Thank's Keb and Wayne,
I think the owner will be happy. Wayne, thanks for asking about stain and finish. I am experimenting with a new strategy (for me at least). The wood is very white and it has quite a bit of curl but much is somewhat indistinct. To help it pop out, I am first painting the stock with strong tea. I am actually first using the tea to whisker the stock and color it slightly as I do the final scraping. The slight color allows me to see where I've scraped and where I haven't on the light wood and the tea adds a little tannin to the wood. Then I will paint it a last time with tea and let dry, after which I will use ferric nitrate. This method seemed to work really well on some test pieces. The finish will be Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil. This is my go to standard because I can make it look like almost any original finish depending on how I apply it, number of coats, and if I rub it back or not. Moreover, polymerized tung oil is very weather resistant. As I proceed, I'll gauge the final look and may add a little spar varnish to the oil if I want a shinier more brittle appearance sometimes seen on originals. My objective at the moment is a hard but mellow sheen using just the oil.
dave