Artificial Tiger Striping... why?

[Loudy]

I've been curious about this for awhile.  Below you'll see photos of a heavy percussion match rifle made by Samuel Loudenslager in Juniata Co., PA.  It's one of only a couple rifles I've seen by this gunsmith where he used an artificial striping technique similar to what is commonly seen on Leman (Lancaster, PA) built longrifles.  S.L. typically used nicely figured maple for his guns.  This is a rather plain-Jane gun.  Was the plain maple wood and artificial striping a cost savings option taken by the person the gun was originally built for?  Or was the straight grained maple chosen because the highly figured wood was percieved as less durable or more susceptible to splitting?  I can understand why a gun building factory like Leman would be more apt to use plain maple over figured wood for their trade guns, but why would a more custom, one-man shop like S.L. offer this option?  Food for thought.  Opinions appreciated.   

Mark Loudenslager     

[JDK]

Was figured wood in the 19th century so much more expensive as to led builders to go to the extra labor of striping a stock?  Labor was cheap.  I suspect that maybe you are hitting on something when you indicated that maybe the wood was chosen for strength and decorated to add interest.  I don't know.

Enjoy, J.D.

[Loudy]

I just looked back through the ALR achieves.  This topic has come up before...

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=20351.0;wap2

J.D., thanks for your response.  I suppose the answer to my initial question is obvious.  Why did gunsmiths use faux striping on their rifles?  Answer... it looked better to some customers than undecorated straight grained maple stock wood.  The deeper question that remains unanswered is why some gunsmiths occasionally used straight grained maple when they typically used high-grade naturally figured wood?  I've heard some collectors state that earlier longrifles were generally stocked with straighter grained maple than later longrifles.  Was this because the earlier guns were used under more stressful conditions and needed to be more robust?  I find it difficult to believe that any Eastern gunsmith, in the pre-Civil War U.S., would have had any trouble finding good wood at reasonable prices.  Folks were clearing a lot of timber back then. 

Maybe this topic should be over on the Builder forum? I'm looking forward to hearing the opinion of others here.

Mark           

[Longknife]

WHY?? Same reason women wear make up!!! (sometimes it dosen't work LOL!)

[nord]

Maybe a bit tongue in cheek but very likely correct.

Humans and human nature haven't changed all that much since we mastered the use of fire. This especially since "things and stuff" became more and more important to us over time. About the only thing that's changed through time, though, is technology.

Take the auto industry for example. For years it was common to hang more chrome on a vehicle and up-charge for doing so. Same with different engines all produced using the same block. It costs more to drill bigger holes? I doubt it. And today it's the electronic bells and whistles we shell out the big bucks to purchase on our vehicles. How much do they really cost to produce?

Long rifles... Really not so much a case of putting lipstick on a pig when faux stripes are in evidence. More a case of simply adding desirability to the product. Strength issues may be postulated but I doubt this was much considered in period. I suspect what was considered is that almost any piece of good stockwood could be "upgraded" to great stockwood without too much effort. Just good business and maybe a better margin of profit.

In other words I doubt there is much mystery at all. The makers were just being human.

[Hungry Horse]

 I have seen some artificially striped rifles, that the stripes are definitely done with stain and, a brush, and have worn off in places. Others seem to be done with some sort of acid stain, or light burning, that although the stain on the stock is gone in places, the striping remains.  Was this done with acid based stains, before the stock  finish was applied? Or was it some other method of applying stripes?

                    Hungry Horse

[nord]

Acid burning was common. More common at least from the guns I've seen is actual burning. A tar soaked rope is wrapped around those portions of the stock intended to be blackened and allowed to do a slow burn or smoulder. The resulting stripes are very permanent and realistic if done properly. This process, of course, was done before the stock was finished.

[tallbear]

Nord
Do you have any pics of original rifles done by the "rope burning " method.I've heard talk of this method but don't belive I've seen an original that i would swear was done that way.

Here are a couple of pics of two "faux striped" Lancaster rifles(most likely Lemans) in my collection.Don't belive they were done by a buring rope.

Mitch Yates

[nord]

I have neither a rifle nor photos that I'd swear to having been done by the burning process. The rifles I've seen have been well done and tend not to have their stripes fade over time. Acid seems not to char as deeply nor permanently so the typical wear spots are a good place to look.

[RAT]

Why were early rifles often stocked in less-figured maple? My understanding from what I've read is that, in the pre-revolution period, the best figured maple was being sold to furniture makers in Philadelphia. Apparently there was a big market for Philadelphia-made furniture in England at the time, and the makers were paying higher prices for figured wood. After the revolution, the English market disappeared, so the wood was more available for gunstocking.

