In the vernacular of the time varnish as anything that could be put on a surface and would dry to a shine.
Most gunmaker varnishes were mostly linseed oil. Various resins were used to harden the finish.
The varnishes were still soft and would not check or crack even if dented. These were used into the late 19th century in America on Ballards and such. The harder varnishes used on musical instruments, for example, may be too hard for gunstock use being designed to protect the wood and also to enhance the tonal quality.
The dark varnish on guns like this one stocked in perfectly straight grained maple is pretty common and I suspect would be correct for iron mounted eastern mountain rifles and apparently some northern Kentuckies as well.
I don't know the exact makeup but if it was shop make by Sam Hawken it was surely a low temperature oil varnish with rosin perhaps as a hardener and almost surely some lead to provide increased drying speed and color.
This finish shows no checks, flaking or other failures of finish other than where its has worn away or been broken/torn by impacts that damaged the wood under it. But its not something I would use on figured wood. But it would color and protect plain wood in one or 2 coats so the wood finish could be ready for use in a couple of days at the most.
With some more playing around I have found that an oil varnish will go on a scraped finish and not raise the grain at all. But it does not impart enough color to the wood to work well on curly maple and it needs to be somewhat darker to really color plain maple. But I quickly scraped a piece of curl maple and painted on some stuff I cooked up and it put on a shine and did not raise the grain. So this is a learning experience. Had I heated the varnish, which I though I had grossly overcooked, then applied it hot it may have given better curl definition but would likely require thinner coats.
I think that traditional finishes are largely ignored today with the availability of modern synthetics or hot beeswax which has no documentation in gunstocking.
Part of this is the black eye given to linseed by people trying to use modern "boiled oil" as stock finish. This started to occur probably in the late 19th or early 20th century when the technology was apparently lost with the coming of the modern factory made "better liveing through chemistry" finishes. The technology of making a simple high oil content varnish degenerated into the shiney, thick coatings found on some modern guns that would not survive one hunting trip. The synthetic finishes also make the wood look very bland and can sometime make the stock look like a painted or printed surface with no depth.
I think this is a shame.
This a rough cut walnut 2x4 that was given to me 15 years ago I suppose. I was looking for figure and set in the the mill and ran a 3" flycutter over it to clean it up.
It was never sanded and was pretty rough. I just smeared some of my heavy fill oil on it to show a couple of fellow Longrifle fans how the heavy, very thick oil would spread on wood and fill it. I set it back in the corner by the door and in a day or two I noticed how it had colored the rough unsanded wood. This oil has been left open to form a skin and continue to thicken and is several years old now.
So I got into a cabinet and retrieved some varathane stuff we had used in the house on some wainscoting. I gave it a does of this as a comparison. When this was taken both had set on the wood for about 3 weeks or more, no sun just out of the way in the corner.
I got it out and saws a chunk off for some other project and decided it warranted a photo.
It dramatically shows WHY I won't use clear finishes. Note the change in color where the heavy (to thick to really drip off a finger dipped in the jar) oil was wiped on vs the plastic finish.
If anyone wonders how I can tell a plastic finish from oil this should pretty well tell the tale.
The area with the light colored varathane is actually smoother than the cut where the heavy coat of oil is.
But note how the boiled oil enhances the grain structure. Having stripped the finish from a walnut stocked plastic coated Browning 1878 some years back I can assure you that there is a major difference in a gunsmith type linseed oil on walnut and plastic as used by Browning on this particular gun.
Had I sanded the wood then cut the oil back to the wood surface it would look far better than it does. There is significant build up on the rough wood surface here that I would never leave on a gunstock. But is shows how a dark boiled oil serves as a finish and a stain on walnut.
While the reaction of maple is not as dramatic the dark oil does enhance the way the wood appears compared to clear finishes.
I know I sound like a broken record but modern clear finishes are not correct for a gunstock unless recreating a 1970s-90s breechloader. The do not provide the proper look. But they are faster drying and almost anyone can use them with pretty good success. They are engineered for this but they sacrifice looks for ease of use.
There are others who post here with far more experience than I in making oil varnishes and such.
Dan
