Making an artificial "tiger stripes" pattern on gunstock?

[ntech]

Hello.
I've bought Pedersoli AN IX musket in kit.
Now, I'm thinking about making artificial "tiger stripes" pattern on stock.Unfortunatelly I dont know how to do it.
Could someone explain, step by step this process?
Thanks for any advice

 

[paulvallandigham]

What kind of wood is the stock made from?

Tiger Stripes in real wood are stress lines formed by the wind swaying the tree back and forth during its lifetime. If you have ever seen " Fiddle-back Maple" in a sting instrument, its the same thing.

Articificially making " tiger stripes " can be done several ways.

Paint: use paint to paint the stripes on.

Heat: Wrap the stock with some kind of tape, or with rope, spaced apart, and then scorch the wood between the material to created dark stripes. You will rub off the char, if any in the final sanding, and finishing, but you will have " tiger stripes".
If you are going to use this method, you woud get much help by looking at a stock that has actual tiger stripes on it. The stripes are not uniform in thickness or width, or are they parallel lines, like the stripes on a candy cane. Some people take the time to cover the entire stock with a masking tape, then use an exacto knife, or razor to cut away the areas they want to " stripe ". This is similar to what painters do for putting flames on cars, and motor cycles.

Try this out on a ramrod first. See if you really like the result. If not you don't have a lot of money invested in that ramrod, and you can replace it.

 

Sebastian, you may want to get a book or two on graining. I have seen graining methods used on old original 18th century guns.

The striping done on plain maple stocks of the 19th century were done by painting them on after all the sanding and scraping and burnishing was done. Usually with ink. Look at Lemans production rifles for the indian trade for examples there.

For your purposes though, I would recommend the 18th century graining methods.

 

[Sherlock]

Actually Henry Leman, whose gun factory in Pennsylvania produced tens of thousands of artificially striped trade guns and store guns, had artisans who simply used a paintbrush, similar to a modern one, with gaps cut into the bristle mounting so as to leave a repeatable pattern of stripes and spacing. They used a variety of staining agents from paint of the period to India ink, to the acid used to color curly maple, depending on the quality of the gun. A simple varnish was a common finish over the striping. Although many artisans striped gunns differently there are some commonalities with the typical wood work of the time. My personal view is that the burning rope story is just that. Wonky

 

[flintlock75]

I have read somewhere that to make artificial stripes, use 1/4" cotton rope soaked in iron oxide solution and then wrap the stock at whatever intervals you want the striping. Then let it sit for a week or two. This allows the wood to soak up the particles, lightly sand and stain as normal.I would test this on a peice of scrap wood first.

 

[Doc Arroyo]

Hello.
I've bought Pedersoli AN IX musket in kit.
Now, I'm thinking about making artificial "tiger stripes" pattern on stock.Unfortunatelly I dont know how to do it.
Could someone explain, step by step this process?
Thanks for any advice

I played with a cheap CVA stock recently. A couple of coats of Laurel Mountain stains...I think I used cherry and nut brown. After rubbing it down I added stripes of nutbrown stain with a toothpick as an applicator. Then a coat of sealer, but some of the stripes rubbed off. So I added a number of other stipes with a toothpick and India ink. Then a couple of coats of Permalyn stock finish. The knife is a nice peice of maple...the gunstock is CVA mystery wood.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Doc, I believe that is the prettiest CVA stock that I have ever seen!

 

[Mulebrain]

Here is a CVA KY I did with copper wire wrapped, and gas torch!

Here is my second attempt!

 

[faw3]

"the gunstock is CVA mystery wood" are ya sure it's wood ?? :rotf: Ive got one my kids have sanded and sandeeed somemore on and it stays white a art paper when any stain is put on, I'm starting to think they had just a little wood and lot of new "wonder what not for those ? other ? ML's :cursing: and maybe they mixed a batch together, maybe spray paint is a idea for his one :rotf: Fred :hatsoff: ( GREAT CVA's WOOD YOU GUYS ) :thumbsup:

 

[Stophel]

India ink. This seems to have been a relatively common procedure in the Lehigh/Eastern Berks county area.

Here's one I painted stripes on, but have yet to do the red varnish over top.

Oh, and it took me about 2 hours or more to paint those cussed stripes on.

 

[maypo59]

Here is a CVA KY I did with copper wire wrapped, and gas torch!


Here is my second attempt!

That looks great, what did you learn/do different between the two? feel free to elaborate, 'cause I would like to try it on the kit I am doing now.. :grin:

 

[ntech]

Thanks for all of your responses.I think I will use wire and torch which look simplest way to obtain this pattern.Of course I will try first on piece of wood.Thank you all

 

Sebastian,

I talked with Jack Brooks in CO about this a couple of years ago. He has done a lot of research in the past on Lemans and other trade rifles that commonly had faux curl painted on. He said India ink was common like Stophel mentions above, but also said that the patterns on original rifles often appeared to repeat as if they used a trimmed brush to apply it. Another very knowledgeable longrifle researcher recently told me that Fiebing's shoe dye works equally well. There was an article in Muzzleloader Magazine in a recent issue by Mike Nesbitt where he used the Fiebings dye on a rifle he was building for a young fellow and it looked quite nice. I've seen a few original pieces that had painted on curl and none of them appeared to be burned in.

Good luck with your experimenting,

Sean

 

[Mulebrain]

Keep the wire as close together as possible, and leave around a 16th of an inch between the wraps. I will say, that wrapping the wire around, can and will indent the wood a little. The paint on method looks pretty darn nice too!

 

[zukeeper1]

so if you paint the stripes on , what kind of paint do you use ? and I assume you follow the paint with a stain instead of an oil correct ?

 

[Stophel]

India ink is a paint of sorts. As I understand it, it is made of carbon black (charcoal/soot), shellac, and something else, I don't recall. It is jet black. Fill the grain first, then paint on the stripes, then put an oil varnish over top of the stripes.

The Lehigh gun stripes were individually painted, while the Leman stripes were painted on multiple rows at a time with a brush with a series of brush heads in a pattern, or just a regular wide brush with the bristles cut away at regular intervals.

 

For you fellas that may want to try it Leman style, use a flat and you can use a lace hole punch from your leather work to cut spaces in the brush. A flat is a type of artist brush. Get a flat that is made from red sable hair for your best job. You can buy India Ink and the red sable water color brushes from your local art supply dealer.
Good luck!

Here are three pix of work by Leman's own hand. He was a master of this technique in my opinion.
Photos courtesy of a fellow forum member. Enjoy!!!

 

and another original..

 

[paulvallandigham]

I have never seen a tiger with that many stripes so close together. Obviously, Leman never saw a real tiger, either. Frankly, I don't like either gun, and I don't care that they are originals. Some of the tiger striping examples show above that were done free hand are much better done, and far more attractive.

People have to decide are they trying to imitate a Tiger, or are they trying to go for Fiddleback, as seen in many maple stocks. If you want tiger, then paint them on ala Leman. If you want fiddleback, burning rope or strings around the wood will draw moisture from the stocks, and after sanding, they will show the cross grain marks similar to true fiddleback.

 

[Pork Chop]

Paul,

Do you have a photo of a rifle that had the rope burned off to immitate the fiddleback? I would like to see that. I don't much care for the painted on stripes...