I'd have to look at my notes to document where I read this. It was in one of the "my journey through America..." books written at the time. I believe it was Peter Kalm.

[Loudy]

I believe I recall reading that the gun "factories" like Leman in Lancaster were using replicating machines to roughly shape their guns stocks.  I recall someone speculated that they could get more consistent stocks with this machine when they used straight grained wood.  

I also recall reading that Sam Hawken's shop in St. Louis preferred to use straight grained maple for their rifles because it was more durable than highly figured maple.  However, I don't recall ever seeing a faux grained Hawken.

Mark  

[Dphariss]

To make cheap wood look curly, why else?

Dan

[redheart]

Tallbear,

I love the photos of your longrifle and the beautiful faux ink stained striping!
I have some questions about this piece that I hope you have time to answer.
1. Are the barrel and lock completely unmarked?
2. What is the barrel length,width and caliber?
3. Is the lockbolt escution round or teardrop shaped?
4. Does the stock have a nosecap or brass band?
5. Is there any engraving on the piece?
6. Are the sights of a type that would be typical of a Leman?
 
This rifle, if it is indeed a Leman as it certainly appears to be is very interesting with it's lack of a ramrod entry pipe and trade gun style pipes.
Since Leman made tradeguns also, he certainly had these pipes in stock, I've just never seen them on one of his rifles. Has anyone else seen this before? I love it and would love to see photos of Tallbear's other Leman style rifle!

[LehighBrad]

Cheap wood made to look curly.

[redheart]

Somehow that cheap wood just doesn't look cheap anymore!
What stains did you use?

[tallbear]

Redhart

The rifles  are unmarked.I had a long conversation with Chuck Dixon about these two a few years ago.Chuck had seen quite a few gun similar to mine.Oral tradition had it that Lemans workers would do rifles such as these for an "out the back door trade".Both of these guns have been in my family since they were purchased and until they were moved to my house never traveled more than a few mile away from the Leman factory in Lancaster.If you give me a few days I will photo them and post in another thread.

Mitch

[redheart]

Tallbear,

It will be a thrill for myself and I'm sure for the many other Leman fans out there!
I thank you kindly.

[Loudy]

FYI... There's a faux striped longrifle signed "J.E. Willis" on Gunbroker.com right now.  It'a attributed to gunsmith James E. Willis from Armstrong County, PA. 

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=329311533

[LehighBrad]

Feibings medium brown leather dye hand painted on using various widths of modelers brushes to do the random striping. When fully dried I then rubbed on Laural Mountian Forge nut brown stain over top of it. Finished off with several hand rubbed coats of Chambers finish oil.

[Loudy]

LehighBrad,

Thank you for the information you provided regarding your faux striping technique.  It looks great on your rifle.  Gunsmith Jack Brooks uses a similar technique on his Leman rifles.  He includes a good write-up of his methods on his website:

http://www.jsbrookslongrifles.com/theclassroom.htm

I have a straight grained piece of hard maple that I intend to stock a rifle with.  Your's is an inspiration to try my hand at this graining technique.

Mark

[Hungry Horse]

 I have seen some striped stocks that appear to have been created by wrapping the stock with annealed binding wire, and then brushing the wire with a concentrated mixture of tannic acid, or some similar acid, which turns the wood under the wire black. This staining is in the wood, not on the wood. The annealed wire is easier to bend into the contours of the stock, than any kind of cordage.

                      Hungry Horse 

[Jim Kibler]

Anyone have examples of striping they think was created with rope, wire etc.?  I'm a little skeptical, but guess you never know.

[JTR]

I've heard about the rope burning for a long time, but have never seen an example that I'd consider original, nor antique.
Painted yes, stained yes, burned in, nope.

Doesn't mean it wasn't done, just that not in my experience.

John

[mr. no gold]

I wonder if the rope/cord story wasn't concocted to explain the striping one finds in good maple. I have had some sixty years exposure to KY Rifles and that was one of the first stories I heard about the look of tiger maple. Some stocks do exhibit a corduroy appearance, (soft and hard places), and that may have given rise to the belief. It is almost a piece of folklore, by now. Kind of like the old timers who told me that the Indians chipped their arrowheads by heating up the stone, using a straw to place drops of water on the hot stone to produce the flakes. The Indians heat treated some stone, but used antler tools among others to make the points. Oh yes, just checked my pieces and they all have rope buned striping!
Dick 

[RAT]

I've heard of contemporary makers using the wet rope/burning method to candy-stripe ramrods. Maybe they thought it was also used for striping stocks. Personally... I think it's a modern technique not used on originals. I think it grew from using a torch to make wood furniture look "rustic".