Lyman GPR wood coloring

[Scota4570]

I have been rescuing a kit for a friend.   The wood is some sort of "euro-asia-trash".  It s not walnut or maple, it smalls of camphor.  The grain is very open  and it has a green tint.

After making the shape as good as I could I went to staining with dye stains and tinted lacquer.  I then knocked off the high spots to simulate wear. My idea was to make it look sort of like original Hawkens.  I don't care for it. 

I am now thinking of just blacking the wood with the dark walnut tinted lacquer  and finishing over that.  I have not worked on the metal yet, that is a different project.  Any ideas or comments on dealing with the wood?
 

[grabenkater]

I have had good results from wiping the wood with pure acetone and then layering with   Homer Dangler dyes. The acetone seems to remove any oils and "opens" the  grain.

[rich pierce]

 Color photos are often deceiving but it looks kind of flat and cold in tone.  I would want to redden it up a little with some warm toned dye in this case.

[Pukka Bundook]

I'd give it a doing with Fiebing's leather dye, dark Brown.
Being for leather, it will soak into almost anything, and has a nice rich reddish colour.

It was my old pal Ron Ehlert first told me about this stain, and have used it a lot ever since.  It will likely go on over what you have there already. Just let it soak in and dry a day or two before oiling.  You can however, take a cloth and rub off the excess after a few minutes.

Hope this helps.
Richard.

[54ball]

 Personally I think it's the finish rather than the wood. Before I would add anything on top of it I would rub it back some to reveal some more color.

 Mine had good wood, some type of walnut species. Most of these have a band of lighter color through that finishes gold. Most that I have seen tend to be a dead looking reddish brown with those lighter golden streaks.

 Green hue... I have not seen that on a GPR. I wonder what mystery product was put on there?

 These stocks tend to look flat and dead. It takes a lot if finish build up to fill the grain and get it to a satin glow. When they get to that glow that gold in the stock starts to "pop".

 So before I would add more stuff to muddy it up, I would rub it back some more. After that I would start with my clear finish...oil varnish or tung oil. Like I said these stocks tend to look dead but after building up the final finish and rubbing it out they tend to come alive. 

[Scota4570]

"Green hue... I have not seen that on a GPR. I wonder what mystery product was put on there?

No mystery, I used Chamber's dye stains.  I bought all of them, mix and match.  To fill the grain I used dark mahogany paste grain filler.  The top is/ was dark walnut lacquer.  I am sure the wood is not walnut.

I wiped it down with lacquer thinner and removed the lacquer top layer.  The "Maple" color stain looked better, a hint of red-orange. 

[54ball]

 Rereading my post it sounded condescending... I assure you Scota, that was not my intent.
 By mystery stuff I meant what "might" have been put on it before you got it since it was a "kit" re-do/rescue and you mentioned the camphor smell.

 I really think when you start with the top coats the look will really improve. It took several applications of finish on mine before it starting looking right. Waxed...made it look that much better.  Mine is 22 years old though.
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr