Stain on American maple stocked muskets

[smart dog]

Hi Folks,
I am hoping someone can advise me.  I am building a maple stocked American musket from the Revolutionary War.  It will represent a colonial American restock of a British commercial musket from the F&I war. The premise is that a New Jersey militiaman had a local gunsmith restock parts from one of the commercial muskets purchased by New Jersey from Richard Wilson during the F&I war.  The militiaman is having the gunsmith upgrade the old parts with a steel ramrod and brass muzzlecap.  The stock is a nice piece of figured sugar maple logged by one of my friends in Vermont and dried for 10 years.  It is an unbelievably dense and heavy stock blank.  Anyway, I always do a lot of research for these projects and I visited quite a few museums that had examples of American-made muskets.  In all of the examples, it appears the makers did not stain the maple, rather just finished the blond wood.  The stocks I examined had some reddish-brown color but it may just be from age.  Fowling guns made from maple were often stained to bring out the figure, but muskets maybe not.  Can any of you site or recount examples of American-made maple stocked muskets that were stained by AF or other means to bring out the figure?  Right now, my inclination is to just put an oil-varnish on the maple without stain but I would rather make the figure really show if it is historically correct.  The key here is historical correctness.  I want this gun to be historically bang on in appearance.  That is my objective, not my or anybody else's personal taste.

dave     

[Goo]

Perhaps this would be one of those situations where one would add color to the varnish, blood being an additive that was claimed to have been used to create reddish brown coloration for varnish on wood.  Blood seems as though it wouldnt work being water based in an oil based varnish and in an alcohol based varnish it seems iffy being alcohol displaces water.  That being said, it is not my intention to open a can of worms and start a knowledge on varnish competition with my comments.  Only to suggest trying some samples and adding color to the varnish may give a finish tone which would be a possible on the HC desire and age gracefully.

[rich pierce]

It's sometimes hard for me to distinguish between an early fowling piece and muskets as a good many New England club butt fowling and other fowling pieces apparently saw use in the Revolutionary War.  I'm trying to think of American made muskets that were not fowlingnpieces and maybe some actual committee of safety muskets made to pattern (not composite parts guns made as muskets) were stocked in maple. Are there specific examples you're referring to?

[WadePatton]

...add color to the varnish, blood being an additive that was claimed to have been used to create reddish brown coloration for varnish on wood.  Blood seems as though it wouldnt work...

Blood?  perhaps maybe Bloodroot (sanguinaria)-from which a red dye can be made. http://slowyarn.com/dyeing/742-2

[smart dog]

Thanks for the replies,
Rich, these would be true muskets with stocks cut back to accept bayonets, large bore barrels (69 cal or greater), and very sturdy construction.  I viewed originals at Valley Forge, Washington's Crossing State Park (NJ side), West Point Museum, and Fort Ticonderoga. If I recall and check my notes, all had examples of American-made muskets with maple stocks and all were very blond.  There were also examples stocked in cherry and walnut.  Certainly, the guns originally made as civilian arms were usually stained but it may be that the tendency was not to do that on muskets probably owing to time and cost. Perhaps another consideration might be that a musket was expected to get gouged, dented, and badly scratched up, and a stained stock wood show the damage more.

dave

[GANGGREEN]

...add color to the varnish, blood being an additive that was claimed to have been used to create reddish brown coloration for varnish on wood.  Blood seems as though it wouldnt work...

Blood?  perhaps maybe Bloodroot (sanguinaria)-from which a red dye can be made. http://slowyarn.com/dyeing/742-2

Good call, I'd like to know if anyone has any evidence that bloodroot may have actually been used in dyes historically.  I might be up for trying that with a rifle build one of these days.

[SingleMalt]

I would go with a plain, brown oil varnish, or turpentine and beeswax.  Both will color the wood to a degree.  What you're building is what I'd call "battlefield salvage," the reusing of parts of unusable muskets to make serviceable weapons. 

[smart dog]

Hi Singlemalt,
A Laphroig to you!  A brown oil varnish, perhaps applied when hot might be the ticket.  The wood finish will be scraped so the oil varnish should look about right on the textured wood.

dave 

[Hungry Horse]

Another possibility might be the addition of a little dragons blood resin to the varnish, or shellac. A small amount of this would give the stock a reddish tint.
 It is likely that the original finish on these muskets has long since worn off. Which could account for their light color, especially if the color was in the varnish.

  Hungry Horse

[rich pierce]

Dave, some of those muskets I saw 40 years ago at Washington Crossing have brass furniture with a reddish hue.  Guess they we're melting down candlesticks or andirons or whatever without adding some zinc back in.

[smart dog]

Hi Rich,
Yes, some of them did appear to have reddish brass. It also could be they burned off too much zinc when melting the brass.  Those were in Kels Swan's collection.

dave

[SingleMalt]

Hi Singlemalt,
A Laphroig to you!  A brown oil varnish, perhaps applied when hot might be the ticket.  The wood finish will be scraped so the oil varnish should look about right on the textured wood.

dave

Thanks, glad I could help!  I like my whisky neat, by the way.     Laphroig makes an exceptional 18 year old...

[Goo]

I am posting this link to wikipedia because anthraquinone dyes have been discovered as colorants in varnish used by Stradivari.     According to some studies I've read these colors were applied in layers as far as how it would apply to muskets ?  Who knows? After umpteen years of dirt use powder residue and exposure ?  How does one reproduce that ?   Is it a situation similar to the restoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel where a  multiplicity of experts build their careers on the appearance of the tonality and dignity of the representations of heaven only to find the actual original appearance of the paintings look like comic book art. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Anthraquinone_dyes

[conquerordie]

You all are  WAY more knowledgable than me on dyes and varnishes, so I'll just add this. It was stated that fowlers seemed to have AF applied to nice maple stocks, but not muskets. Maybe for a musket that was going directly to the field, like a COM gun, maybe they d just varnish it and go. But for this project, it is a militiamen using old pieces from an early musket. That means this musket is HIS personal firearm, and not owned by the colony. So in my mind, treating the stock with AF is correct. If this musket is HIS property and most likely his only firearms, I think he would have wanted a nice stock! The expediency that a colony would want guns made in would not be the same as a person having a gun stocked by a local gunsmith. I think applying AF would be fine. I guess the big question is, were any of the originals examined have histories of personal ownership, or goverment ownership?  Just a thought,
Greg

[smart dog]

Hi Greg,
That makes a lot of sense and as a pre Rev War militia gun it is his personal property.  Very good point, thanks.
I have no way of knowing if the muskets I examined were personal arms or just issued.
dave

[SingleMalt]

The Committee of Safety muskets weren't personal property, but were owned by the colony.  As a thought, you could combine French furniture or stock shape to give it a different look that would still be correct.

[smart dog]

Hi Singlemalt,
No, this is a militia musket made before the AWI and not a part of the COS effort.  It will be completely British in concept, which is likely for someone from the midatlantic colonies and it is using parts from a British commercial musket.  The lock is built and all the other components assembled.  It will essentially look like the pattern 1748 Brown Bess upgrade stocked in curly maple.

dave   

[Goo]

Blood?  perhaps maybe Bloodroot (sanguinaria)-from which a red dye can be made. http://slowyarn.com/dyeing/742-2
[/quote]

Hi Wade it took me a while to remember where i saw the reference to blood Used as a colorant in varnish scroll down to the section headed " violin ".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varnish#Resin