Stock stained with acid....

[Etienne Brule]

Hi everybody,

I just bought a nice hexagonal Withworth; I think that this stock was acid stained. The stock is probably a cherry wood.

I took off some scratches with boiling water (many many times) and the wood came out straight with a 600 paper sanding paper.

Now those retouched patches are "at wood"

Problem:

I tried to stain those parts with oak dark: no way, no stain would penetrate those parts !!

I use alcool to take off all dirt,...

I know that the stokc was:
1- acid stained
2- Circa oil 3 to 6 times
3- Antiquax for the finish

I was thinking to apply some Aquafortis to those patch.

Any advice would be greatly welcome.

Thank you.

Etienne Brule

[Dennis Glazener]

Acid stain will turn Cherry black. Age will turn it very dark.
Dennis

[Bioprof]

Lye will also darken cherry and make it look 100 years old.

[T*O*F]

I just bought a nice hexagonal Withworth; I think that this stock was acid stained. The stock is probably a cherry wood.

Etienne,
Is your gun an original or a replica?

In either case, the stock will not be cherry, nor will it be acid stained.

If it's an original gun, you have already destroyed its value considerably.

If it's a replica, let us know who made it and we can advise you further.

[Stophel]

If it's an original gun, you have already destroyed its value considerably.

yes, indeed!   

[Etienne Brule]

I just bought a nice hexagonal Withworth; I think that this stock was acid stained. The stock is probably a cherry wood.

Etienne,
Is your gun an original or a replica?

In either case, the stock will not be cherry, nor will it be acid stained.

If it's an original gun, you have already destroyed its value considerably.

If it's a replica, let us know who made it and we can advise you further.

Hi TOF,

No, it is NOT  an original.

It is a replica and I know the guy who make it: it is realy a cherry wood stock.

Maybe I put too much hot water on those spots: the stain dan go through the wood...

I am now trying to let the wood dry and I will wait one week...  I hope it will work... 

Any other advice would be welcome !!!

Etienne Brule

[Long John]

Etienne,

You should contact the maker to find out what kind of finish she/he applied.  It sounds to me like a penetrating sealer has been used on the stock to stabilize the wood surface.  If so subsequent stains should not penetrate.  Once you know what finishing system was used you can begin to develop a strategy for refinishing.

Best Regards,

John Cholin

[keweenaw]

In the future when you're trying to remove dents, the way to do it is to soak a cotton cleaning patch in water, put it over the area to be raised and then apply a hot iron to the patch to drive steam into the dent.  The flat part of the tip of a big soldering iron will work, a clothes iron will generally cover too much area.  It may take several applications to get the dent up but because you are driving steam into the wood and not saturating it with water, you'll usually do little damage to the surrounding finish or underlying stain.  Of course some finishes won't take this treatment very well but most finishes used on guns will survive.  One can then just touch up the finish w/o having to redo the stain.  You'll find that it is almost impossible to sand spots and then blend them back in.  A little bit of the residual of a scratch or dent that has been touched up with finish will look a lot better than a spot that has been sanded and not properly blended in.

Tom

[Stophel]

Just good old fashioned Zip Srip or Strypeze will get the old finish off (though some of the modern finishes can still give you trouble).  After stripping old finish off, I think there are only three good ways to finish cherry.  One, natural color.  Two, you can "oxidise" the surface, which can be done in a couple of ways.  You can just leave it setting out for some time, and the wood will turn a nice medium brownish color on its own...I don't know how long this really takes, or you can "fume" it with the fumes of ammonia glass cleaner.  Never done this, but someone on here could surely tell you how. The third is to color the cherry red with a lye solution.  My personal opinion is that anything else on cherry looks absolutely hideous.   

Dents can be steamed out, as described.  Cherry can be every bit as hard as sugar maple....but usually it ain't.  It varies quite a bit in quality/hardness, but most often it is relatively soft, and dings, scratches, and dents fairly easily.

[Robby]

Stophel, I have used aqua fortis on cherry many times, it turns a pretty dark black, depending on the piece of wood, but some elbow grease and fine steel wool leaves a pleasant reddish brown, and with relief carvings  they are high-lighted by leaving a little of the wood darker surrounding them. I posted a double rifle using that method and don't remember any negative comments about the wood. I have also tried lye, it seemed to leave the wood more red than brown, I liked the AF color better.
    Robby

[Stophel]

See, I've never been a black wood fan.

[Robby]

You probably don't like Artie Shaw either.

[Stophel]

Actually, I am.   

I suppose it's OK if it's a clarinet.

Now I'm whistling "Stardust"...

[Etienne Brule]

OUF... Bingo !!

I finally succeeeded to make the partial touches without goeing through the process for the whole stock.

For those who may be interested:

I had three spots of 4 x 4 . Those spots where on the wood and NO stain (glycol based nor water based) could penetrate those parts...


AQUAFORTIS :

1 sanded those spots with a No 200 paper.
2- put some of AQUAFORTIS on those parts, goeing a bit outside the spots.
3- wait about 5 minutes
4- put the fire of a lighter to make Aquafortis become darker
5- some lightly rubbing with steelwool 00
6- rub with some cotton ( to be sure that no steelwool was left )
7- wait 5 minutes

CHERRY STAIN :

8- Cherry stain on the spots
9- wait 5 minutes
10- use of a candle to get some "suie" on the spots
11- some lightly rubbing with steelwool 00

CIRCA OIL :

12- Circa Oil; a light layer rubbed with fingers.
13- use of a candle to get some "suie" again if necessary
14- some lightly rubbing with steelwool 00
15- repeat 12, 13 and 14 to the wished tones..

Then light layer of oil every hour x six times.

Nobody could see the difference.

What troubles for trying to correct some light scratches!!!

But now, I know how to work with those acid stained stocks... They are SO nice...

Thank you everybody for your kind support.

Gerald bergeron.