incised or burnt?

[Micah2]

Perhaps, or surely, this has been discussed before:  Some incised carving on originals looks shallow I wonder if it was burnt  with a red hot tip of iron.  Obviously a carved line would wear down quite  a  bit over a couple hundred years but my observations lead me to think that some accent lines were maybe branded in the wood.  Am I way off base?  I experimented with walnut and cherry and it looks really good.  Thanks.

[rich pierce]

I don't think so.  A knife cut will allow deep stain penetration and then close up.  It is very hard to burn in a long curved line without starting over, unless, of course, you have an electric woodburning tool.

[Pete G.]

Carving of some sort was put on almost all woodwork in the 18th century. I would think rifles were no different.

[bama]

Many of the originals that i have see that had the real fine incised carving that looks like it is painted on i believe was done by using very finely sharpened chisels and knives. A fine line design was cut into the stock then the design was stained with a black stain. Once the stain was set the stock was finely scraped leaving stain in only the design cuts. Then the stock was stained with a lighter color which makes the design cuts that are black really stand out. Since no wood gets removed in cutting in the design cuts completely close during the staining process and can hardly be felt. I love this type of stock design, it looks great on Virginia rifles.

[Frank]

Many of the originals that i have see that had the real fine incised carving that looks like it is painted on i believe was done by using very finely sharpened chisels and knives. A fine line design was cut into the stock then the design was stained with a black stain. Once the stain was set the stock was finely scraped leaving stain in only the design cuts. Then the stock was stained with a lighter color which makes the design cuts that are black really stand out. Since no wood gets removed in cutting in the design cuts completely close during the staining process and can hardly be felt. I love this type of stock design, it looks great on Virginia rifles.

Was this style used on anything besides Virginia rifles? Lehigh County Rifles?

[dogcatcher]

Sounds like you may want to look at kolrosing.  a Norwegian form of art.  They would cut a pattern of very thin lines for the design and filled the lines with coal dust.  I would call it a folk art of the Vikings.   Another way to describe it would be that it looks sort of like line drawings on powder horns, or scrimshaw drawings.  

I have done some copying some work I saw using an Xacto scalpel knife.   I sanded and drew my pattern, cut the lines and then rubbed in crushed charcoal powder.   When I applied the finish, the cut lines closed up like when doing wired inlay.  Make a mistake, it will stick out like a "chunk of charcoal".   I call it my poor man's inlay.  

Added on an edit:
Check out this link, it does a better job of explain the process.
http://www.pinewoodforge.com/kolrosing.html