Goodtime27,
When I have the stock prepared to the point of staining, I use Febing's leather dye. I use a small bottle of Febing's dark brown as the base color to stain the stock. I pour the top portion of the dark brown down to the level of the top of the label on the bottle, add enough of their black dye to fill the bottle up to the original level in the dark brown bottle, and shake the combo up to mix it well. I use one of their swabs to stain the stock. While the modified stain combo dries, I use a small portion of the black tar like substance used to seal around vents that come through roof vents mixed with kerosene to form a dark black liquid. When the leather die combo is dry, I swab the mixture of tar and kerosene on top of the dried leather die combo. I let the stock dry overnight. I then take fine sandpaper and steel wool to bring the very dark nasty color stock back to the color I am looking for. I seal the stock using several hand rubbed coats of Tung Oil until it has a satin finish and is sealed. I finish up the finish by hand rubbing Linseed oil and Johnson paste wax until I get a satin finish. I alternate the application of Linseed oil and paste wax until I get a smooth satin finish. The process is work intensive, but it results in slick antique look that I am looking for. An old friend of mine taught me how to finish stocks this way after he heard me complain about my stain changing colors with time. I tried the process and have never turned back. Try it on a piece of scrap to see how it looks. It is work intensive and time consuming, but I like the look and feel of the finished stock.
Roger
