became the basis for a .62 caliber. Can't remember what final price was, but south of $200 for sure.

What an awesome score! If I were to find a piece of wood like that at a price like that it would certainly influence what I built next too. Organic products like this occur as they occur, and you just have to take them when you can.

This is not on a finished piece of wood, and of course stain can look different from stock to stock. This is Home Dangler's Golden Brown

DSCN0667 by mdheaser

The bad part about it is that there's no spare chunks to test finish on. Much like Indiana Jones I have to "choose wisely" :grin:

right you are. There's always the barrel channel though. I once spliced in a small wedge to an over-inletted piece thinking that maple is maple when it comes to a piece only 1/16" wide, and the color was completely wrong, so I ripped it out and tig welded on more steel instead.

Is that Dangler's Golden Brown diluted at all or just applied straight? It's a great color.

If you want to add some color to your wood, I have had good luck using leather dye. It goes on dark but you just use 4 ought steel wool to buff it back to the depth of color that you want. You can also dilute it to give an even lighter color. Just buff with the steel wool until you have the color that you want. For the final finish, I like to use Birchwood-Casey's stock finish, Tru Oil or Linspeed. Apply extremely light coats with your finger tips, rub in thoroughly and allow each coat to dry over night. then buff with 4 ought steel wool just enough to remove the shine. Not too hard or you will remove the finish. It is very thin at this point. Keep applying additional coats in this manner, allowing each to dry for 24 hours, until you have applied around 10 or 12 coats. Now, let it sit in a nice dry place to cure for a few days (about a week) and then lightly buff with the 4 ought steel wool to the soft sheen that you like. Now, you can use the gun if you wish but if you can stand the wait, let the stock sit in your nice dry place to cure for about a month. Then use a product called Stock Sheen. It, too, is a Birchwood-Casey product. It has waxes and extremely fine abrasives in it. Use it as directed and you will end up with a gorgeous stock finish that will resemble or exceed the one in your pictures.

Use nitric acid. Blush with a heat gun then neutralize with ammonia. It'll look just like that top photo.

stuartg said:

Is that Dangler's Golden Brown diluted at all or just applied straight? It's a great color.

Click to expand...

Straight out of the bottle.

Hi,
Just cut off the cheek piece on one side and use that, or test some finishes now before shaping. That stock has loads of extra wood with which to test.

dave

All the pieces were shipped to a builder and likely in the white by now. I'm waiting to hear back to ask if he might have saved any pieces for testing.

Problem with leather dyes on wood is it tends to fade over time. Used it on the riser of a longbow and after ten years it had faded badly.

If you wet the wood, and like the color, maybe you don't need any stain, just a clear sealer. The finish product might make it a shade darker, than just water. Just an idea. Have to try a scrap piece to know.

Here's another option for you if you wand a more translucent and redder hue to it.
http://www.neahkahnieflintlocks.com/red-violin-varnish.html

Use some genuine Madder Lake pigment in your varnish to get the color you want. (spendy at $89 for 50gr.) I like the thinnest finish I can get that will protect the wood. I have no practical experience with this stuff.