The carving is outstanding and speaks for itself, could you spare a minute to tell what you stained the rifle with? Beautiful work.
Ooops, forgot to answer this question. As to the stain, it's not quite as yellow in person, though it still has a nice amber look. I stained it with ferric nitrate crystals dissolved in alcohol. I played with my usual iron nitrate stain, but for whatever reason thought the crystals looked a little nicer. On top of that, went some amber Transtint dye mixed with the finish.
For the finish, I sealed with Permalyn and then used some of my leaded linseed oil on top.
Thanks again for the nice comments.
Jim