Stock scraping question

[Long John]

I thought I would provide a couple of examples, bad examples, of course.  These stocks were scraped, no sand paper ever touched them.





For the larger areas I used the conventional cabinet scrapers, sometimes flat, sometimes convex, sometimes concave and close in near the carving I used small home-made pull scrapers.

It works for me.

JMC

[n stephenson]

Long John , Man those are NICE!!!  That`s some beautiful wood and really nice work.

[smart dog]

Beautiful John!!  Did you use your homemade vinegar stain?

dave

[Long John]

Dave,

Thanks for the compliment. 

Yes.  I have had the same earthen ware crock of stain for 20 years.  Every time I finish a rifle I had some vinegar to the crock, stir it up, let it settle and decant off about half a cup of clear liquid stain.  I have found that it is a good idea to add just one drop of Dawn dish detergent to the half cup of stain.  It breaks down the surface tension of the water and helps the stain penetrate.  I also wash the stock with warm soapy water (Dawn again) as part of my wood cleaning prior to staining.  I whisker the stock, burnish it with a brush made of hemp rope real good before applying stain.

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[Timothy88]

If those are bad examples I would love to see what one of your good guns would look like

[elkhorne]

Long John,
Is your "vinegar stain" the type where old rusty iron pieces are put into vinegar and left to percolate for several weeks? I have used this type of stain on everything from antler knife handles to various wooden projects. My son has made several pieces of furniture for his home and also used this stain with great success. Neat trick with dipping off some stain and adding a drop of Dawn. Great tip. Thanks.
elkhorne

[Long John]

Elkhorne,

Yes.  I just answered another post regarding vinegar/iron stain with more detail.

JMC