Stock finish?

[Tennessee.45]

I'm almost to the point of finishing the stock on my Virginia rifle and I'm not sure what all I need, I was thinking of using Aquafortis but not sure what to use? I really want the curl to stand out

[Mauser06]

I will preface by saying I am FAR from a pro....I have finished exactly 1 rifle...in fact it was the only piece of maple I've ever finished...



I wanted the curl and figure to pop and have a rifle that is something to look at....



I did a lot of reading and trying to figure out how to accomplish that...


Through what I read I decided for my approach to do the following..


I started by scraping the stock rather than sand it...I had NO idea that scraping was a thing...while working on the rifle I noticed areas that I cut clean were very clear and hard...areas that I sand were sanded..a soft feel and not the clear appears...it made sense to me to scrape not sand..


I whiskered and scraped 3x I think...

I then used Kiblers's tannic acid and then iron nitrate...I wanted to turn my curl dark and try to keep the wood light and give it as much contrast as i could... looking back I should have really slathered on both  products on heavily and maybe did a 2nd application of the iron nitrate but I didn't...



After hearing the iron nitrate I used Chamber's oil finish on a piece of scotch brite to rub out the acid finish to the color I wanted...


I oiled the stock heavily and let it hand and kept it wet...then after it seemed to soak up what it was going to I went over it lightly to clean up the excess...I let that dry hard a couple days...

From there I burnished it with an antler and finished it by hand...rubbing out the coats of oil with rottenstone in between...time consuming...messy...extra dry time...but gives a clear hand rubbed finish...























The finish, to me, is amazing...it's truly holographic in a sense... different lighting, angles, etc change the way the stock looks...


I had no idea what I was doing....but I am very pleased with the finish of the rifle...


I've never done a scraped finish...I left a few marks but I learned a good bit...


The acid finishes were fun...you can see I highlighted some areas on the check piece and forearm and left areas like around the lock and cheek piece darker...I didn't intend to do that but rubbed a little much on the cheek piece and realized I could do what I did pretty easily and give it a bit or a worn appearance...I think it turned out alright for my first attempt...

[Chowmi]

I am also not an expert, so take this with the appropriate weight.

First thing, is, do your research.  You said Virginia rifle.  Early, late, ornate, poor boy?  What kind of Virginia rifle?  Then look at some examples because the finish might be different.

I assume you have a maple stock, if not, then the answer might be different as well. 

Beyond that, if you have a curly maple stock and you want the finish to show the striping, and it is an earlier rifle, then use either Aqua Fortis or Ferric Nitrate.  There are dozens, if not more, posts on this forum as to how to use AF/FN, so I won't go over it. 

You can also use a stain after Aqua Fortis to bring out colors that you might want. 

Here is an example of an Ohio rifle that I did.  I used Ferric Nitrate, then Laurel Mountain Forge Lancaster Maple stain.  Followed by Permalyn Sealer and then Chamber's Traditional Oil Finish.  I thought it came out really well, and I got the luminescence that folks talk about. 

IMG_3492 by chowmif16, on Flickr

IMG_3496 by chowmif16, on Flickr

There are several ways to do this, and my example is only one. 
However, as a new builder, I found it to be easy and it gave me what I think are pretty darn good results. 

Cheers,
Norm

[moleeyes36]

You might want to look at this link of Jim Kibler's finishing products https://kiblerslongrifles.com/collections/finishing-supplies.  Click the picture of each product to get an idea of what your stock would look like if you used it.  To get a nice darker finish with the grain highlighted, you might want to use Jim's Tannic Acid process. 

As for final finish,  Jim Chambers's Traditional Oil Finish is easy to use and produces a very nice finish.  Many on the forum use Jim Chambers' oil, but there are more finishes out there than "skeeters" in Florida.

Mole Eyes