Asphaltum as wood stain: Anyone experienced with it?

[Roger B]

I've seen one stock stained with asphaltum & really liked the results. I might want to try it myself after some experimentation on scrap. Does anyone know how to use it? I know it can be obtained at art stores.
Roger B.

[bluenoser]

I have used asphalt on maple and am very happy with the dark finish. I assume asphaltum is about the same thing.
 The finish goes in deep and left the stock with a somewhat translucent finish that has stood up well over the years.  I dissolved the asphalt in turpentine - probably close to the saturation point.  Painted it on and wiped the excess off, followed by BLO.  I am quite certain I did not use AF or ferric nitrate.  I will look to see if I have any pics to post.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Yes it can be used to get a good color, more on the brown side than the red-brown or "chestnut" of AF, however no matter how you dissolve it (true turp is best) it is a pigment not a stain, and it will create a more 'grainy' appearance than a true stain such as AF.  In other words the pigment will collect in wood pores and you will be able to see the actual grain - not curl or figure, but the grain - more readily than if a truly transparent or translucent coloring agent were used.  I have found this to be the case with pretty much everything sold or described as "asphaltum" including true gilsonite that Bill Knight gave me over 20 years ago.

[flinchrocket]

https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=49810.msg494147#msg494147.                           
 Scroll up to the top of this page. For some reason it wants to start in the middle.

[bluenoser]

As a former, and now retired, Cabinetmaker, I am familiar with pigment accumulation on the surface, and cannot say I saw any accumulation on one stock I did.  In my opinion, it did produce a transparent and translucent finish.  Perhaps the difference lies in the way I prepared the stain.  I put the soft asphalt and pure gum turps in a container and let them sit for several days, stirring occasionally.  After the turps had absorbed all the color I thought it could, I poured off the liquid and let it sit to allow any solids to settle out.  It was that liquid I applied, allowed to penetrate and then wiped off.  It is definitely not a surface-only finish.
Experimentation is always a good idea.

[rsells]

Roger,
I use asphalt in the process I go through to stain my rifle stocks.  I have gotten good results over all these years.  I stain the stock with Fiebing's dark brown leather dye with a splash of black stain added for the first coat.  I take a new bottle of dark brown and pour some out to get the level of dye even with the top of the label.  Then, I pour enough black dye in to get back to the original level in the bottle, shake it up, and stain the stock with the solution.  I let it dry overnight.  The next day I coat the stock with a bit of kerosene with asphalt dissolved in it.  I apply the asphalt/kerosene solution to the stock and let it dry overnight.  The asphalt solution soaks into the open end grain of the curl in maple and brings out the curl.  The stock is really ugly when it dries.  Next, I apply Formby's low gloss tung oil with fine steel wool and rub the finish back until I get the look I want.  I finish the stock with tung oil until I can apply a drop of water, let it set, and rub it off without seeing a print of the water.  After that, I hand rub several coats of boiled linseed oil  followed by wax until I am satisfied with the look.  It is a bit labor intensive, but well worth the work.  Attached is a photo of a VA rifle I made and finished with this process.
                                                                                    Roger Sells   

[Bob Gerard]

Resells that is an amazingly handsome rifle you built. Wonderful finish. It’s stunning actually.

[rsells]

Bob,
Thanks.  I made two rifles at the same time out of similar quality wood that I got from Freddy Harrison.  The one in the photo was a smooth bore with a single trigger, and the other was a .54 with double set triggers.  I originally planned to keep one for myself, but I ended up selling both of them several years ago.  I really wish I had hug on to the .54, but let it go as well.  I have a set of hardware to build another for me, but haven't taken time to make the rifle yet.
                                                                                                           Roger

[Roger B]

You guys are a wealth of information & I really appreciate your help!  I'll try some on scrap & see what kind of damage I can cause. Thanks very much!
Roger B.

[Stonehouse john]

FWIW, I'm occasionally asked to either build a "companion piece" for an antique piece of furniture or to repair or otherwise match the old woodwork on some historic piece.  Asphaltum (dissolved in pure gum turps) is my secret weapon for getting an exact aged tone on cherry.  I don't really use it on other woods because I have other finishes I prefer the look of, but there's nothing else I have found that will create such a perfect match for 100+ years of sunlight oxidation on a freshly planed cherry surface. 

As horrifying as this might sound, the "asphaltum" I've used for years comes straight out of a caulking tube of "tab cement" from the roofing aisle of the home center.  I don't use this because it's cheep and easy (although it is), I use it because it does the job perfectly.
Ironically, I live very near a company that sells pure Stockholm pine tar in any size from quarts to 55 gal. drums, so it's not like I can't get "good tar".  I do use the Stockholm for many other purposes but the tab cement just does the best job for aging wood finishes.

Rsells, that stock finish looks FANTASTIC!

-John

[bluenoser]

Same here.  My "asphalt" comes from a quart can of asphalt roofing cement.  I have also used pine tar, which  is an entirely different product with an entirely different result. Love the smell.

[Curtis]

This stock has very little curl to it, but was stained with asphaltum also.... https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=68633.0

I have experimented with it on very curly maple scraps and have had great results.

Curtis