Thanks for all the comments and inquires on the fowlers, the feed back from peers is an important part of anyone's journey in this endeavor. I will try to address and answer some of your questions.
Tom, Elk Killer you are partially correct on the lock panels. The Bucks Co. gun was inspired by one of the very early ones by E.Bloom. The original used a cut down Bess butt plate and guard, and also used a steel \Bess ram rod, thus it was a beefier gun that what is commonly found in the classic Bucks guns built about 20 years later. The original used a "Tulip trade lock" that was near the size of the L & R Durs Egg lock. The Fordney lower panel could have been about half the size it ended up---amazing what you see after you photograph your guns.
As to staining, I often use LMF Honey Maple as an initial stain. I follow this with a coat of LMF Nut Brown going rather light in wear areas. I then give the entire stock a seal coat of thinned finish. After the seal coat is dried, I come back and rub out the wear areas with a Scotch Brite (maroon) pad. I then shape in the dark areas using Trans Tint dye (Dark Mission Brown) in total I use a total of four trans tint dyes, a honey color, a red/brown and antique maple. These are wiped on over the seal coat and feathered out using progressively lighter dyes on a piece of 4-0 steel wool. After allowing the dyes to dry and gas off over night, I proceed with the follow up coats of finish to fix the colors in place and finish the gun.
Best wishes
Ron
