stain choice

[rogerpjr]

I am close to finishing a new rifle for my daughter.  The stock is a nicely figured hard curly maple.  She wants it to come out a brown color lighter than walnut but with no reddish or greenish cast in the color.  I figure something with a dark honey color offsetting the darker brown in the stripes might look real nice.  I am wondering what you guys think about the different stains I have on hand.  I have on hand some LMF Lancaster Maple, TOW Aquafortis and some of the original Magic Maple stains.  I think the Magic Maple may tend to leave some greenish cast to the stock though but I'm not sure.  I also have some LMF maple, cherry and walnut stains but none of these will really work, although I could try doing some mixing of colors.  Problem is I don't have any leftover pieces of the stock for testing and there is limited space to test inside the barrel channel since it is a half stock rifle.  I plan on finishing it with TOW Original Oil Finish.   

[jerrywh]

 The trouble with making recommendations is the fact that very few pieces of wood come out the same color with the same die. A weak nitric acid would probably be the safest for what you want.  I don't like it when there is carving though because it raises the grain so bad.

[Angus]

You have material to work with. Carefully test small sections of the barrel channel.

[David R. Pennington]

I have personally never found anything I like better than aqua fortis on maple. I think pigmented stains tend to cloud and obscure grain patterns. You can vary the color of AF by multiple applications, more or less heat and whether or not you dissolve iron in it. Also rubbing back will lighten to some degree.  I use my own home made AF with iron filings in it and even then it never looks real red to me. I also agree that no two pieces of the same species will always come out the same even from the same tree sometimes. I never used the store bought variety because it wasn't available when I was looking for it so I bought a big bottle of nitric acid from a chemical supplier and make my own in small batches as I need it.

[smallpatch]

Lancaster maple will trend toward red/amber.  Magic maple WILL turn green.
I use ferric nitrate  to bring out the curl, you will get what the chemistry of the woods allows, then tint up with alcohol stains.  Nut brown is the most brown in the LMF brand.

Dangler has some nice colors that are less red.  Dark brown and golden brown.
Like Jerry said, each piece of wood is different, and reacts differently to Aqua fortis / ferric nitrate.
The only way to know for sure is TEST!
If you thin the stains, you can build up successive coats to get the shade you want.

[E.vonAschwege]

Throw your Magic Maple in the trash barrel - it is no good and WILL turn the stock green with time.  I don't have a clue why on earth it is still sold...

A weak nitric/aquafortis solution would give a good base color for your stock, and you can tweak it with diluted aniline dyes - probably honey maple if you want to keep it light and not too red. 

-Eric

[mark esterly]

weak aqua fortis will get darker with each application and blush.  you don't need to stop at just one coat.

[gumboman]

My Tennessee Mountain rifle is stained with Magic Maple, built 30 years ago using curly maple wood and has not turned green at all. No hint of green. In fact it is the exact same color as the day the stain was applied but a little darker.

[g rummell]

I'd use a Ferric Nitrate wash, followed by heat, then a good scrubbing with a scotch brite pad, and then followed by the LMF Honey Maple.

[smallpatch]

Gumbo,

Put it in the sun for a day......instant green

[FrontierMuzzleloading]

birchwood casey walnut will get a nice dark brown.

[Okefinokee Outlaw]

Although not on their website, I think Tiger Hunt sells a chestnut brown.

[little joe]

I.v used Magic Maple on soft,hard, and all maples in between and I have never had it to turn green. One of the first ML,s I built  [33yrs. ago]is hanging on the wall  now and today I shot with a fellow who has one from 20 yrs ago and both show no signs of green cast.

[Virginiarifleman]

I use Tiger hunt stain on my Rifles. works very well and color depends on how many coats you use. like previously said.......test on the barrel channel.

[smallpatch]

Maybe it's just the AZ sun.  It IS intense.  I've seen at least q dozen guns here that have turned the sickest shade of green.  Some people like them this way.  Go figure.